Back in the dentist’s chair

5/15/2012

Posted by Jon
Whilst we’re sharing dentist analogies, as BJ’s done in his two most recent posts…

Picture yourself sitting in the chair for a check-up. Your dentist poke and prods, reciting a litany of codes to his or her assistant. And then, at the end of it, comes the judgement: “All fine”. Cue floods of relief: but you’ve still just had to endure several minutes with no clue whatsoever as to whether the running commentary has meant that your teeth were in great condition – or that they were all going to need to be pulled out.

I think, talking to salespeople and content contributors, that they feel similarly about many bid processes. It’s as if the bid function has created a black art, full of meetings with obscure names (”Let’s convene a green-with-yellow-spots team”) and designed to keep everyone other than the Proposal Manager in the dark as to progress with the document.

Communication is key to ensuring confidence, here. And confidence breeds creativity, and a stronger will to win. Keeping our teams informed as to how well things are going – and de-mystifying what can seem a complex, fraught process, is surely a key to success.

2 Comments

BJ Lownie

3/25/2016 03:17:42 pm

Jay Herther, our buddy over on the govenrment side of the house, refers to the ‘Crayola’ reviews. (Not sure of Crayola’s reach, so for those of our readers who may not be aware of this brand name, Crayola is a brand of crayons….and their larger assortment is at 125+ colors. :-)
(When I was a child [yes Jon, I am able to remeber back that far.) a favorite thing to do was to melt a couple of Crayolas (over here the brand name is synonymous with crayon) together to make a new color. I often got in trouble with my parents for doing this. So imaigne my surprise when I saw an ad recently for a child’s toy that allows the color to melt down crayons to create their own custom colors. Ah, progress!

Todd Rudy

3/25/2016 03:17:59 pm

As a dedicated prop manager with notoriously bad teeth (new dentists ask, “Were you raised on well water?” and new capture managers ask, “You remind me of a toten kopf.”), I am happy to read this post.

First … I remember my early days as a novice tech writer / editor in the prop world at a HUGE defense contractor, being called onto telecons the purpose I which I had no idea, knowing only that I was expected to pretend as though I had been working in this biz for years … I learned quickly to refer to three passages from the RFP and ask “Does anyone else think this might be ‘the long pole in the tent’?”

Then I began learning more about the biz, and I could come back to callers and say, “Yes, I understand, but that isn’t the ‘long pole in the tent’ – what we really need to worry about is [my section] !!”

Eventually, I learned to be part of a team, not a collection of individuals. And the best way to bring individuals into the team – novice and expert alike – is communication.

For the newbies, explain the terms in a phone call beforehand, so they know that someone on the telecon has their back and is willing to foster their future. You’ll work together a lot better in the on the next proposal giving such guidance because (especially in a big corporate world) they’ll trust you.

For the old-timers, explain why it’s important for them to actually *attend* the call, and not blow it off as ‘just another rudimentary telecon’. The vets often get jaded about the “process” and do as little as necessary, though I admit this is often because they are usually SO overworked by the suits above them who have no idea what they actually do for a living and how hard it often is.

Communication is a connection, and a connection brings individuals closer. And when it’s 2 am and your proposal is due in five hard copies at noon that same day, you want people close to you who a) understand you; b) whom you understand; and c) will sit with you to iron out those last-minute details because, after all, you’re in this together.

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BJ Lownie and Jon Williams are the co-founders of Strategic Proposals.

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