Posted by Jon
Discussing strategy development with a team recently, I found that two course participants had both recently peer-reviewed the same proposal, a couple of days before the event.An easy demonstration of powerful strategies came to mind. I asked one of the pair to leave the room for a few moments, and asked the other to use the flipchart to list the key messages that he could remember from the proposal. We then brought his colleague back in and asked the same question.

Not surprisingly, their lists differed somewhat – each of the readers having come up with differing lists of half-a-dozen or more themes. It wasn’t a huge leap to imagine the evaluation team having been left with similarly muddled messages as to the reasons why they should have selected this supplier. And as an illustration of the need for a proposal to focus clearly on three or four key messages, and to present these in a memorable way, the exercise couldn’t have been more powerful.​

Posted by BJ
My experience has been that those who need to make improvements most, are the least open to admitting the need or seeking help.

A recent experience with workshops that Jon and I delivered highlights this.

Within this particular company there are two divisions, and we delivered the same workshop to both.​

One of these divisions produces proposals of a fair to good quality (based on an audit using standardized criteria), and has a win rate of about 40%. The other division produces proposals that are very poor (based on the same audit and criteria), and their win rate is below 10%.

The group with the higher quality and win rate saw the value of conducting the workshop, had a positive attitude and an open mind, and actively participated.

And the other group? Well, you know already, right?

From the head of the group on down, they failed to recognize the need to improve the quality or win rate, questioned the need for conducting any training, and did everything possible in an attempt to not have to attend. Then, once in the workshop (yes, the powers that be got them in their seats), they were extremely negative, refused to participate, and behaved in a rude and arrogant manner.

Of course, as one would expect, the feedback from the first group stated that they got a lot out of the workshop, and early indicators show that the changes they are making are resulting in higher quality and improved win rates. And, of course, the inverse is true for the second group. They’ve done nothing, and if anything, things have declined further.

And the reasons for this? They are many and varied, and I dare say, not the important question. For me the more important question, and it’s applicable to many situations, is how do you make sure that you are in the first group, and that you have a realistic view as to what you’re doing and looking for ways to improve.

As one who has been at the game for quite some time now (never mind Jon, they know how much older than you I am without you pointing it out!), I am acutely aware of the potential for falling into the “but that’s the way we’ve always done it” trap, and Jon and I coach each other to always be looking at what we’re doing, how we do it, and how it can be improved (no matter how good it might already be!) :)

Hopefully, your thinking and actions put you in the first group too.

BEFORE THE WORKSHOP –

I Think - I Feel
This is going to be very difficult – Anxious, nervous
I have no support, No one will help me – Frustrated, angry
I don’t know how to do this - Intimidated
I hate doing this - Annoyed
No one understands what I do - Abandoned

AFTER THE WORKSHOP –

I Think - I Feel
This is an opportunity - Excited
I understand my role - Eager to assist
There’s a logical process to follow - Competent, equipped
I know why we’re doing this - Energized, psyched
This is important - Valued.

​This is after a 1 day workshop. So, I guess that might explain why I am so “Passionate About Proposals”. After all, I’ve been exploring, working with and discussing proposals for how many years now? :-)

Posted by Jon
The first full day of APMP, and the schedules have been packed as usual. My favourite session of the day was Martin Andelman’s slot, opening the conference. One particular slide struck a real chord. Martin bemoaned the fact that “Every company has spent time and money to get better at selling in person”, but that they seem to lack the same focus and effort at improving the way they sell in writing.

If I were a sales director, I’d certainly have proposal skills up near the top of the training syllabus for my team. Yet many proposal teams always seem to battle to secure funding:​

It was also great to hear news of APMP’s continuing growth: membership is significantly up on last year. I was particularly proud of the UK APMP chapter, which has broken through the 200 members barrier for the first time. And 400+ people have attained qualifications to date via the APMP professional accreditation programme, led so impressively by Cathy Day.

Most of all, I’ve relished chatting to peers from other organisations. Conversations today have covered building new proposal centres in Canada, bringing together proposal teams after a merger, and the challenges of training an expanding proposal team. It’s truly refreshing to have a relaxed and open forum in which to share experiences and ideas with so many other proposal folks.

And then there was the small matter of our own presentation, “Two Proposal Managers Walked Into A War Room”. I think this defined the term “packed house” – I never would have thought that we’d have been able to cram 180 people into a room designed for 100 (and, presumably, neither did the venue’s fire marshals!). I’ll let BJ update you on the session itself in a later post.

Favourite comment of the day came from Sandy, who was helping us to devour the pack of Starbucks chocolate-coated cherries on our stand. “You realise they’re good for you?” she asked. We looked puzzled. “They contain fruit.” I can now indulge my new-found addiction to my heart’s content.

Posted by BJ
Just finished presenting ‘The Top Ten Things You Can Do (Today) To Improve Your Proposals’ at the Pragmatech User Forum. (This year’s forum  is being held in Washington D.C.)

This was one of 3 concurrent sessions, and it was scheduled late in the afternoon on the second day of the conference so I really wasn’t sure how many people would select this presentation. I was pleasantly surprised to have a standing room only audience of more than 70 people.​