APMP had its flagship celebration this past week in Dallas, TX, and although I had an opportunity to be one of almost 1,000 attendees, at the last minute I decided not to take it. I was already traveling a lot in May and spending too much time away from my family,  so I ultimately decided to sit this one out. After missing events for 2-3 years due to COVID, I thought what’s another year? There’s

No one wants to lose, and no one wants to talk about losing. It is like talking about death. But failure can be an effective teacher. Most proposals are losing proposals—a statistical fact that is often ignored. But this does not mean that the participants are losers. Consider the career of Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K), a basketball legend who inspires his players to greatness. Under his direction, the Duke University basketball program has become one

Originally published on LinkedIn, republished here with the author's permission: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/thinking-outside-box-art-science-govcon-marketing-mark-amtower/ What is “outside of the box thinking”? I have been in too many meetings where an executive will say something like “Our marketing is stale. We need some outside-the-box thinking.” Often this is the result of seeing or reading about success B2B or B2C marketing in a book or business magazine, or in one instance I can think of, a CEO sitting next to

Originally posted on Lohfeld Consulting's blog - Resumes for the Win. Resumes are the least appreciated proposal section. Proposal Managers often delegate resume writing to inexperienced writers. Writers create resumes without understanding how to interview the proposed key or non-key personnel for winning content and without understanding the proposed solution. Proposal reviewers frequently spend little time on resume review. Yet, resumes may provide discriminating Strengths that result in the win. Exceeding Requirements In a best

Originally posted on Winningthebusiness.com. In today’s market, we are all competing for proposal talent, and it’s not always easy to find the right fit. Our industry has historically been one where people have “fallen into” it, rather than choosing proposal management as an intentional career path. Proposal management isn’t a college major, so most students don’t even know our industry exists, which means that when they graduate and start sending out resumes, they don’t know

Originally published on February 14, 2020 as an article on LinkedIn. How many remote jobs have you discovered for technical roles? Software developers, app engineers, and system architects seem to have it made when it comes to remote work. When it comes to marketing and proposal writing, though, many companies draw a firm line in the sand: You must be able to physically commute to our office. I'm confused by this mentality. I've been writing

Proposal professionals have learned a great deal on how to handle remote bid development and management over the past year. I expect the changes made as a result of COVID-19 will remain with us even when we return to our new normal. One of the most important changes, in my view, is the increased acceptance and promotion of virtual reviews. Many teams used virtual reviews prior to the pandemic as a way to incorporate different

Two recent decisions by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), one of the forums that hears protests by disappointed bidders for Federal Government contracts, highlight some of the extra steps that buyers of businesses performing government contracts may need to take before closing a deal. A basic principle of Government contracting is that the Government must evaluate offers it receives to determine whether and how well the would-be contractor will meet the Government’s requirements. (Exactly