This article is a re-print of one that appeared in our 2016 Spring issue. Proposal response teams are entirely what your company makes of them. A good team can successfully swing at the opportunities for which you prepare them. A great team can take the ones you knew about and the ones you didn’t see coming
Wouldn’t it be awesome if our proposals managed themselves? We’d have more time to spend on writing and reviewing and the producing the quality that buyers crave--not to mention more freedom to spend with family and friends and to pursue our passions. Most of us proposal managers have dreamed of such a world – only
When thinking about managing processes, I’ll admit I get a little excited. Process is my middle name! And, MY processes are my favorite. I’ve got a process for just about everything and boy do I hate it when they change! (Sound familiar?) As Proposal Managers, this is our job. To manage a process and the
Managing process in proposal development needs to be flexible. It has to adapt to fit the size each deal’s individual submission parameters (page limits, number of volumes); to fit the timeline for the response (5, 20, or 45 days); to work within the culture of the organization (hierarchical vs. agile); and to accommodate the size
In the world of proposal design, many gurus tell you to follow the “rules.” But, like Captain Barbossa of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, I believe rules are more like guidelines. They are there for a reason but, if followed blindly, can lead to dire consequences. Here are three common myths surrounding these “rules”
Mastering communication and understanding human nature are essential if we want to effectively persuade and influence people. In the book, Maximum Influence: The 12 Universal Laws of Power Persuasion, author Kurt W. Mortensen writes, “As a society, we are interconnected and the ability to make connections is vital to our success. We can’t get anywhere
At this year's Bid and Proposal Con in Orlando, I was fortunate to lead a panel around how to best ask questions of your Government customer. Joined by Alex Cuccaro of Richter & Co, and Jeff Leitner of Red Team Consulting, we spent a lively hour discussing the best methods to drive your customer to
For those of you who couldn't attend APMP's Bid and Proposal Con in May, Chris Sant has generously shared his slide deck that he used when presenting his session entitled "Push-button Persuasion: Almost Magical Content Library Techniques." Even though we don't have the benefit of his outstanding oral presentation, his slides still provide us with
Whether it’s a Government shutdown, company re-structuring, or consolidation through M&A, change can have a negative impact on your organization if the accompanying periods of uncertainty and downtime are not properly managed. In business development, an environment filled with uncertainty can create a breeding ground for lost talent, new business, and even a company’s core
Change can be a scary thing for many people, myself included. I am a creature of habit and prefer things to be repeatable and a process. But, as we all experience in life, the old things that have become routine and the habits we have formed may no longer serve us in healthy and productive ways.
