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

Can you change? Or do you need a nudge? We Want to Change Most organizations and individuals agree that they could do better. As a capture and proposal expert, I work with dozens of businesses from small to large to assess their processes; make recommendations for improvement; and train employees on how to create solutions

The first quarter of 2019 is already behind us.  How are you doing on those New Year resolutions?  We start each year with a renewed sense of what is possible, and then, most of the time, we quickly become consumed with everyday living, and those new and exciting possibilities can quickly fade.  In this quarter's

The theme “Effecting Change” conjures up images of transforming the way the U.S. Government does business. From time-to-time, steps are taken in that direction. In the early 1990s, for example, a commission called the “Section 800 Panel” made recommendations that led to the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, a law that some consider the

Past Technologies The year was 1995, the year that Microsoft released the Windows 95 operating system, a major milestone in personal computers. Windows 95 gave nontechnical people the opportunity to use inexpensive computers for personal and business purposes. It changed the way we worked and played. In addition, it made Bill Gates the wealthiest man

Join Lisa and APMP-NCA for a FREE webinar on Assessing Capture Readiness.  Business capture takes time and money, sometimes with few tangible results. How do you assess capture readiness for each opportunity in your pipeline? This webinar will explore Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that help you measure and track capture progress, improve capture quality and increase

On October 11th, the APMP-NCA chapter hosted its annual Mid-Atlantic Conference and Expo at the Westin Tysons Corner. 2018 was a record-breaking year for the conference, with over 290 people in attendance. Attendees included professionals from proposal development, business development, capture, and contracts. In addition to record-breaking attendance, 18 companies exhibited for the Expo, providing

Business is all about knowing your markets. You need to know who you are selling to, and you must be able to identify and understand your competition. Failure to do so can seriously impact businesses of all types, but especially start-ups and businesses just getting their footing. Business reality television shows us this with regularity.