#proposal tip

2016 has begun with a loud BANG. As the New Year begins, I am reminded of one of Stephen Covey’s habits of success: ‘Start with the end in mind’. In the proposal world, this relates to creating an outline that complies with what your client wants to see in your proposal. I’ve learnt a few tricks over the years that might help you to create better outlines. Here goes…

Where to begin?

If your client has issued an RFP then that’s the place to start. If not, then ask the sales person what the client wants to see in the proposal – or better yet, ask the client yourself if appropriate. Many RFPs set out exactly what information you must provide. Some even specify the sequence. Always comply and explain deviations.

Who is the lucky victim?

In my opinion, the proposal writer or bid strategist is the best person to create the outline. If you have multiple people contributing to the proposal document, then you may brainstorm multiple outlines - one for each section - to involve subject matter experts. Adapt your approach to suit the deadline and the bid, but ideally let one person create the outline.

How to do it?

You can either use storyboard and layout techniques, or simply create an annotated outline in document form. The ideal outline has headings, sub-headings, key ideas, page limits and ideas for pictures. By reading the outline, you should see the story line of the proposal emerging. When you give an outline to a writer or subject matter expert, it should be clear to them what details you need in what format and who must do what by when.

What headings in what order?

If the client did not specify the sequence, then I like to use the NOSE structure for my proposals.

First comes the cover letter, compliance matrix, glossary and executive summary. Then I include more details about the client’s needs and desired outcomes. Next is the solution, including who will deliver what by when, in what way, and how much it will cost to deliver what payback with relevant assumptions or exclusions.

Finally, I provide evidence that my solution is the best choice to deliver the desired outcomes and indicate next steps. If requested, I may include answers to questions then appendices right at the end, with a clear index to make it easy to find details.

Why do it at all?

I use dynamic sub-headings such as ‘Reduce Costs’ under telegraphic headings such as ‘Executive Summary’ so that the story shines out.

For me, this is the key reason to do an outline and the main benefit of having one person do it: to create a single story line in one voice, even if there are multiple contributors.

Planning also saves time and money. Fixing the story at outline stage is cheaper than doing it after the writing is done. So make sure you create a compelling outline for your next proposal.

Begin with the client in mind.

As the year heads at a trot towards its close, my mind turns to proposal endings. Just as every good fairy story starts with ‘Once upon a time…’ so it ends with ‘… and they all lived happily after.’ Unless you’re Roald Dahl, in which case there may be a twist.

Avoid an anti-climax

Many proposals end in mid-air. After rambling on for about 100 pages, presenting information in no particular order. They generally start with an Exec Summary, have a Company Profile and a Solution somewhere, as well as a Price, maybe even a Project Methodology and Timing. Finally they include a whole heap of Appendices and then…after you have waded through all that bumph…your reward is a whole lot of nothing.

Add a conclusion

Just like a good joke ends with a punch line, so your proposal needs an ending. In your conclusion, don’t state anything new. Remind your reader of some of the highlights of your solution and the main reasons to pick you, then outline the next steps. In this way, they come away satisfied rather than frustrated after reading your proposal. It also gives you a chance to act on Tom Sant’s tip to ‘Ask for the Business’ as any good sales document must.

Where to put it

I generally add a conclusion to every section of my document and sometimes have another for the proposal itself. My preference is to put it before the Appendices. This means that if the evaluators split up my proposal into different sections, then each one is self-contained. But I only call it a conclusion if it really is at the very end of the proposal. I always do a double-take when an Executive Summary has a ‘Conclusion’ heading. It makes me wonder whether the writer wants me to read the rest of the proposal or just stop now.

How to cross reference

When it comes to the Appendices, my pet hate is for proposals that are riddled with ‘Refer to Appendix A’ type answers to questions, or ‘See answer to question 12 above’. This really makes the evaluator’s job difficult. Rather tell them what they will find in Appendix A or repeat the answer to question 12 to save them from paging backwards and forwards to find information in your response.

For example, if they ask for your tax clearance certificate then you might include a thumbnail image and say something like:

‘Knowing that our taxes are up to date gives you the peace of mind that our company deals honestly. We pay our taxes to build a better future for all South Africans. In Appendix A you will find our tax clearance certificate which expires on 15 September 2016.’

A rose by any other name

An Appendix is sometimes an Addendum or a Schedule or an Attachment. And sometimes you will see more than one of these in the request for proposal. So what should you call it? You will use the same name that the customer uses, of course. Because the customer is always right. Number your Appendices sequentially or cross reference them to the request. And please include only the information that your customer requests, don’t just throw at them everything you have in your proposal library and force them to work out what’s important. They won’t thank you for this approach.

Writing to persuade is very different from writing to inform, just as telling is not the same as selling. People with sales experience seem to write better proposals. Unfortunately, many proposals fail to persuade because the authors focus on what rather than why. They focus on telling rather than selling.

Audience, Purpose & Structure

In his book “The Language of Success”, Tom Sant talks about adapting your business writing to suit the audience and choosing the right structure to achieve your purpose. For example, he argues that if you want to inform the readers of a newspaper then you start with the broadest most important facts and include more specific details later. He calls this the funnel structure.

Winning by a NOSE

If we want to persuade our target audience then Tom Sant suggests that we must match the psychology of decision-making. When making decisions, people ask themselves: am I getting what I want, can you do it, are you giving me value for money and why should I pick you? So in our proposals we need to provide the right information in the right order to win the deal. Start with Needs, then Outcomes before outlining your Solution and providing Evidence that you’re the right choice. Tom Sant calls this the persuasive structure or NOSE.

Aligned to Sales

The persuasive structure for proposals aligns well with popular sales methodologies. This alignment is important because the purpose of a proposal is to advance the sales process. And a good proposal is one that wins. We encourage sales folks to ask customers about the problems they are experiencing and what they hope to achieve by overcoming these problems. Only then does the good salesman show customers how our solution aligns with their goals before overcoming obstacles in their path to moving forward with us rather than the competition.

Does it work?

In our training we offer delegates several example of executive summaries to review. In my experience, about 80% of delegates prefer a persuasive structure written according to best practice principles. And that’s usually before we teach them anything. So I would definitely argue in favour of using the NOSE structure in your proposals. A customer survey conducted by Qvidian (formerly The Sant Corporation), way back when, concluded that people who use this structure win 30% more than those who try to inform.

Readers Rule

I know that very few people enjoy writing proposals, or reading them for that matter. For me the joy in writing proposals springs from the fact that each one is different. What I am selling is different, the decision-makers vary, and the competition changes. I like to get under the skin of the people reading the proposal so that I can focus on what matters to them and give them some good reasons to pick what I’m selling rather than choosing an alternative. This art lies at the heart of a good proposal and makes it a joy to read.