Insights Blog
How experts got involved in capture and proposals – and what keeps them coming back: Part 2 of 3
How experts got involved in capture and proposals – and what keeps them coming back: Part 2 of 3
“How did you get started in capture/proposals?” is a question often asked when meeting new colleagues at a conference, seminar, meeting, or around a war room conference table.
Answers vary from person to person and company to company, but most often practitioners became “accidental” capture or proposal professionals and discovered they love the excitement, colleagues, and “thrill of victory.”
I asked a number of colleagues from small to large businesses how they got started in capture/proposals – and what keeps them coming back for more. Here are their responses.
- I fell into proposals when I was a programmer years ago. The company found out that I could write well and asked me to contribute to the technical…
Proposal production across the business development life cycle – phase 4 (Part 5 of 6)
In her previous post (Part 4 of 6), Briana Coleman, PPM.APMP discussed the key activities involved in Phase 3 of the typical business development (BD) life cycle:
- Phase 1 Opportunity identification and assessment
- Phase 2 Pursuit
- Phase 3 Pre-proposal preparation
- Phase 4 Proposal development
- Phase 5 Post-submittal
In this post, Briana discusses the key production activities that you should perform in Phase 4 Proposal Preparation.
Once you receive your final RFP, you can begin actually implementing your production plan. Below is a typical 30-day schedule to give you a sense of when you should begin each element of production. You’ll note that final production begins on DAY 1!
By Day 2, you should be able to refine your templates to match the format/delivery requirements of your RFP. Note that I am saying refine, and not develop, because you will have already taken…
Proposal production across the business development life cycle – phase 3 (Part 4 of 6)
In her previous post (Part 3 of 6), Briana Coleman, PPM.APMP discussed the key activities involved in Phases 1 and 2 of the typical business development (BD) life cycle:
- Phase 1 Opportunity identification and assessment
- Phase 2 Pursuit
- Phase 3 Pre-proposal preparation
- Phase 4 Proposal development
- Phase 5 Post-submittal
In this post, she discusses the key production activities that you should perform in Phase 3 Pre-Proposal Preparation.
1. Begin drafting your production plan: proposal-specific
In Phases 1 and 2 of the BD life cycle, you drafted a company production plan. In this phase, you’ll tailor that generic plan to your specific proposal and RFP.
By this phase in the life cycle, you have likely received a draft RFP from the client, or you have put together a strawman RFP of your anticipated requirements. Using these draft documents, update your plan to reflect…
The art of the data call: proof points that POP
In today’s blog post, Lisa Pafe follows up on her 7 questions to ask before RFP release with insights on crafting effective data calls…
In my previous blog, I discussed 7 questions to form the basis of the data call. But, how do you ensure that your proof points are any good? Here are some examples of typical bland proposal statements that beg the reader to ask for proof:
- We enjoy high levels of customer satisfaction. How high?
- We have low employee turnover. Compared to what?
- We offer relevant experience. In what?
- We have the personnel reach back to rapidly staff task orders. Prove it!
By crafting an effective data call, you get proof points that POP as shown in the following examples.
P: Persuasive
We will meet or exceed performance expectations. In all 12 of our Past Performance Information Retrieval System…
