I recently asked a number of my colleagues to share their best advice for someone starting out in a capture or proposal-related position, e.g., proposal manager, capture manager, proposal coordinator, graphics, writer, pricer, etc.

We wrap up our industry-leaders’ advice here in this final part of my 3-part series.

• Get clear definition of your role at a very granular level. This might sound like over-engineering, but it will pay off if everyone has the same expectations as to exactly what you are going to be responsible for and accountable for. Typically, descriptions of roles are written at a high level; this leaves lots of room for different interpretations and expectations. –Wendy Frieman, APMP Fellow and Principal Consultant, Lohfeld Consulting Group

• Here’s my top-10 list for someone starting out in capture/proposal or any practice area for that matter:

1. Find your industry niche and your passion
2. Build trusting relationships (managers, peers, subordinates, customers, partners)
3. Stay current with new/emerging best practices (accreditation)
4. Make/take time for yourself
5. Share the credit for your successes, and take responsibility for your failures
6. Take constructive criticism seriously, and learn from your mistakes
7. Give back to your profession
8. Be ethical in everything you do
9. Your customer(s) always come first
10. Work hard and have fun (easy to say…hard to do)

–Chris Simmons, Principal, Rainmakerz Consulting, LLC

• Be flexible: master as many different aspects of the business as you can so that you provide the maximum value to your employer or client. –Pat Cosimano, Owner of Pat Cosimano Wins LLC
• One of the most valuable things I learned during a few years in direct marketing is the importance of verisimilitude, a fun-to-say word that describes the appearance of truth. The yellow note stuck to the sales letter that says, “Chris, check this out!” in blue cursive ink loses its verisimilitude the moment Chris realizes the handwriting is an electronic font. The realistic movie loses it when the hero jumps out of the helicopter, lands on a log, and rides it down the mountain to safety. And, proposals lose verisimilitude the moment evaluators read, “Our Quality Manger is a stickier for details [sic],” or “Our solution is entirely risk-free,” or “We are the leading IT solution provider in the industry.” –David C. Hilnbrand, Principal Consultant, DC Proposal Services, LLC
• Learn everything you can about the roles and responsibilities of the people who will be on your bid teams. Always be honest with the team and management about the status of the bid you are working on, and escalate whenever you need to. Don’t be afraid to say “NO” to unreasonable requests! –Deborah Brooks, Sr. Regional Bid Manager, TATA Communications
• These are the positions that are the most fun in corporations because you will work with the company’s best and brightest leaders. You will work harder than you have ever worked before, and you must love the challenge to be successful. Learn all that you can about everything you are doing, and always focus on what the customer needs and wants. The one who best understands what the customer wants will likely win. As I like to say, “Best informed wins.” –Bob Lohfeld, CEO, Lohfeld Consulting Group

What advice would you share with someone new (or experienced) in the capture and proposal field? Send an email to me at BWingate@LohfeldConsulting.com with your thoughts, and I’ll share your advice in upcoming posts!

In the meantime, check out related articles, advice, and our blog archive and subscribe to get more insights from the Lohfeld Consulting Group team every month in our Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief.

1. No final document review. The company misses one of the most effective and inexpensive mechanisms for improving the proposal. Schedule a final document review as soon as possible.
2. Document review is held too late in the proposal life cycle. Hold the final document review approximately two-thirds through the proposal life cycle.
3. Reviewers are unprepared. Work with the reviewers in advance to verify they understand their roles, responsibilities, and time commitment. Help the reviewers by holding training or producing a brief training document. Eliminate any reviewer who from the review team who is unprepared or unable to provide an objective review.
4. Review is unorganized or does not produce feedback that benefits writers. Hold one review team member responsible for ensuring a concise review of the document is delivered to the review team. Assign review members to support the leader with adequate coverage for each proposal section. Assign a compliance checker and gadfly to review the entire document. Ask the review team to put the main recommendations in writing and have individual authors record their comments on review sheets or using automated tools. Use an automated tool to collect review comments.
5. It takes too long to aggregate the comments of a large review team. Use an automated collaboration tool that enables multiple authors to add comments to one document. If a tool is unavailable, acquire sufficient staff to aggregate the comments.
6. Conflicting comments. The company must assign one person to make the final decision about conflicting comments.
7. Final document is not compliant with customer requirements. Immediately fix compliance problems – make this the company’s first priority.
8. Teaming agreements are not complete. Consider dropping the teaming partner or get the teaming agreement signed immediately.
9. Key personnel are not identified. Consider using pulling qualified in-house personnel to fill the open positions or not bidding.
10. Technical solution is inconsistent or does not meet technical requirements. Identify the solution gaps and immediately fix them.
11. Final document is failed by the review team. Determine if you have sufficient time and resources to write a technically acceptable proposal, if so, schedule a second final document review date.

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1. Insufficient time to prepare for the Kick-off Meeting. Allow approximately 10% of proposal preparation time to conduct planning in preparation for the kick-off meeting. Ensure attendees receive the schedule and writers packages, draft executive summary, and communications/collaboration instructions.
2. Little or no advance warning of the Kick-off Meeting resulting in limited participation. Before RFP release, identify as many kick-off meeting participants as possible. Keep them informed of the potential kick-off date. Send an email requesting their attendance at the kick-off meeting immediately after RFP release.
3. Right participants are not invited. Consider holding a second meeting for participants who were unable to attend.
4. Attendees are not prepared to participate. Provide just-in-time training to get them up-to-speed during the meeting. At the end of the kick-off meeting, everyone should clearly understand their roles and responsibilities.
5. Little or no executive support for the bid. Determine why the executives are unable or unwilling to support the kick-off meeting. If necessary, consider scheduling a new bid/no bid meeting.
6. Incorrect compliance matrix or requirements checklist. Have more than one person prepare the compliance matrix or requirements checklist. Ensure you follow the client’s instructions for preparing the compliance matrix or requirements checklist.
7. Incomplete writing package or schedule provided at the Kick-Off Meeting. Indicate the writing packages are not complete during the Kick-off Meeting. Let writers known when they will receive the completed packages, and complete the packages as quickly as possible.
8. No method of ongoing communications is defined or the method is incompatible with the team’s preferred methods of communication. Initiate ongoing standup meetings for managing the proposal. Select time and method of communication that is most convenient to participants.
9. Teaming partners are not included in the planning or kick-off process. Include trusted partners in the planning process – their knowledge can benefit the planning process and they may be able to help prepare writers package materials.
10. Risk Register is not used. Record risks and escalate them to the right source so they are quickly mitigated, avoided, deferred, or ignored.
11. Insufficient time for data calls. If you want high-quality information for your proposal, allow sufficient time for data calls. Start the process during the Pursuit Phase and ask for final information at the kick-off meeting.
12. No strategy for asking questions about the solicitation. Your company should not be afraid to ask questions about the instructions, evaluation criteria, or terms and conditions. Determine how questions can affect your competitive advantage before you ask them.

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