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Articles tagged with: roles and responsibilities
How to screen and interview proposal managers?
Dear Proposal Doctor,
My organization is woefully short of proposal managers and I have been under pressure to hire more. We advertise in the usual places and we get applicants.
The interview process does not seem to be a good predictor of who will be effective and who will be a good fit with our environment. No matter what questions we ask, we don’t seem to find out the right information. Sometimes we are pleasantly surprised; more often, we are not. This means we might be…
Pressing commitments – how to be “fair” as proposal manager?
Dear Proposal Doctor,
I am running a big proposal. Several people on the team are critical to the effort because of how much they know. Each seems to have some kind of personal commitment that cuts into their day several times a week. It’s either kids, medical appointments, other professional commitments, a sick relative, a household repair, or something else.
I don’t want to have one standard for most of the team (you need to be in the office) and another standard for a select…
Beyond proposal burnout – what to do?
Dear Proposal Doctor,
With only 2 weeks before a major proposal submittal, the key people on my team are in an advanced state of burn out. Some are sleeping on couches in the office rather than going home. Others come in to work not having slept at all.
It’s impossible to move any deadlines and still get the proposal done, and it’s going to be impossible to meet the deadlines given the level of exhaustion. Because of multiple proposal extensions, this situation has been intensifying…
Why show up if everyone else wants to run the proposal show? Ask the Proposal Doctor
Dear Proposal Doctor,
All of a sudden, everyone on my team is obsessed with fonts and kerning and other aspects of desktop publishing. People who should be worried about the solution and the price are weighing in on the appearance of the document. Everyone has an opinion on the best color scheme, margins, headers, footers, and text boxes.
Isn’t this my domain? Shouldn’t I have the final say on this? Why is everyone else trying to do my job? What is the point of my…
What to do with proposal “graphics & mayonnaise” complainers?
Dear Proposal Doctor,
Managing a big, complicated proposal is hard enough without having to listen to my complainers all day. I have two of them. They complain about everything from the quality of the graphics to the mayonnaise on the sandwiches at lunch. Responding to their issues and listening to them vent is just taking too much of my time, and I am worried about meeting our deadline for red team. I might even have to postpone it. How can I deal with these individuals?
Sick and…
Dear Proposal Doctor,
Despite a kick off meeting at which we discussed roles and responsibilities, everyone on this proposal seems to be stepping on everyone’s toes. The coordinator keeps trying to do my job; the capture manager is trying to be the solution architect; the contracts representative is getting way too involved in pricing. We have redundancy and re-work in some areas and complete neglect in others. How can I get things back on track?
Proposal-Manager-in-Chaos
Dear Proposal Manager,
I feel your pain and have lived…
Dear Proposal Doctor,
We are a little more than halfway through the response time for a big, must-win bid. Red team madness is approaching. Big gaps exist. We have not road-tested the solution, and we are still missing resumes for people badly needed for us to be credible for this job. Two partners have yet to sign their teaming agreements. Yet the capture manager and the two senior executives with a lot to lose (or gain) are focused (read obsessed) with tiny proposal details…
Dear Proposal Doctor,
People say I have a big head, but believe me, I would prefer to only wear one hat. Unfortunately, my capture manager is not doing his job. Communications with subcontractors are erratic and inconsistent, the pricing team does not have a strategy, and progress towards a viable solution is slow. Every time I jump in to help with these items, the team is so grateful to have someone providing direction. In fact, if not for my efforts, nothing would have been accomplished on…
5 Tips for Hiring a Proposal Consultant
This article was originally published August 2, 2010 on WashingtonTechnology.com.
Proposal activities in the government market generally peak in the summer months. The requests for proposals that we have been waiting for all year seem to drop at that time. To handle the peaks and valleys in proposal workload, get additional proposal expertise for must-win procurements or get a fresh view on how to present their solutions, companies reach out to proposal consultants. When you need help from proposal consultants, here are some things you should keep in mind.
A typical proposal can take a dozen or more people to develop…
