TArticles tagged with: government proposals

A Recipe for Best Value at the Lowest Price

Understand what is valuable to your customer

If you want to win a contract, be it TVs, toasters, or teacups, you need to understand what is valuable to your customer. Answer these questions to understand what your customer values: What pains, dependencies, or risks does the customer want to avoid? What functionality does the customer require? How can I exceed the customer’s expectations? For example, if the customer wants to build a service desk for widget technical support, understand any relevant pains, dependencies, or risks. The customer might have to divert its R&D staff from more important work to respond to requests for technical assistance. Or the customer might have a hard time trying to solve problems right the first time, which drives up costs and drives down customer satisfaction. Next, understand all the functionality the customer requires such as call, email, and chat functionality and 8/5 coverage. In addition, exceed your customer’s expectations by offering tangible … Continue reading A Recipe for Best Value at the Lowest Price →

Your proposal is not a story (and 10 tips for telling effective proposal stories!) | Oct. 27, 2020 Lohfeld Business Winning Webinar

Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2020 Time: 12:00 pm U.S. Eastern Daylight Saving Time Register now for this free Lohfeld Business Winning Webinar! Your proposal is not a story…but stories make your proposal better! Learn why you should approach your proposal from multiple entry points, rather than writing and reviewing it like a novel. Understand how to take advantage of corporate and employee stories to reinforce your value proposition. You’ll gain insight into how evaluators score and rate your proposal, why stories improve your score, and how to create stories that substantiate the discriminating Strengths of your solution. Lisa Pafe will provide 10 proposal story tips that you can put to use immediately to craft winning proposal narratives. Who should attend: Anyone involved in solutioning, writing, and reviewing proposals should attend this webinar. Click to attend this free webinar Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive an email message confirming your enrollment status and … Continue reading Your proposal is not a story (and 10 tips for telling effective proposal stories!) | Oct. 27, 2020 Lohfeld Business Winning Webinar →

Strength-Based Winning: Win More by Solutioning to Strengths | Oct. 14, 2018 (sponsored by ACT-IAC) | Philadelphia, PA

Sponsored by ACT-IAC as a day of training to kick off Imagine Nation – ELC 2018!!

Class date: Sun., Oct. 14, 2018 8:00 am – 4:30 pm Class location: Philadelphia Convention Center (Sponsored by ACT-IAC as a day of training to kick off Imagine Nation – ELC 2018!!) Note: You do not have to attend Imagine Nation – ELC 2018 or be an ACT-IAC member to attend this class! Winning proposals have the best and possibly the most strengths. This class sets the framework for how the Government evaluates proposals and what constitutes a strength to Government evaluators. Attendees learn how to perform strength-based capture, strength-based solutioning, and strength-focused proposal reviews as well as write proposal text that highlights those strengths. Registration: Click to register What you will learn: In this Strength-Based Solutioning seminar, you’ll learn how to: How the government evaluates proposals and determines strengths, weaknesses, deficiencies and risks How to plan and manage effective strength-based solutioning sessions How to budget and map strengths for … Continue reading Strength-Based Winning: Win More by Solutioning to Strengths | Oct. 14, 2018 (sponsored by ACT-IAC) | Philadelphia, PA →

Can proposal managers and contracting officers find common ground?

Do proposal managers and contracting officers (COs) have anything in common? Most likely, what we have in common is that we are on each other’s list of pet peeves. Or, one could argue, proposal managers think about the CO much more often than the CO thinks about us! As in, “When will the CO answer the questions? Will the CO extend the due date?” In addition, very rarely, if ever, are proposal managers and COs in the same room. Usually, the capture manager, program manager, and/or business development (BD) professional handles one-on-one meetings with the CO, so proposal managers and COs rarely if ever come face to face. If we ever meet, it is usually in a public setting such as an industry day. Last month, I had the opportunity to participate in a National Contract Management Association (NCMA) Government Contract Management Symposium (GCMS) breakout session—Talking to the Other Side: … Continue reading Can proposal managers and contracting officers find common ground? →