TArticles tagged with: proposal development

The great belt-tightening

Tens of thousands of staff were laid off in late 2022 and early 2023

As we have all read, tens of thousands of staff were laid off in late 2022 and early 2023, including those listed below: Atlassian: ~500 staff Amazon: ~18,000 staff Dell: ~6,650 staff DocuSign: ~700 staff Goldman Sachs: ~3,200 staff Google/Alphabet: ~12,000 staff IBM: ~3,900 staff Microsoft: ~10,000 staff PayPal: ~2,000 staff Salesforce: ~8,000 staff SAP: ~3,000 staff Twilio: ~1,400 staff Yahoo: ~1,600 staff Zoom: ~1,300 staff We have also seen many companies begin to tighten their bid and proposal (B&P) development budget belts. Even if they are making big profits, they are spending B&P funds conservatively and trying to do more with less. For example, capture and proposal managers are handling an increasing number of bids, and direct-charge staff are handling an increasing solution development and proposal writing workload. So, how can companies still win business and do more with less without burning out their staff? Here are our top … Continue reading The great belt-tightening →

50 Words and phrases that call attention to your benefits, strengths, and discriminators

Helps the customer recognize them and can help raise your proposal score

Calling out your benefits, Strengths, and discriminators helps the customer recognize them and can help raise your proposal score. You can call out benefits, Strengths, and discriminators using icons, graphics, tables, words, and phrases. Consider using any of the following 50 words or phrases to call attention to the benefits, Strengths, and discriminators in your proposal. Words Advantage Benefit Differentiator Discriminator Eclipse Exceed (requirements, service levels, acceptable quality levels) Excel Exclusive Go beyond Greater than High (confidence, marks, recruitment, retention, value) Low (risk, cost) Master More than Only Outclass (outdo, outshine, outstrip, outweigh) Over Pass Significant Singular Strength Surpass Top Transcend Unique Phrases Before using one of these phrases, connect it to a user requirement, quantify or qualify the phrase, and follow it with a proof point from your experience. A benefit of our approach is [fill in the blank] A differentiator of our approach is [fill in the blank] … Continue reading 50 Words and phrases that call attention to your benefits, strengths, and discriminators →

50 Words and phrases to ghost competitors

One of the best ways to influence a customer to select your solution

Building confidence in your solution and casting doubt on a competitor’s solution is one of the best ways to influence a customer to select your solution. In the proposal industry, we call that method ghosting the competition. The next time you want to ghost a competitor consider using one of the following 50 words and phrases. Words Deficiency Disbelief Doubt Dubious Flag Lack of faith Lack of confidence Low confidence Low recruitment Low retention Low value High risk Misgivings Misguided Mitigation Qualms Question Query Reservation Skeptical Suspicion Unbelievable Uncertainty Waver Weakness Phrases All things considered, you might [fill in the blank] Based on industry data, that approach has potential weaknesses because [fill in the blank] Beyond a shadow of a doubt, [fill in the blank] Having faith in that approach might be mistaken, because [fill in the blank] High-risk solutions include [fill in the blank], because [fill in the blank] … Continue reading 50 Words and phrases to ghost competitors →

[Webinar replay available] Resumes for the Proposal Win (Expert tips to turn people into scoreable Strengths) | Lohfeld Business Winning Webinar

Proposal professionals often give little thought to resumes beyond compliance. Yet, resumes can highlight and prove discriminating Strengths.

Learn how to polish resumes, turn your personnel into the heroes of your proposal stories, and create persuasive evidence of your solution Strengths.