TArticles tagged with: proposal evaluators

4 tips for effective proposal writing in the digital age

A 2015 Microsoft study found that digital distractions have resulted in the average person having an 8-second attention span—less than a goldfish! A 2016 Harvard Business Review (HBR) article stated that bad writing is the biggest productivity buster. Yet, we still write proposals the old-fashioned way, as if proposal evaluators have unlimited time and focus. Modernize your proposals to win in the digital age by learning from digital marketers. Here are four tips to grab the evaluator’s (short) attention with winning content. Calls to action Calls to Action or CTAs tell the reader what to do next. An effective CTA puts the right message in front of the right people at the right time. We see these techniques every day online when we read call now, find out more, or visit a store today. Of course, every CTA must have an associated benefit, such as savings or access to a … Continue reading 4 tips for effective proposal writing in the digital age →

How to increase audience engagement by varying your writing style

Varying sentence structure and length is key to maintaining reader interest

Do you ever get bored or even sleepy when reviewing a proposal? Have you ever found yourself at the bottom of a paragraph, but you can’t recall what it said? I know I have. If we feel that way, with only one proposal to read and a vested interest in improving the proposal, imagine how your customer feels. Your customer has stacks of proposals to assess. Further, many evaluators aren’t directly invested in the resulting contract; they were just assigned to help get the evaluation done. Given these conditions, it’s easy for reviewers to tune out. The last thing we want to do is provide a poorly written proposal to evaluators whose attention is already slipping. We want to avoid monotonous writing that lulls readers to sleep like the rhythm of riding a train. Instead, we should achieve a writing style with bursts of speed, exciting turns, and pauses for reflection and absorption. Two ways to engineer interest … Continue reading How to increase audience engagement by varying your writing style →

Improving the quality of proposal content with the APB writing model – Part 2

The APB method simplifies writing tasks and makes it easy for the government to evaluate your text

In the last post of the APB writing model series, I argued that training your proposal team to follow a standard writing model is the best approach for improving proposal content. In this post, I’ll introduce you to the APB writing model you should implement and describe the benefits this writing model achieves. After reading this post, you’ll be ready to transform your bids. The APB model stands for approach, process, and benefits. I liken the APB model to a police officer’s All Points Bulletin. A cop’s APB makes what they’re looking for abundantly clear so other officers won’t miss it. In the same way, your writing needs to make your strengths abundantly clear to evaluators so they won’t miss them. The APB structure gives the evaluators all the detail in an easy-to-read format so they can find and record those strengths and rate your proposal as outstanding. In addition … Continue reading Improving the quality of proposal content with the APB writing model – Part 2 →

7 secrets from inside government source evaluations and how you can use them to create winning proposals

Lohfeld Business Winning Webinar

Do you know how the government really evaluates proposals? Have you ever wondered what they look for when they read through each offer and what they like and dislike when scoring proposals? Not knowing this makes submitting a proposal to the U.S. Government like firing a shot across their bow. What happens on the “other side” is a mystery to most contractors, and debriefs often don’t tell the whole story. Or, even half the story! This is because those who prepare proposals and those who evaluate them have vastly different perspectives. In this webinar, we release the results of our 3-year research project on how the government evaluates proposals and what capture and proposal managers need to know in order to create better, higher-scoring proposals and win more highly competitive bids. Click to watch the webinar replay and download the presentation and research brief. You will learn how to realign … Continue reading 7 secrets from inside government source evaluations and how you can use them to create winning proposals →