TArticles tagged with: proposal production

Proposal production checklists (Part 2 of 4)

As a follow up to Briana Coleman’s proposal production series, we’re sharing some helpful checklists and tools for you to use in planning your next proposal production effort. Download the MS Word documents and modify them to suit your company and proposals. Lohfeld Consulting Group – Printing Instructions Print/Assembly Instructions: Whether you are printing in-house or outsourcing this, you want to ensure that the printer fully understands your vision for the end product. Be specific about how you want the document printed and assembled. The attached document includes a sample instruction template. What checklists do you find indispensable—and what war stories can you share to reinforce the need for checklists? Send your thoughts to me at BWingate@LohfeldConsulting.com, and I’ll share your advice in upcoming posts!

Proposal production checklists (Part 1 of 4)

As a follow up to Briana Coleman’s proposal production series, we’re sharing some helpful checklists and tools for you to use in planning your next proposal production plan. Download the MS Word documents and modify them to suit your company and proposals. Lohfeld Consulting Group Proposal Production Checklist Production Checklist: Before you begin desktop publishing for the first time, develop a comprehensive production checklist. This checklist will serve to guide your desktop publisher on your vision of the final product, as well as guide you on production day to ensure you’ve done everything you need to do. The production checklist is like a compliance matrix for your production day—it’s easy to forget in the moment that the CEO must sign the SF1449, or that the labels on the box must show the solicitation number. Using a comprehensive checklist, customized for every job, ensures you’ll meet all requirements. I typically begin … Continue reading Proposal production checklists (Part 1 of 4) →

Confessions of a proposal production expert – printing and assembly (Part 4 of 5)

In theory, printing and assembling your final proposal books doesn’t sound too hard. You hit print, wait for the printer to spit out a few thousand pages, put them in a binder, and seal the box. In reality, printing and assembly is a 1–3 day process that involves dozens of small, but important, decisions and nuances. This week, Briana Coleman, PPM.APMP shares some of her favorite printing- and assembly-related production tips and war stories. Tip 1: Choosing a printing company Let’s start first with the printer you use: inside equipment versus outside vendor. Be honest with yourself. Do you really have the internal skills, machines, and supplies to fully support your production? An average office inkjet printer is not going to give you the quality or professionalism of a professional printer. It will also take much longer to produce your proposal. When you decide to print in-house, it is often … Continue reading Confessions of a proposal production expert – printing and assembly (Part 4 of 5) →

Confessions of a proposal production expert – desktop publishing (Part 1 of 5)

In a previous series on our Insights blog (search “Proposal production across the business development life cycle”), Briana Coleman, PPM.APMP explained the production best practices all companies should perform during each phase of the business development (BD) life cycle. In this series, she’ll dive deeper into production elements and share war stories and her favorite tips. These production elements include: Desktop publishing Graphic design Editing Printing and assembly Delivery Let’s begin with desktop publishing, the art of formatting a document to help communicate a message and for ease of reading. Tip 1: Start early Desktop publishing is not a race at the end. Think about the risks for page limits! As a desktop publisher, I’ve received documents 24 hours before they were due, with the instructions to “work my magic and cut five pages…” Don’t put that kind of pressure on your desktop publisher. Instead, begin desktop publishing and editing … Continue reading Confessions of a proposal production expert – desktop publishing (Part 1 of 5) →