TArticles tagged with: proposal strategy

Strategic differentiation with a customer focus

Highlight real differentiators to emerge as a leader

I recently worked on a proposal that required – not an executive summary – but an introduction that called out the vendor’s differentiators. Perhaps one of the hardest aspects of our industry is coming up with real differentiators to cite in our proposals. In his book, “Collapse of Distinction. Stand out and move up while your competition fails”, Scott McKain suggests we spend too much time trying to duplicate and outdo our competitors. When we compete rather than emerge as a differentiated leader in our field, we are driven by the competition and not by the customer. McKain says that to have an advantage, we must pay more attention to what the customer wants than to what the competition is doing. Has this happened in your organization? The competition creates a point of distinction, so you duplicate it and try to do it even better. Each competitor introduces incremental changes … Continue reading Strategic differentiation with a customer focus

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12 Ways to mitigate proposal strategy review risks

At the 2011 APMP International Conference, Lohfeld Consulting Group’s Managing Director Brenda Crist presented an informative session on mitigating proposal risks. Here are Brenda’s identified Proposal Strategy Review Risks and recommended Mitigation Strategies: Proposal strategy review is not held. Hold a proposal strategy, storyboard, or pink team review approximately one-third of the way into the proposal life cycle. Not holding a review results in inconsistent messages communicated across the proposal or missing key win themes and substantiating evidence. Proposal is inconsistent with customer instructions. Verify your storyboards or strategy (writing plan) is consistent with the customer’s instructions for preparing the bid. No key personnel identified. By the proposal strategy review, storyboard, or pink team review, your company should have key personnel identified. If this risk is not mitigated, escalate it to the highest source. By the time the document is prepared for final review, all key personnel must be identified. … Continue reading 12 Ways to mitigate proposal strategy review risks

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