TArticles tagged with: win themes

The art of the data call: 4 data calls you can issue today

In today’s blog post, Lisa Pafe follows up on her previous data call-related advice with insights on how to develop data calls during the capture phase of your business development activities… My previous blogs discussed what you can do pre-RFP to tie your data call to the win strategy and how to get proof points that POP. But, what are the elements of the data call and who should complete it? Below are specific examples of data elements that will help you create and issue data calls during the capture stage. Staffing data call (Points of contact (POCs): HR and Recruiting) Personnel details (clearances, education, certifications, domain areas) Recruiting statistics (average time to fill positions, number of recruiters, size of recruiting database, recruiting sources) Retention rate (company-wide and project-specific) Meatball charts (experience versus functional or technical requirements) Representative resumes Past performance data call (POCs: Project Managers, SMEs, Proposals, and Contracts) … Continue reading The art of the data call: 4 data calls you can issue today →

The art of the data call: 7 questions to ask pre-RFP

In today’s blog post, Lisa Pafe provides advice on 7 questions to ask before RFP release… Over the past few months, I have served as a Color Team Reviewer on many proposals that, while compliant, had a glaring lack of proof points. When I debriefed the team, I told them that they had forgotten an important proposal task: the team-wide data call. Unfortunately, too many companies limit data calls to resumes, past performance, and a company bio of revenues and full time employees (FTE). But, a data call should go beyond compliance; it must form the basis of persuasion. Persuasion is what makes your proposal compelling. Data calls provide the grist for win themes, discriminators, features and benefits, call-out boxes, and action captions. At the most basic level, the data call is an information-gathering request, internal to your company and external to teaming partners, which specifies: Who: the point of … Continue reading The art of the data call: 7 questions to ask pre-RFP →

Don’t make these mistakes – 12 vital proposal lessons

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (George Santayana) Over the past 25 years spent managing and submitting thousands of proposals and task order responses, I’ve developed a long list of lessons learned. Of course, I have many proposal section-specific lessons learned that I’ll share in upcoming Lohfeld Insights posts, but here are some of my favorite overall lessons learned: Address solicitation requirements in the required order and substantiate every response. This makes it easier for evaluators to score your proposal. (Include RFP section numbers in your section headings so evaluators can easily cross reference to the RFP.) Evaluators love how compliance matrices save time and demonstrate your thorough response. Always include a compliance matrix – even if it masquerades as the table of contents. Follow solicitation instructions and evaluation criteria to make your response easier to score – help the comic book reviewers/scorers who just … Continue reading Don’t make these mistakes – 12 vital proposal lessons →