10 steps to creating high-scoring proposals

A modern perspective on proposal development and what really matters

Available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle

Get a modern perspective on proposal management. These insights will help you concentrate on what’s truly important in proposal development and identify best practices that may have fallen by the wayside.

We examine the Federal Government source selection decision-making process in detail. You’ll also find out what the government evaluators and the final decision maker look for as they review your proposals. You’ll learn more about our strength-based solutioning process, the difference between features and benefits—and how to really make your proposal stand out.

Finally, we walk you through 10 actions your organization can take that will positively affect your proposal outputs.

Outline

What’s in this book

Part 1 / How the Federal Government evaluates proposals

  • Objectives of a high-scoring proposal
  • How the government evaluates proposals
  • Factors and subfactors are key
  • Rating methods are important…strengths are critical
  • DoD color and adjectival rating method
  • Typical evaluation terminology
  • Defining strengths
  • Briefing to SSA
  • Source selection decisions

Part 2 / Rethinking the way we do proposals

  • Changing the state of the practice
  • Action #1 Design the proposal to be scored, not read
  • Action #2 Use our strength-based solutioning approach to create high-scoring proposals
  • Action #3 Draft your briefing to the SSA
  • Action #4 Think of proposals like artwork – built in three layers
  • Action #5 Put your proposal effort where it matters
  • Action #6 Review proposals the way your customer does
  • Action #7 Make proposals easy to evaluate
  • Action #8 Communicate your message visually
  • Action #9 Establish a standard of excellence for your proposals
  • Action #10 Improve your lessons-learned exercise

Part 3 / Q&A

Part 4 / Related articles

  • 7 questions to answer when making bid/no-bid decisions
  • Take your proposal from good to great in 30 minutes
  • What makes your bid a winner or a loser?
  • How bad are your proposals?
  • 3 keys to creating winning proposals – a defined and efficient process is essential to success
  • What the government won’t tell you about your proposal
  • 3 steps to improving your proposals – break the cycle of relearning key lessons each time around

Available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle