Develop winning federal_proposals
- 1. How to Develop Winning Federal PROPOSALS by Regina Lapierre
- 2. FEDERAL PROPOSAL WRITING – REMEMBER THE 12 Essential Cs • Customer-focused • Committed • Customized • Compelling • Creative • Candid • Consistent • Concise • Correct • Complete • Compliant • Clean
- 4. Customer-Focused Put Customer’s needs first, then describe your capabilities. Articulate: • Customer’s objectives • Customer’s perceptions • Customer’s concerns and biases (research!) Then… • Your discriminators! RESULTS – capabilities and accolades
- 5. The “Understanding” Section • State the mission to be accomplished • Explain your understanding of the Customer’s requirements and viewpoint • Describe what the Customer is trying to achieve • Shorten the “sob story” Finish with “that’s why you need us….!” Sell yourself throughout the proposal, even in this section which is primarily about the customer.
- 6. Committed • Link the Customer to us in joint ownership of the project – “together we can…” Infuse this into the exec summary (introducing your company) and then throughout.
- 7. Customized • Beware best practices. Instead, blend outstanding practices with innovative solutions that fit the client's needs. • Identify the Customer’s culture. Is this Customer military, EPA, Commerce? Sing from their songbook (e.g., patriotism, environmental stewardship, enabling free commerce and trade). • Read the RFP, read into the RFP and use their language. • Tease out major themes in the RFP (for example, helping returning veterans and their families) and repeat them throughout the proposal. • Remember context. ATM has different meanings to bankers, the general public, people in telecommunications, and air traffic management professionals.
- 8. Compelling • Write for a busy reader (bullets, graphics, flow, logical easy-to-follow outline) • Active voice, for the most part • Action captions • Eliminate statements that evoke a “So what?” or an “I should hope so!” response • Emphasize “how we’ve done it before with great results, and we can do it again – for the you!” Passive vs. Active Eh: The benefits of these systems will be recognized by more government agencies as the technology matures. Better: More government agencies will recognize the benefits of these systems as the technology matures.
- 9. • Substantiate with metrics results, number of years of experience, award fees, CPAR ratings, cost savings, accolades from customers. • Promote value when introducing a process, tool or best practice; emphasize TCO and ROI. • State the solution by answering the “so what” question – describe the tools we will use to achieve the Customer’s goals. • Describe deliverables and provide specific relevant examples and how you have provided them in the past. • Substantiate your approach by referring to experience.
- 10. Creative • Personalize. Let your personality shine through - three guys in a garage story – convey your company’s culture and its style of working • Pictures. People buy from people – group shot? Portraits of key people? Or not… but illustrations just the same. • Graphics. Use them to illustrate concepts throughout the proposal; work with graphic artists to ensure figures are readable and meet proposal font and size constraint. • Action captions. These are more informative than labels for figures and tables. • Provide a good transition from text to figures. • For oral presentations, use posters and visual props.
- 11. Candid • Don’t say you can if you can’t • No exaggerated claims – they nullify your capabilities • No meaningless self-aggrandizement – its boring and cliché
- 12. Speaking of Clichés… avoid them people are numb to them – here are some examples • Innovative (as opposed to outdated) • At the end of the day (time for Taps?) • Best-of-breed (arf?) • Food for thought (exactly what foods are best for thinking?) • Raising the bar (time for hurdles) • Set the table/turn the table (china or everyday ware?) • Get everyone on the same page (that‘s an odd picture) • Pushing the envelope (another odd picture) • Fertile ground (ew – don’t wear heels) • Value-added (if you don’t see it as clearly as I do – then you’re not as smart as I am) • Core competencies (as opposed to core incompetencies) • Interface with (are you going to call then, write or kiss?) • On a regular basis (How is this priced?) • Thought leaders (kind of conceited) • Leverage (way overused) • Impactful (ouch) • Thinking outside the box (vs. thinking while sitting inside a box) • Under the bus (and over the fence, for that matter)
- 13. Consistent Use a logical, consistent pattern throughout the proposal: • Resounding themes that repeat throughout each section. • Consistent terms. Decide if it‘s a bicycle, bike, cycle, two- wheeler, velocipede, or an MTB. If you use bicycle in one sentence, and then bike in another, some people think a bike is a motorcycle • Call the customer the same name throughout. • Refer to your company or your team in the same way. Not the Happyheart Team and then Team Happyheart, for example • Capitalize the same words – don’t use “Government” then “government” (with exceptions). • Check headings, lists, and tables for style consistency and parallel construction.
- 14. Concise • Break up long sentences into smaller easier to digest sentences. • Use simple, short words, especially since English may not be the reviewer’s first language (use vs. utilize). • Use graphics throughout, to break up text and explain things effectively. • List bullet points (grouped according to similarities). • Eliminate redundancies and unnecessary wording.
- 15. An example of Gobbledygook BEFORE “Our wealth of data management experience gives us a unique vantage point in the market and allows us to build an understanding of both the challenges and the opportunities you and your various operating units face as you embark on reviewing data processing procedures and capabilities. Our aim is to leverage our enterprise, experience and expertise to focus upon the key operational requirements and to go far beyond them to deliver. We are confident that we will be able to provide you with innovative services and solutions that will provide the opportunity to reduce costs and enhance operational performance across all areas of your business. AFTER “By combining our insight into retail operations with our data processing expertise, we will deliver a system that meets your technical requirements and delivers bottom-line performance. You can expect reduced costs, improved operational performance, and a more integrated business environment.”
- 16. ELIMINATE REDUNDANCY • actual experience (experience) • past experience (experience) • close proximity (near) • have the ability to (can) • plan in advance (plan) • qualified expert (expert) • Separate out (separate) SIMPLIFY SENTENCES • at a later date in time (later) • be cognizant of (know) • by virtue of the fact that (because) • To keep it from sounding choppy, vary sentence length and mix in passive voice where appropriate • Passive voice - when the actor isn’t important and for a break
- 17. Correct - Politically • Avoid “he” vs. “she” and gender assignment to roles (“chairman”) unless naming names. • Avoid references that might be culturally specific or offensive : sacred cow, holy cow, sacrificial lamb, magic carpet, magic genie, open the kimono, losing face, Holy Grail, rule of thumb, off the reservation, divide and conquer, cannibalize, canonize, crucify, hang on a cross, tar baby (and all Briar Patch imagery), anything “Nazi” (e.g., “environazi”) gestapo, lock-step, storm troopers, drink the Kool Aid, storm the Bastille, heads will roll, and natural disasters “tsunami,” – also sports references “slam dunk” etc. One of the Knights of Nii
- 18. Correct - Technically “You'll risk turning a winning proposal into a loser if you present inaccurate data to the client,” – a wise person. • Only pursue work for which you have capabilities and expertise unless you partner with another vendor who can infill the gaps. • If you use client data to support aspects of the proposal, double-check and triple-check that information. It's easy for facts to be misunderstood and misused in a proposal. • Get to know and build trust with partners.
- 19. Complete Create Your Own Doc Checklist • Cover Letter • TOC • All required copy elements (e.g., acronym list) • All volumes • Binders – CDs • Covers • Extra forms, certs and reps, etc.
- 20. Compliant “Complete compliance with every requirement of the RFP is critical - any compliance flaw in your proposal or missed compliance requirement, however small, can relegate you to the reject pile.” -- a wise person • Create a compliance matrix; for major efforts, designate a compliance manager • Update matrix with each amendment • Remember - font size and style - in text, tables, and graphics • Page limits • Margins • Acronym list if required
- 21. Clean • Sweat every detail: Watch for typos, use high-quality materials, and make sure that the right people receive the proposal on time. • Conduct a white-glove review: Gather a group to look through all copies and to make sure all pages begin and end where they should, no splotches. • Double check contents: In addition to reviewing for cleanliness and order, ensure each binder has every required element; ensure CDs are labeled and contain all the requisite content.
- 22. The Boring Details Can Kick You Out So Maintain a Style Guide Set rules for such things as: • Serial comma – I use it so that the last two objects do not seem to be a set • Spaces after sentences – two or one? Proposals usually have a page count • Courtesy title plus name because many names are gender ambiguous; “Mr. Stacey Keach” later “Mr. Keach” • Action captions, consistent format • Initial caps for bullets (or not) • Punctuation after bullets (or not – make a rule) • Group like bullets (theme) • Judicious use of passive voice • Use of “you” – I like it – do YOU?