Proposals are Chaos

For the latest thinking on proposals and more...

2009-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

For the latest thinking on proposals and more, please see:

Mies van der Rohe Society/Glessner House Museum South Side Tour and RedBall Project visit IIT

2008-09-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

See what's old & new on the Near South Side, Watch RedBall roll into IIT- Saturday, September 20 as IIT's Mies van der Rohe Society and the Glessner House Museum offer guests a chance to learn more about the city with a tour of three centuries of Chicago South Side architecture from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, September 20, beginning at the Glessner House Museum, 1800 S. Prairie Ave., Chicago, and ending on IIT's Main Campus at 33rd and State St., Chicago.

This event is aimed especially at Chicago area residents who are interested in learning about the architectural heritage of their neighborhood. The tour visits twelve historic sites, including the Prairie Avenue Historical District and IIT's Main Campus, which were both designated among the 150 Great Places in Illinois by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Illinois, as well as the following locations:

Glessner House / Clarke House - 1800 S. Prairie Ave
2nd Presbyterian Church - 1936 S Michigan Ave
Chess Records - 2120 S Michigan Ave
Quinn Chapel - 2401 S Wabash Ave
Motor Row Historic District
New Bronzeville / McCormick Portal
King Drive Walk of Fame
Griffin Funeral Home - 3232 S King Dr
Roloson Houses - 3213-19 S Calumet Ave
Prairie Giles Calumet Historic District
Pilgrim Baptist Church - 3300 S Indiana Ave
IIT – McCormick Tribune Campus Center - 33rd & State St

Tour participants will explore IIT's world-renowned Main Campus and help the university celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Rem Koolhaas-designed McCormick Tribune Campus Center and the Helmut Jahn-designed State Street Village. The event will conclude at IIT with a hot dog luncheon and family activities including a bean bag toss and a scavenger hunt, followed by a panel discussion about upcoming development of the campus and the area around it.

This is a free event and families are welcome. For more information, please visit www.mies.iit.edu. Reservations are recommended and may be made by contacting 312.567.5025 or miesmembership@iit.edu.

Also on Saturday, September 20, IIT campus guests can enjoy the RedBall Project Chicago from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. as it visits the McCormick Tribune Campus Center (MTCC). The RedBall Project Chicago, sponsored by Target, will migrate from September 1 – 25 throughout Chicago's unique architectural landscape and history – each location carefully considered by the artist, Kurt Perschke. Compressed into each site, the 15-foot inflatable sphere changes its own shape as well as the space it inhabits, directly reflecting the viewer's experience of metropolitan density. To follow the RedBall Project's migration in Chicago and beyond, visit www.redballproject.com. The RedBall Project Chicago is a special project of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs' Public Art Program. For more information, please visit www.CityofChicago.org/PublicArt or call 312.744.6630.

Trust is not a four-letter word

2008-07-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Stop Acting Like a Seller and Start Thinking Like a Buyer and have been thinking about trust. Paraphrasing the book, if a client trusts you then you can make a sale to them. If they don’t, you are wasting your time.

Tom Sant had a recent post, Calculating Trust, on his Messages that Matter blog that gives a great/simple equation to express the essence of trust: Trust = Rapport x Credibility / Risk

Tom says, "Rapport is based on a gut-level reaction. Do I like this person? Do I enjoy talking to him or her? Am I comfortable with this person's style?"

Credibility is based on cognitive matters and can be demonstrated through case studies, references, testimonials, project plans, timelines, brief resumes of key team members, and other types of evidence. Imagine your prospects/customers thinking "are they an expert in their field and do they understand and have insights into my business to help me achieve my goals?"

Risk - the potential for wasting time and/or money, etc. - is always present. Risk can be minimized by guarantees/warranties like service level agreements, risk-sharing plans, free trial periods, providing good references from similar customers and showing a big potential reward.

Read Tom's post, Calculating Trust, here.

8:31

2008-05-30T07:31:00.001-07:00

A day in the life...

If You Want Customers to Be Happy, Give Them Less Product Information

2008-04-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

Everybody's favorite ex-Mac evangalist Guy Kawasaki has a post about something that every proposal writer knows: If you want customers to be happy, give them less product information.

Basically, some researchers at the The University of Iowa conducted a study that found that, of two groups, the group given less information was more optimistic about the product because it was easier to engage in wishful thinking.

Interesting stuff and seems to follow-on from a famous phrase sneered at by some: less is more.

Click here to read If You Want Customers to Be Happy, Give Them Less Product Information from How to Change the World.

Mapping the blogosphere

2008-04-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

BBC 5's Pods and Blogs did a story today about mapping the blogosphere. Morningside Analytics is working on how all of these things connect and labeling them accordingly. See their site here.

What to do when you've missed the proposal deadline (email)

2008-04-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

The world's third most proposal maverick Prof Alid Loyas (behind Tom Sant and one other guy) passed this on to me today and it will help every proposal writer, salesperson and EA that has missed an email proposal deadline.

Introducing Gmail Custom Time!
Google's new service lets you send emails after the due date but time stamps them earlier (or later for that matter). This is what ever proposal writer has been waiting for!

How do I use it?
Just click "Set custom time" from the Compose view. Any email you send to the past appears in the proper chronological order in your recipient's inbox. You can opt for it to show up read or unread by selecting the appropriate option.

Is there a limit to how far back I can send email?
Yes. You'll only be able to send email back until April 1, 2004, the day we launched Gmail. If we were to let you send an email from Gmail before Gmail existed, well, that would be like hanging out with your parents before you were born -- crazy talk.

How does it work?
Gmail utilizes an e-flux capacitor to resolve issues of causality (see Grandfather Paradox).

How come I only get ten?
Our researchers have concluded that allowing each person more than ten pre-dated emails per year would cause people to lose faith in the accuracy of time, thus rendering the feature useless.

Their findings:

N = Total emails sent
P = Probability that user believes the time stamp
φ = The Golden Ratio
L = Average life expectancy

THIS IS A GREAT FEATURE!! Could all these bloggers be wrong?

Gmail April Fools Not Very Funny. On the Upside, They Started A ...

20 hours ago by Michael Arrington
Gmail Custom Time lets users send emails with a custom date in the past, putting it in the recipients inbox at the old date:. How do I use it? Just click “Set custom time” from the Compose view. Any email you send to the past appears in ...
techcrunch - http://www.techcrunch.com - References

Google Introduces “Gmail Custom Time”

11 hours ago by Michael Santo
By Michael Santo Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews You can forget ever having to send a “belated” Birthday email again with Gmail’s new Custom Time feature (although if the person doesn’t rate more than an email - not even an emailed ...
Alice Hill's Real Tech News - Independent Tech - http://www.realtechnews.com - References

Google Introduces "Gmail Custom Time"

11 hours ago by Technology Expert
You can forget ever having to send a "belated" Birthday email again with Gmail's new Custom Time feature (although if the person doesn't rate more than an email - not even an emailed greeting card - why bother?). ...
Tech-Ex - http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/ - References

Gmail Custom Time

10 hours ago by Mark O'Neill
Google’s 2008 April Fool’s joke - send emails into the past. read more digg story. Post from: Better Than Therapy - by Mark O'Neill. No unauthorized copying of this post allowed! Gmail Custom Time.
Better Than Therapy - http://www.betterthantherapy.net

Gmail Custom Time

14 hours ago by Dj Flush
So here is an interesting new Gmail feature called Gmail Custom Time. You can now send mails by selecting “Set custom time” from the Compose view. Any email you send to the past appears in the proper chronological order in your ...
Sizlopedia - Technology, Web, Gadgets - http://www.sizlopedia.com

Gmail Custom Time revolutionizes email, saves marriages

3 hours ago by Ben Kunz
We love Google. Its web email service, Gmail, has added a brilliant "custom time" stamp feature allowing you to set any date you want on an email -- so if you forget to mail a business proposal or send Mom a birthday card, simply email ...
Thought Gadgets - http://www.thoughtgadgets.com/

Gmail Custom Time (Beta)

12 hours ago by Giannella
Gmail have introduced a new beta project ‘Gmail Custom Time’. Where you can set the date of a ’sending’ email to anytime in the past.One funny thing about this project is the slogan, that is:. Be on time. Every time.* ...
iSeeker - http://iseeker.wordpress.com

Gmail Custom Time Feature and Google gDay

13 hours ago by Nirmal
Google has introduced a new feature in Gmail- Custom Time. With this feature you can set custom time for the email sent from your inbox and also set it as read or unread. Any email you send to the past appears in the proper ...
- Life Rocks! 2.0 - - http://www.nirmaltv.com

Introducing Gmail Custom Time

12 hours ago by Barry
Introducing Gmail Custom TimeTM. Read about Googles new email (beta) that allows you to be ontime everytime. “Just click “Set custom time” from the Compose view. Any email you send to the past appears in the proper chronological order ...
Gnostalgia - http://gnostalgia.wordpress.com

gmail custom time

13 hours ago
With Gmail's Custom Time you can send that email back in time and it'll appear in your recipient's inbox in the correct chronological order. You can even mark it as "read" so now you have them thinking they're going crazy! Brilliant. ...
EPIC-FU blog - http://blog.epicfu.com/

Gmail custom time: send your emails retroactively (April Fool's ...

8 hours ago by Gerd Leonhard
Link: Gmail: Google's approach to email. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
MediaFuturist - http://www.mediafuturist.com/

Gmail Custom Time: For the Procrastinator

14 hours ago by Jeff Chenkus
Leave it to Google to give you a feature that will always make you on time with your emails. An important deadline you missed? Send that email whenever you feel like it and just set the time on the email back to put you right on ...
Nerd Approved - Gadgets and Gizmos - http://nerdapproved.com/

Gmail Custom Time - April 1st Couldn’t be any foolish !!!

12 hours ago by Murali
Google is very well known for this. Gmail now comes with a custom time. That means you can sen
INSPIONS - Murali's Thought Garage - http://blogs.inspions.net

Gmail Custom Time - What would you do?

12 hours ago by Zack
Gmail Custom Time!”. When I clicked the link, it took me here. Google releases an amazing new product every year on April 1st. Last year, it was a nationwide wi-fi system that runs through your toilet. ...
ZackRiesland.com - (Zack's Blog) - http://zackriesland.wordpress.com/

Google Offers New Gmail Custom Time Setting

11 hours ago by Chris Lang
With the new Gmail custom time you can always be on time. Running late? Send a an email from Gmail Custom Time and set the time for three hours earlier. Forgot the wife’s birthday? Send her a an email that you are at the office and ...
Social Marketing and Networking, Email... - http://www.keywebdata.com

Gmail Custom Time I knew time travel was possible! Thank you...

13 hours ago
Gmail Custom Time. I knew time travel was possible! Thank you Google!!! (But I really wish they would add THIS feature)
Psychic Plague Panacea - http://www.shawnblog.com/

Gmail Custom Time

12 hours ago by James Joyner
Gmail has finally come up with something useful:. Gmail Custom Time. Heh. Share This.
Outside The Beltway OTB - http://www.outsidethebeltway.com

Gmail Custom Time

5 hours ago by Lisa Mantchev
Dangit, the one thing I wish WASN'T an April Fool's Day joke. The best part is the math:. N = Total emails sent P = Probability that user believes the time stamp φ = The Golden Ratio L = Average life expectancy.
Backstage at the Théâtre Illuminata - http://lisamantchev.livejournal.com/

Gmail Custom Time.

14 hours ago by The Missus
What will Google think of next? Always pushing the limits of what consumers can do on the Internet, they are now allowing you to send emails back in time. What does that mean exactly? Well, they use this thing-a-ma-bob called the ...
On Common Ground - http://oncommonground.blogspot.com/

Gmail Unveils 'Custom Time'

10 hours ago by Michael
Gmail Custom TimeTM. Ever wish you could go back in time and send that crucial email that could have changed everything — if only it hadn’t slipped your mind? Gmail can now help you with those missed deadlines, missed birthdays and ...
Discourse.net - http://www.discourse.net/ - References

Gmail Custom Time

10 hours ago by guardedheart
It’s the Gmail Custom Time. Basically its for people like me who is late for everything. When you write an email now you have the option to set a date from the past. Say you needed to email something to your professor before midnight ...
Guardedheart's Weblog - http://guardedheart.wordpress.com

Google: Gmail Custom Time

7 hours ago
Google is giving the ability to select your own time on you emails so you can have proof that they were snet when YOU say they were, allowing for the possibility of never being wrong again. 9 Vote(s)
Sphinn: New Topics - http://sphinn.com
[ More results from Sphinn: New Topics ]

New Gmail Custom Time!

11 hours ago by Matt
Now you can back date e-mails when you send them. You can even mark them as “Read” before they’re sent. So say you forgot to e-mail somebody some information? Just back date it, mark it read, send it. Then tell them to check again. ...
BG Willers.com - http://buthard.wordpress.com

Gmail Custom Time…

11 hours ago by Chris
Oh google, how I enjoy your yearly April fools shenanegans. gmail custom time.
brickwindow - http://www.brickwindow.com/

Gmail Custom Time (and this time we mean it)

21 hours ago by jay
Gmail Custom Time (and this time we mean it) Gmail Custom Time (and this time we mean it) Originally uploaded by qthrul. Right around 1am for whatever services BellSouth Extreme DSL for Atlanta GA ;-). It was worth the wait :)
fudge.org - http://fudge.org
[ More results from fudge.org ]

GMail sending email back to the past

13 hours ago by A Jacksonian
Seen at GMAIL 01 APR 2008, Gmail Custom Time:. Google. Gmail Custom Time. Introducing Gmail Custom TimeTM. Be on time. Every time.*. How do I use it? Just click "Set custom time" from the Compose view. Any email you send to the past ...
Dumb Looks Still Free - http://ajacksonian.blogspot.com/

GMail custom time discarded lies - hyperlinkopotamus

9 hours ago by guest author: evariste @ coffeeshop
GMail custom time.
the hyperlinkopotamus @ discarded lies - http://discardedlies.com/

Gmail Custom Time

14 hours ago by Fuzz
Google always seems to come up with some silly April Fool’s Day joke. Today it’s “Gmail Custom Time.” It’s pretty cute - but a little too unbelievable to actually “fool” anybody. My favorite line: “Need an email to arrive 6 hours ago? ...
Untitled - http://fuzzmartin.com

Introducing Gmail Custom Time

13 hours ago by JuggoPop
Gmail now lets you set your emails to show up as sent from any time in history… well back until April 1st, 2004 (the start of gmail). Oh, and you are limited to 10 per year. Good thing we all have gmail invites left over. ...
JuggoPop.com - http://www.juggopop.com

a handy tool

7 hours ago by Jonah
Gmail Custom Time. Introducing Gmail Custom TimeTM. Be on time. Every time.*. How do I use it? Just click "Set custom time" from the Compose view. Any email you send to the past appears in the proper chronological order in your ...
Untitled - http://adventuresinbrooklyn.blogspot.com/

Gmail Custom Time! No wait, April Fools!

19 hours ago by Victor
Google has decided to prank all of us this year by launching Gmail Custom Time. Ever wish you could go back in time and send that crucial email that could have changed everything — [...]
Loco News - http://news.mylocoworld.com/

Google Announces Gmail Custom Time

11 hours ago by Ricky montalvo
Cal_blue Starting with Google, the April Fool's announcements begin: Click Here.
Blog001 - http://www.blog001.net/

WOW! Breaking the space-time continuum with Google’s Gmail Custom Time

7 hours ago by admin
A terrific new way to avoid all those guilt inducing moments when you realize you forgot to acknowledge a birthday, or anniversary. Now you can simply send an email today, that will show up yesterday, last month, or last year in the ...
BLORGE.com - http://blorge.com/

Gmail Custom Time

20 hours ago by azeis
This is fantastic .. I was one of the lucky beta testers and wasn't allowed to comment on it until it's official release, but it's finally here! Google Custom Time. - now you have the fantastic feature of "pre-dating" your emails. ...
BlackBerry Forums at CrackBerry.com - http://forums.crackberry.com

Gmail’s Custom Time

13 hours ago by adam
I opened Gmail this morning to find that the big G was introducing a new feature: Gmail Custom Time. The feature lets you predate ten email messages a year. Did you sleep through your term paper deadline after one too many rounds of the ...
Have You Heard - http://www.haveyouheard.net

Gmail Custom Time feature

17 hours ago by XIII
Swjeet, Google came up with a new interesting gmail feature allowing you to “Be on time. Every time.” I love how they keep coming up with new features to help GTD (Getting Things Done). Read more about it on the gmail site here.
13 steps - http://x111.com

Gmail Custom Time another reason to love Google

21 hours ago
Introducing Gmail Custom Time. This nifty new future allows you to send emails in the past. You set the custom time in the compose view and the email you send to the past appears in the proper chronological order in your recipients ...
Untitled - http://www.electronicsinfoline.com

Gmail custom time

14 hours ago by joepro
The geeks at google are at it again. They can't fool me this time, though. Actually, they didn't fool me the last time, either, but at least that prank was funny. This one, I either don't get the joke or I find it incredibly unfunny. ...
joepro's journal - http://joepro.livejournal.com/

Introducing Gmail Custom Time - Be On Time, Every Time

31 Mar 2008
How do I use it? Just click "Set custom time" from the Compose view. Any email you send to the past appears in the proper chronological order in your recipient's inbox. You can opt for it to show up read or unread by selecting the ...
showhype - Top Entertainment News, Videos,... - http://showhype.com/
[ More results from showhype - Top Entertainment News, Videos,... ]

Custom Time in Gmail

12 hours ago by Paul
Introducing Gmail Custom Time. Anybody else see this great new feature in Gmail? I’ve already used it a couple of times. I forgot my brother’s birthday, so I just used this and sent him a Happy Birthday email and marked it so as the ...
SteelerDirtFreak :: 21st Century Missional... - http://www.steelerdirtfreak.com

Introducing new Gmail Custom Time feature

15 hours ago by hayden
Check it out: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html.
PinStack.com - BlackBerry forums - http://blackberryforums.pinstack.com

Google Custom Time

12 hours ago by Derek
Today when I logged into my Gmail account I was presented with a New! feature; Gmail Custom Time I have to give props to Google, they have a great sense of humor. Google was even able to throw in a reference to the coveted Flux ...
twistedcode - http://twistedcode.blogspot.com/

Is there anything Google can’t do?

21 hours ago by BT
Google has introduced Gmail Custom Time which allows you to send emails into the past. Unfortunately, it’s just the latest in a long line of Google’s April Fool’s Day pranks. Ask A Copywriter - because advertising is just advice you ...
Ask A Copywriter - http://askacopywriter.blogspot.com/

Google Is Set To Offer New Features

10 hours ago by Justin
Gmail Custom Time. As I was checking my Gmail today, I noticed some read text up in the top right corner. Eager to see what it was, I clicked on it and was taken to a page explaining the new feature added to Gmail. ...
Life of Justin - http://www.lifeofjustin.com

Google Time Travel

10 hours ago by Cody
Introducing Gmail Custom TimeTM. Be on time. Every time.*. Google’s all about empowering that end user, eh? PS. I still say Google’sa screaming buy below $500 these days. ShareThis.
CodyWillard.com - Flip It - http://codywillard.com/

If you liked this you'll love this: Video exclusive: First-ever images of the world's only flying penguins

Mies and Duke Ellington make music "Under Glass"

2008-03-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

Join the Mies van der Rohe Society to celebrate the 122nd birthday of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, accompanied by the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Relive the golden year of 1957 and a concert originally played in Crown Hall by the Duke.
Dancing, cocktails and dessertsSaturday, March 29, 20088–11pmS. R. Crown Hall 3360 South State Street Chicago

Cost $40 - $75 per person. More info here.Free admission for IIT College of Architecture students, faculty & staff (cash bar)

Reservations required by March 21st.

Here's the history: In 1957 Crown Hall was new. Chicago architect John Vinci was in the first class to study architecture there. The school had a tradition of an annual "I-Ball" dance and Vinci became one of those responsible for putting it on. Vinci and many of the Modernists loved jazz, although Mies did say, "when you improvise you must be very careful." Vinci and his group booked Duke Ellington and his orchestra. The architecture students built a bandstand out of scaffolding, plywood and wooden forms used for concrete. It was nearly eight feet high, and they painted it all white. It must have been beautiful in Crown Hall. (I have not been able to find any photographs, but I'll ask John Vinci again. Many of the Miesians took photos and I bet some exist somewhere of this event.) Vinci remembers that Duke Ellington and his band had to climb a ladder to get onstage.

Students from the Institute of Design decorated Crown Hall that night and their main effect was to shine blue and green spotlights from outside the building, through the branches of the honey locust trees around Crown Hall, so that the shadows of the branches were seen inside the building, playing on the milk-glass that goes from the floor to above eye-level. I've seen that effect at Crown (though not with colored lights) most memorable a few years back when the buidling reopened after a renovation. IIT shone spotlights through the branches, and on the inside it makes the milk glass look more than ever like living Japanese screens. (I have photos of this effect taken recently, I'll post one soon.) Crown's glass always has that effect, even during the day.

Supposedly Duke Ellington enjoyed himself so much that night that he wanted to return to Crown Hall to record an album. It was to be called "Ellington Under Glass," - a great name - but that never happened.And students such as John Vinci remember Mies that night, sitting in a Barcelona chair, with a cigar, enjoying the evening.

Thanks to Edward Lifson for doing the heavy lifting!
http://edwardlifson.blogspot.com/2008/03/mies-and-duke-ellington-make-music.html

Any advice for proposal people needing to get greater sponsorship from senior colleagues within the business?

2008-02-26T06:29:00.000-08:00

The Proposal Guys posed this to Patricia Volmer, retired “Proposal Witch”, in an interview on their site. Patricia's response:

I firmly believe the only way to get greater sponsorship is to educate senior management. In our case, I gave a mini-presentation to people at various levels within the business - anyone who would be asked to contribute or whose buy-in we needed. During my presentation, I presented many of the points I picked up from BJ when I attended a conference which he presented. Many of the people to whom I presented commented that they had not previously understood the work involved to produce a proposal. They had a mentality of “it’s all done by elves and magic”. (BJ used this term during his presentation.) Sr. management needs to understand what it takes to develop, produce and submit high-quality proposals and not support the elves and magic mentality in order for the quality of proposals and the way in which they are produced to improve.

Click here to see the full interview. It is insightful.

Black Keys new album produced by Danger Mouse

2008-02-24T10:02:00.000-08:00

Triple J reports that the Black Keys, keepers of the 2120 S. Michigan Avenue sound, have a new album on the way produced by "hip hop wonder-guy Danger Mouse." Danger Mouse is the one producer everybody knows, even if they don't. Think not? Click here.

What does this have to do with proposal writing? Well...proposal writers need music. Without music you don't get proposals. So...

Proposal win rates

2008-02-19T18:59:00.000-08:00

I was reading Grant Thornton's 13th Annual Government Contractor Industry Highlights Book and came across some interesting numbers about proposals:

Survey participants report a 33% win rate from proposals for non-sole source business. The win rate jumps to 58% when the company establishes a special business unit, such as a joint venture or a limited liability corporation to bid the work.

"The Annual Government Contractor Industry Survey was developed by Grant Thornton for
companies considering entering the government contracting arena. We hope that existing industry participants will also find the survey results of interest. Survey findings provide a comprehensive look at the industry as a whole, as well as detailed information on the day-to-day business of being a government contractor."

So basically, if you are writing proposals to the governement: caveat emptor.

You can order the full report through Melissa Ford (T 703.847.7553; E Melissa.Ford@gt.com)

Good News - Deborah's Proposal Writing Blog is Back!

2008-02-17T15:59:00.000-08:00

My Google alert for "proposal writing" had a very unexpected surprise today*.One of the original proposal bloggers (the original?) is back! Deborah Kluge, of Deborah's Proposal Writing Blog (aka proposalwriter.com), is back.

Deborah last posted on September 12, 2005 saying that she was, "Blogging From Maine" - We're here in Portland...," and had not been heard of since. Until today. Maine must have been really, really nice!

Deborah was one of the first web resources I ever turned to for proposal writing advice. Deborah gets it! Look at her site and her old blog posts for some idea of what I am talking about. Expect big things in the future.

Welcome back Deborah! Someday you'll have to tell us where you've been!

Click here to go straight to Deborah's site.

*Two if you count the Black LGBT History Day 17: Gil Gerald entry which said, "Over the last fifteen years, proposal writing by Gil Gerald and Associates, Inc. has resulted in millions—more than six million for just one agency in the past three years--in services addressing HIV services, substance abuse treatment ..."

Deliver a Presentation like Steve Jobs

2008-02-15T19:31:00.000-08:00

Don't we all want to present like Steve Jobs at the Macworld keynote? Effortlessly, comfortably, and just plain well?

OK, maybe those less interested in public speaking would rather listen to someone that is like Steve at the next two-day company meeting rather than old [fill-in-the-blank] who is the worst speaker ever!

Either way, BusinessWeek's Carmine Gallo (who I can't decide if he looks like he sounds on BNET'S Useful Commute podcasts or not - you decide) brings us "a 10-part framework you can use to wow your own audience." According to Gallo you need to:

1. Set the theme.

2. Demonstrate enthusiasm.

3. Provide an outline.

4. Make numbers meaningful.

5. Try for an unforgettable moment.

6. Create visual slides.

7. Give 'em a show.

8. Don't sweat the small stuff.

9. Sell the benefit. 10. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

The full article is here. Read it for yourself or leave a copy on that co-workers chair!

And no, no one wants to speak like Fake Steve Jobs.

4 things you need to do to become successful

2008-02-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

In one of those moments that seemed like a good idea at the time but subsequently was rightfully veiwed as over-the-top, I adapted some of Gitomer's writings (from the Little Black Book of Connections) and said to our receptionist that there were four things you need to do to be successful:

1. Write

2. Read

3. Meet (people)

4. Speak

Upon further thought, it is about that simple. No?

Dear RFP Dude

2008-01-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

Dear RFP Dude*,

I saw your information on LinkedIn and thought I might ask you a question. I am a new proposal writer at a law firm in Atlanta and I don't know what to do. I was given this job because of my general marketing background but I do not know anything about proposals. What should I do? Can you help me get started? Thanks - Proposals Really Are Chaos!

Yes. Yes, I can help.

The first thing you should do is get yourself a copy of Persuasive Business Proposals by Tom Sant. This is the proposal writers religious text.
Next, take a deep breath, imagine yourself as a calm and hard working as possible. Whatever you do to keep yourself in a positive mood, keep doing it. Whatever you do that puts you in a bad mood, avoid it. You will need to stay positive at all times! Read Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Gold Book of Yes Attitude!

Stay curious and read as much - about your firm, the business and things in general - as possible.
Always ask "So What." You will work with many people that will want to add something about the depth and breadth of this or that but you need to keep asking "So What," "Why is this important?" Oh, and strike depth and breadth from every document you see!
Remember, regardless of who said it or who thinks the opposite, less is more in most things and it certainly is in proposal writing. Keep it short, keep it to as little as possible. Long documents go to the bottom of the pile just like long books and long emails.
Lastly, I would attend this session on Wednesday:

How to Write Winning Legal Proposals
Jan. 30, 2008. LMA Webinar Series.
Event Type: Online
Date: Jan 30, 2008 - Jan 30, 2008
Hosted By: LMA International
Cost: Full Member: $99 Associate Member: $149 Non-Member: $199

In today's legal environment it's almost impossible to close business without a powerful sales proposal. Prospective clients want proof that your firm represents their best option. This presentation covers the seven questions you must answer to develop a client-centered sales message every time, then shows you how to structure that message to win more business. Step-by-step you will learn how to create winning proposals that cause the decision maker to say "Yes!" In this session you will learn how to:

Create client-centered proposals

Develop a compelling value proposition

Focus on the decision-maker’s hot buttons

Click here to download a registration form in lieu of online registration.January 30, 2008
11:00 am PST
1:00 pm CST2:00 pm EST

About the Presenter:Dr. Tom Sant Founder and Board Member, Sant Corporation
For more than 30 years, Dr. Tom Sant has provided thought leadership and innovation to the field of proposal writing. He is the author of Persuasive Business Proposals, now in its second edition and available in Russian and Korean as well as English. The most widely used book on proposal writing in the world, Persuasive Business Proposals revolutionized the way companies and individuals handle the task of writing proposals. His new book, The Giants of Sales, traces the development of modern sales methods, relating them to the psychological principles that make them work.

Sant retired from active management of The Sant Corporation in 2003, but he remains a member of the board of directors and continues to support the company by speaking, handling occasional consulting and training assignments, and contributing to the strategic direction of the company. He was named one of the Top Ten Sales Trainers in the World in 2005 by Selling Power magazine, and was named one of the first Fellows of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals in recognition of his lifetime contributions to the profession. Sant received his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from UCLA and taught at the University of Cincinnati for four years.

Click here to Register
Add event to calendar: vCal (Windows, Linux) iCal (Mac OS X)

Good luck!

*OK, so the original note said, "Dear Jeff." Dear RFP Dude sounds so much more interesting, no?

Real RFPs of Genius

2008-01-22T20:10:00.000-08:00

It is the rare occasion when the world of proposals and the world of music get together for me. It is even rarer when it is a text book example of how the RFP process should not be done. I first saw this in wired but Sound Opinions talked about this one on their recent show (add the podcast in iTunes, you won't be disappointed):

In an effort to boost morale, the U.S. Army has put out a request for a “professional rock band.” Following suit with the National Guard, who used 3 Doors Down to help them recruit moviegoers, the Army is looking to get a little more rock and roll. Or rather, Southern Rock, Pop Rock, Post-Grunge or Hard Rock. If you play these genres of music and are some kind of celebrity, national or local, and also don’t mind suiting up in Kevlar and being shipped off to Kuwait or Afghanistan, then submit your “proposal” today.

Now, given the circumstances, you cannot blame the Army for looking for a band to help them recruit. In fact, from a marketing perspective you really have to give them some credit.

From a proposal perspective, it is all wrong. I think we can all think of 20 or more bands that would be good for this and the Army should go to them directly instead of hoping they will complete the RFP.

What the Army is going to get is thousands of bands - without any famous members - applying. Good luck keeping up with the paperwork Rachel. Good luck.

The full RFP can be found at http://www1.fbo.gov/spg/USA/DABN/DABN03/W912PE08T0064/SynopsisP.html

Organized, collaborative / co-operative, creative and flexible

2008-01-11T18:22:00.000-08:00

Those are the top four "adjectives that best describe a successful proposal function," according to the second Proposal Guys Panel topic. Check the post on the Proposal Guys blog here.

The full list submitted by the panel ($20 to the person that can pick-out the exact ten I submitted, panel organizers/members excluded!):

adequately-staffed, adrenalin-junkies, amazing, analytical, appreciated, appropriately-utilized, capable, cohesive, commercial, committed, communicative, compassionate, competent, content-sensitive, continually improving, curious, determined, direct, disciplined, effective, efficient, efficient, empowered, energetic, energising, even-keeled, experienced, facilitative, first-class, focused, forward-thinking, hierarchical, innovative, inquisitive, insightful, inspired, level-headed, linguistically-aware, meticulous, motivated, motivating, optimistic, original, patient, perceptive, perfectionist, persistent, personable, persuasive, planned, proactive, questioning, quick, reliable, resilient, responsive, sales-oriented, sceptical, self-starter, skillful, structured, structured, team-oriented, team-oriented, thick-skinned, thorough, tireless, trustworthy, well-read, and winning!

As they mention, look for this on a T-shirt at the next APMP conference.

3 Wise Men - Gitomer, Maister and Sant

2008-01-02T22:03:00.000-08:00

Happy 2008!

Now that the long (and Maytag repairman like) December break is over, I am back. OK, not quite at full strength but back nonetheless. Over the break I meant to write about the 3 Wise Men. No not Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, the Magi who were said to have visited Christ. My 3 Wise Men (or maybe 3 Wisest Men is better) are Jeffrey Gitomer, David Maister and Tom Sant. All three are down to earth, practical thinkers who give profitable information you can use today. They are very different from the less accessible, 10,ooo foot/theoretical authors. (Think Jim Collins, Steven Levitt/Stephen Dubner, Malcolm Gladwell or even Jack(and Suzy) Welch.) Each has a specific place in the stable:

Jeffrey Gitomer is the premier sales and motivational guru.

David Maister is the premier professional service firm guru. Don't take my word for it, listen to Anna Farmery's "The Engaging Brand" podcast where she extols the virtues of "the wonderful David Maister" followed by an interview with the man himself.

Tom Sant is the premier proposal writing guru (the American Management Association once called him, "America's foremost practitioner of proposal writing" which makes him my number one Wise Man!) and now the premier business writing guru.

Each Wise Man has a new book out now or due out very soon:

Gitomer's The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching is the sixth in his incredibly helpful and wildly popular Little Book Series. For some reason I didn't connect with (nor finish) his last book, the Little Green Book of Getting Your Way. I am not sure why that is but the pervious books, particluarly The Little Gold Book of Yes! Attitude, are absolute must reads. (See my Amazon review here.)

The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching tells the story of John Patterson. Patterson bought the patent to a little invention called the cash register in 1880 and went on to form the National Cash Register Company in the perennial BCS losing state of Ohio. Patterson was a business genius who revolutionized sales. Gitomer gives us some background on Patterson, lays out for us 32 of Patterson's principles, adds one of his own (he calls it .5) and generally makes the genius of Patterson accessible to us. Although The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching is a repackaging/retelling of a previous book - Jeffrey's 2004 The Patterson Principles of Selling, it is well worth the $19.99. See a good article on Patterson here

Best Chapter: "Principle 7: Your library is the artesian well of knowledge"
David Maister gives us Strategy and the Fat Smoker. As apt a title for this time of resolution making as any book you'll ever see. And, not coincidentally, that is exactly what this book is about. We all know that New Year’s resolutions typically fail, yet we keep making them. Maister points out that the strategies professional firms make are about as worthwhile as the resolutions made by fat smokers each year - worthless. (If you are or know of a fat smoker you know what he means. I know I do...sans the smoking.) "We often (or usually) know what we should be doing in both personal and professional life,” and that “we also know why we should be doing it and (often) how to do it.” Yet, we still end up at the end of the year, both personally and professionally, fat and still smoking.

This is a must read for anyone who plans on making even $1 working for a professional service firm - from the mail room to the boardroom. The best testimonial I ever heard for David was, “Every time I read David Maister’s books I think that he is ten years ahead of his time.” That is a quote from the head of global business development at one of the world’s largest law firms. Yes, David Maister is about ten years ahead of most firms I know. Maybe, after reading this some firms can cut that down to only five years.

Best chapters: Chapter 17, The Trouble with Lawyers (which could just as easily have been The Trouble with Consultants or Accountants, etc.) and Chapter 18: The Chief Executive's Speech - where David gives professional service firm executives a ready made speech they SHOULD give to the troops.
Saving the best for last (and that is saying something): Tom Sant has given us The Language of Success. I so associate Tom with the narrower subject of proposals that I often forget about his take on writing in general and that he has a PhD in English.

This is the first book on writing that tackles (well) the subject of email. I know from daily conversations I have with friends, family and co-workers that everyone is tired of emails that are filled with errors, don't make sense or are just plain written poorly. Before you even get to chapter one Tom gives eight tips for creating successful emails. (Consultants with email addresses at Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc., please note that tip number one is: Choose a businesslike email name. You can use my friends at Google to quickly and easily get an email address - and website - for your company by clicking here. No more consultiant@mindspring.com for you!)

The Language of Success will be added to the Proposal Writer's Bookshelf next to Zinsser's On Writing Well and Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. It will help you get rid of the "four nonfunctional languages" of Fluff, Guff, Geek and Weasel. (Fluff is the type of grandiose writing found in most marketing materials - think “leading edge” - while Guff is the language of most lawyers, accountants and other professional service writers, Geek is technical or obscure language not understood by the audience, and Weasel is exactly that – weaselly and avoids saying anything definitive or qualifies everything.)

Best chapters: Chapter 2, The Problem: How Fluff, Guff, Geek and Weasel Ruin Your Writing and Chapter 3, The Principles: Modern Methods in Business Writing.

Buy all three books and follow all three of the 3 Wise Men. They will have a positive effect on your 2008 and beyond!

If you did not click through above, you can find each of the Wise Men on the web by clicking below:

Jeffrey Gitomer has a web presence called Buy Gitomer and writes a syndicated weekly column that appears in the Long Island Business News, Baltimore Business Journal and the Grand Rapids Business Journal, among others.
David Maister can be found at http://www.davidmaister.com/. I think he wins the award for the most robust web presence. Many of the articles that made up Strategy and the Fat Smoker can be found there. Be sure to listen to or read How Client's Choose. This is the one article everyone in professional services should read if they are going to read just one.

Tom Sant founded Sant Corporation and many of his writings can be found here. He also has a blog called Messages that Matter and a newsletter of the same name. His podcast series is a must for proposal writers (or those in charge of them) and can be found in iTunes.

As Garrison would say, "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch."

Ed Russ and Using Budgets Proactively to Evolve a Professional Firm's Marketing Program (from The Marketplace Master™)

2007-12-05T03:22:00.000-08:00

Professional service firm guru Suzanne Lowe has a nice piece on Grant Thornton CMO Ed Russ in her newsletter, The Marketplace Master™. In the piece, Ed (aka November's Marketing MVP), who has helped the firm recently get to $1 billion in revenues, gives some sage advice on "spending money differently on marketing."

The highlights:

Talk to decision-makers in their own language.
Start small, on a test basis.
Make a point of promising to measure results, and reporting on them.
Become informed about the marketing practices of competitors, but don't go too far to copy them.
Make friends with Finance.
Leverage your investments.

You can read the whole article here. Subscribe to The Marketplace Master™ here and view Suzanne Lowe's blog, Expertise Marketplace, here.

For more on Ed and the Grant Thornton marketing machine, see Larry Bodine's piece from 2005, Ed Russ of Grant Thornton named Marketer of the Year.

The proposal writer's bumper sticker

2007-11-30T00:27:00.000-08:00

Designing effective proposals

2007-11-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

Most proposals get about as much design attention as the old generic beer cans got. Sometimes less. The reasons are many - ranging from the need to get the thing out of the door quick to the thought that the words speak for themselves. Either way, most proposals could use a bit of help visually.

Mel Lester, of The Business Edge, wrote an instant classic article on Rain Today. The article, Beyond Pretty: How To Design An Effective Proposal, offers a few design tips to "distinguish your proposals, not just in terms of their visual impact, but also in their ability to clearly convey your message(s) to your prospects." The high points:

Study The Design Of Top Mainstream Periodicals

Understand How The Client Handles Your Proposal & Design It Accordingly

Present Information At Two Levels: Skim & Read

Highlight Your Key Messages At The Skim Level

Always Include An Executive Summary

Don't Dilute Your Proposal With Too Much Text

Arrange content in a logical step-by-step fashion, describing a work process or ordering points according to importance.

Illustrate the work process with simple flow diagrams, described in associated text.

Consider adding at least one graphic element (photo, table, figure) to each page.

Present most information in bullets, with bold summary statements followed by supporting text.

Keep tables and figures simple.

Prepare your tables and figures first, before writing the associated text.

Always include captions with your pictures.

Use the inverted pyramid design throughout.

Read the full article here.

Recent Reading Roundup 2

2007-11-13T07:06:00.000-08:00

I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I liked Michael Stelzner’s book, Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged.

I found out about Michael’s book when he spoke on the Guerrilla Marketing Association’s weekly conference call. I immediately visited his website and blog and found out that he would give anyone who mentioned his book on their blog a free copy. Being a lover of books (especially those of the free variety) I jumped on the chance. (See my entry here.)

After a few days, it occurred to me that Michael did not have my address! I felt duped! So I sent a somewhat terse note saying something to the effect of, “I cannot be duped!” Michael wrote back, I am sure after editing out some expletives meant for a person that would call him a duper, asking for my address information and, if memory serves, pointing out that I did not have any way for him to contact me through this blog.

The book came straight away. It took me awhile to read it but once I did I realized that Michael is the Tom Sant of white papers. (Please note that I have often called Tom the Michael Jordan of proposals so…). Michael Stelzner provides a comprehensive textbook that covers every aspect of white paper creation and marketing.

Michael starts off by confirming what anyone who has ever been around white papers knows: writing white papers is difficult.

He goes on to say that white papers differ from other types of marketing materials because they specifically appeal to such decision makers as engineers, business executives and other key decision-makers. White papers are generally produced for one of three reasons:

Lead Generation – Using a web, print ad or direct mail strategy, many companies produce white papers to generate leads for their business.
Thought Leadership – White papers are a good opportunity for a company to introduce into the marketplace theoretical or demonstrate a view into a future vision.
Close Sales – Usually targeted at both the influencers and the decision-makers. Quite frequently used as lead generation documents as well as during the sales process.

The book goes through the four types of white papers: Technical, Business Benefits, Hybrid Technical/Business Benefits, and Government and what constitutes an OK white paper and what makes a good white paper.

Although I do not want to give away too much of the book (you should really buy it), the ten-step process to writing white papers is “a proven model” that will greatly reduce the pain and agony you otherwise might experience when writing your white paper. The steps are:

Clarify the topic
Identify your ideal reader
Decide on an objective
Develop an outline
Interview the experts
Research
Write the first page first
Write the title
Write the core
Hire an editor

One of the best aspects of the book is the discussion of features versus benefits. All white papers can and should address benefits. As you know, benefits differ from features in a few significant ways:

Features are a description of a tangible attribute of a product or service such as a GPS locator in a mobile phone.
A benefit is an advantage of a feature. The benefit of GPS might be the ability to quickly locate a person or place in case of an emergency.

Although I know you know this, the advantages of clearly stated benefits are:

Persuades your reader
Demonstrates you have considered your reader’s needs
Provides tangible reasons to work with you and your company
Explains why your solution matters
Arms readers with information to help them persuade others

Other sections discuss how to marketing with white papers and how to use Google properly. (More on that last part later).

I highly recommend Writing White Papers to anyone that writes, or wants to write, white papers. If you are looking for a rookie white paper writer, give me a shout. I think Michael's book has put me up to the task! I really do!

Michael, sorry for thinking ill of you.

Editing your own work is hard to do

2007-11-11T17:49:00.000-08:00

The biggest complaint proposal and technical writers have (tied with five others) is how difficult it is to edit ones own work. It is particularly difficult when you only get three minutes between the last edits the team has and when the proposal is due.

Do a quick Google search and you will see how many people have thoughts on how to edit your own work. To me, the most interesting come from Anna Goldsmith's guest post on Copyblogger. Her post, Five Easy Steps to Editing Your Own Work advises:

Just walk away and leave your draft for awhile — I like to leave it for a day if I can.
Imagine you’re not you — Instead imagine you’re your intended audience. Does it make sense, will the reader understand what you’re trying to say, does it hold your interest, is all the information there?
Is your writing PHAT or FAT — Trim long sentences, slim down words and add some white space.
Listen to your high school English teacher (except when it’s best to tune her out) — Make sure it is error-free, check for the correct use of homonyms, confirm that all names are spelled correctly, avoid the passive voice (good luck here!), check your margins, use of spacing and consistency in style of headings — font, bold or not bold, capitalization, etc
Now clean it up and read it again. Out loud — Yes, that's right. Those around me have certainly heard me reading aloud. It works. Usually I also start on the last page...

Be sure to read Anna's full post here.

Tom Sant has some great points on editing in generally, which I wrote about in Proposal editing? No really, proposal editing!

The most cryptic post ever

2007-11-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

One of my Google alerts picked this up. If you know what it means (or are the author) please let me know:

Shopping is hard to do …November 7, 2007 on 3:20 pm In Uncategorized
Had a killer day at work today with 2 proposals due this week it was non stop proposal writing all night. We finally got everything done and ready for submittal but I just knew we were forgetting something but just couldn’t put my finger on it. Then it hit me. When I overheard some people talking about 301 the light bulb went on and I remembered what I forgot. Good thing too, or all that work would’ve been for nothing.

Comments are closed.

From http://norsk101.com/fun/date/2006/02/

Odd.

What if RFPs were treated as a request for a relationship?

2007-11-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

RFP should be a request for relationship!

It's a wedding day surrounded by family and friends. The couple can't wait to start their new life together. Vows are exchanged and the celebration goes well into the night.

When the two are finally able to catch a moment alone together, the groom looks at his bride and says, "Hi, my name's Steve. It's so nice to have a chance to talk, because I could just tell by your application that this is really going to work out between us."

This scene brings to mind a familiar occurrence in the advertising industry, only the anticipated "wedding day" is the launch of a new campaign, "family and friends" are anxious consumers and the "event" is one between an agency and a potential client: The request for proposals.

Filled with information easily gleaned from any agency's Web site, the RFP disastrously skips over qualities that are crucial to the success of any relationship, business or otherwise like true compatibility or chemistry -- traits that can only be gauged after meeting someone face to face.

One of the most intimate relationships a company will ever have is the one with its agency -- a partner who uses the very way a client thinks, operates, creates and succeeds to determine how best to meet needs, and whose sole purpose is to keep the client's interests at heart.

Put this theory to the test, and it's realized that Nike's "swoosh" wasn't inspired by an account executive no one got along with, and "You deserve a break today," wasn't the brain child of a marketing executive who never returned a phone call.

So why does the industry reduce the agency/client relationship to numbers on a spreadsheet, arguably the most negotiable aspect of the entire process?

While pricing is flexible, what will never change is an agency's ability to turn a tight deadline, its willingness to pour its soul into a branding campaign or its aptitude for producing creative in unexpected ways. Place more importance on the RFP response than this, and get ready to walk down the aisle with the equivalent of a blind date gone awry.

Yet, companies are relying on this impersonal form of matchmaking to help them find the agency, marketing firm or strategic communications company that's right for them: a call for compatibility that by its cookie-cutter nature dictates an equally cookie-cutter response.

It leaves little room for the real reasons an agency should be chosen in the first place, such as its ability to inspire, its level of dedication or the amount of attention it can give to a client's needs.

What if RFPs were treated as a request for a relationship? Then companies would get to know three agencies instead of 15. Agencies would deliver honest responses instead of canned answers to canned questions.

In the end, it's the request for a relationship that delivers more than any new logo or under-budget bid can. It delivers the opportunity to get to know the agency and produces a partner whose compatibility cannot be measured in numbers, found in a word document, or garnered from a presentation. And finds the right agency with which to build a future.

Kristy Sexton is founder and president of The Adcetera Group, a Houston-based communications firm.

In the RFP, is it really necessary to know my mother’s hat size?

2007-10-29T21:26:00.001-07:00

Lately all my proposal writing and "professional" friends want to talk about is how difficult RFPs are and how many are coming across their desk. I even got a call from one of our folks who had a client that wanted to talk to me about how best they should issue their RFP. (Yes, I bit my tongue and simply said, "Sure, I'd love to chat.")

Larry Schubert at the Cummings Group (up in the 815!) wrote a great piece a while back on multi-agency pitches. Multi-agency pitch is a term they use in the sexy world of marketing / advertising / branding / communication firms. However, if you have ever answered an RFP, you know the term too: A document sent to 10, 20, 30 or more firms selected, by the looks of things, by putting a finger to the yellow pages or doing a Google search for [insert type] firm.

Larry is spot on! Paraphrasing, he suggests that issuers of RFPs:

Take a quick look at as many firms as fits their comfort zone then narrow the search to less than ten.
Have a long discussion with the contenders before issuing the RFP. Doing this will save a lot of time, and get to the “short list” much more quickly. Why? Because you can find out things like do your personalities mesh or are they too small or too large or do they really have experience with your type of business.
Only ask for the information they really want/need and do not make the document unnecessarily cumbersome.
Give the finalists a reasonable time frame for putting together their presentation.
Many times (most times) we get a very short time frame to respond and a short time frame for preparing a presentation with the stipulation that the decision would be made and new firm in place very quickly. We then do everything as instructed, but months go by and no decision is made.

Read the full Cattle Call Mania here.

The problem with having a topic specific blog...

2007-10-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

Is that you need to be careful about putting things on that have no relation to the topic. Copyblogger figured a way around this and sends out notes under the subject line "Link Karma Story Time."

Apparently, Link Karma Story Time this time was a series of links that "lead to articles that tell a story about Copyblogger. So, I guess this post is just paying the karma forward.

This graphic below (from Wired) explains the lasting influence of one of my favorite bands, Joy Division. With a couple of new movies (Grant Gee’s documentary Joy Division and Anton Corbijn’s Control) , you'll be seeming the name quite a bit. Couple these two with About a Son and you'll have quite the triple feature!

For further reading, begin here The End Times.

Meeting people is easy

2007-10-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

If you have been rejected many times in your life, then one more rejection isn't going to make much difference. If you're rejected, don't automatically assume it's your fault. The other person may have several reasons for not doing what you are asking her to do: none of it may have anything to do with you. Perhaps the person is busy or not feeling well or genuinely not interested in spending time with you. Rejections are part of everyday life. Don't let them bother you. Keep reaching out to others. Keep reaching out to others. When you begin to receive positive responses then you are on the right track. It's all a matter of numbers. Count the positive responses and forget about the rejections
Meeting people is easy, 1999

Like many people, I started blogging out of an urgent need to procrastinate.

2007-10-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

Yet a nagging sense of possibility also drew me in.
Lines from an article, The Well-Tempered Web, that is totally unrelated to proposals in the New Yorker by Alex Ross. His blog is here.

Readers are leaders – Recent Reading Roundup 1

2007-10-16T14:43:00.001-07:00

As the saying goes, Reading Is Fundamental. To be a good proposal writer, business person, parent…err…human being, you need to read a lot. Some thoughts on a recent read:

Beyond the Brief, Communication Strategies for Lawyers and Legal Marketers by Stephanie Solakian Goldstein

My co-worker underlined the following two passages in Beyond the Brief:

As you read through this book, you will realize that legal marketing and communications is not rocket science, it is common sense – page 5
Lawyers are the “products” that clients buy – page 142

She underlined more but those two pretty much sum up what you need to know about legal or professional services marketing. Professional services marketing is very simple, very straightforward. Yet organizations (not mine, of course!) make it difficult. They make it 100 times harder than it really is by not following on from the strategy and continually reinventing the well at the regional, local and practice levels. (Again, not my firm!). Stephanie Solakian Goldstein provides a text that can begin to help, at least with your communications.

Written for the legal marketer (but great for marketers of any professional service), Beyond the Brief walks through a general discussion of law firm marketing then defines what public (media) relations is, the difference between PR and advertising (see the chart below), how to get your message heard in the crowded marketplace we know today, how to develop a communications plan and the tactics to effectively get your message heard.

Media relations	Advertising
Earned	Paid for
Credible	Audience may challenge or dispute
Contact editorial staff	Contact advertising staff
Takes time	Instant gratification

Chapter 5: Developing a Communications Plan is worth the price of the book. It gives direction about what is needed to produce an effective communications plan and also offers various sample communications plans which you can use to begin your own plans.

Chapters and sections also help you deal with journalists, pitch story ideas to journalists, maximize speaking opportunities and how to build briefing documents for your professionals. There is also a list of books to help with your writing and a list of proofreading tips. More on editing and proofreading soon.

One of the features of the book is the inclusion of articles by “experts” on various topics such as brand positioning, the impact of PR on sales and other topics. These articles are OK but some feel like they were written for other venues (and some are noted as such) and come in abruptly. The article by Julia Brady at the VIA Group is helpful (think of it as a mini Brand Gap and ZAG) but others are not so lucky.

Beyond the Brief does a great job of explaining the different media avenues available and how to build a successful communications strategy – both internal and external. It is the most comprehensive book of its type that I have come across and should be read by every professional services marketer! No, really. If you are in professional services marketing you need to read this book!

One curious thing about this book: it is missing most of its –‘s (en dashes). It is the oddest thing. It seems like someone did a find/replace and forgot to put something in the replace box. There are just big blanks where the en dash should be like, “…a very strong percentage of attorneys…” Odd. I wonder if they caught this later? It does not get in the way of the text.

Required reading for every professional services marketer.

There is a (better?) review of this on the Law Marketing Portal. Click here.

A proposal writers take on Craig’s List meets Wall Street (aka "What am I doing wrong?" aka "Craigslist fun)

2007-10-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

By now you’ve been sent (multiple times) the infamous “Craig’s List” posting from “a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl… looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year,” and the reply from a “banker” which said, among other things, that the "offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a cr@ppy business deal.” There have been a couple of articles in the New York Times, New York Magazine and many other places about it. Read it if you have not already.

You can’t fault her for trying. Can you? You can fault her for the way she put her “proposal” together. Here’s how she could have done it to say some grief:

Spectacularly beautiful 25 year old girl looking to get married

I'm an articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful 25 year-old girl. I am tired of dating and am ready to get married. Ideally my spouse will be a nice guy with upper bracket income.

You’ll get my spectacularly looks as well as an exceptional level of culture and sophistication – which means you’ll have beauty AND brains - and a wife who has what so many girls lack today: an old fashioned ability to keep a nice home and hearth.

In lieu of a person, I am also looking for tips on how I can find my ideal mate. Where do men looking for marriage to a woman like me hang out? Are there specific bars, restaurants or gyms I should be going to? Can you help me understand what it is they are looking for in a mate?

Could my career be hampering my ability to find my ideal mate? Your help and honesty will be greatly appreciated. I'm putting myself out there in an honest way and I am searching for the one that is searching for me.

*******************

You can’t really fix the rebuttal. It’s hard to fix something near perfection. (minus the sexism, of course.) I wonder how Tom would rewrite it?

Watch your back

2007-10-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

Brand Strategy Insider had a great post about General Motors being overtaken by Toyota that should serve as a warning for companies everywhere:

What is happening to General Motors should be a lesson to all companies no matter how big and powerful they are. You cannot be everything for everybody, and the more you try, the more you risk sinking the ship.

They conclude the article by saying senior executives, as a reminder of what can happen, should put a simple sign on the wall that reads: Remember the Titanic. For a more recent and vivid example, they can use this video from yesterday's Chicago Marathon:

Always, always watch your back.

God is...

2007-10-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

A White Sox fan!

It's NOT gonna happen.

Why aren't there...

2007-10-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

More books like this?

101 Things I Learned in Architecture School by Matthew Frederick
New from MIT Press

53 Books to Get Rich By

2007-10-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

I glanced through the Forbes 400 issue while waiting for a conference call to start today. (Too bad we do not subscribe to something like Howdesign or Fast Company.) Forbes is certainly not on my list of weekly reading but it makes for good flipping. Of particular note was an article by Jeffrey Sachs (The Forbes One Billion) where he made the bold but true statement that, "If journalists spent as much time studying the lives of the poor as they do gazing at the rich, it would help us all keep our heads on straight. "

Since most of my thoughts seem to run to books lately (see here and here), I found an article by publisher Rich Karlgaard (no link to him since he and that gang are on the wrong side of things) that was interesting. Books to Get Rich By is an attempt at putting together a list of books you could use if your "goal is to raise a child who will grow up and make The Forbes 400 list someday." Since my child is not old enough to read, let's use her dad as a proxy.

I was pretty surprised (and disappointed) at how few of the 53 books (full list here) that he and some of his self-made, rich friends recommend - which Karlgaard says, "range from the theoretical to the practical, the instructional to the inspirational" - I had gotten to:

Theory of Capitalism

none

History and Heroes

none

Instructional Tips

The Elements of Style--by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind--by Al Ries and Jack Trout
~~Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!--by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter~~ DO NOT READ THIS!
The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything--by Guy Kawasaki
In Search of Excellence: Lessons From America's Best-Run Companies--by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don't--by Jim Collins

Food for the Soul

Think and Grow Rich--by Napoleon Hill
The Fountainhead--by Ayn Rand books on tape count right...

Useful Entertainment

none

No wonder I am not on the list! Maybe I better buy this for the next generation.

Back to proposal talk soon. Unless I get rich...

Off to read.

David Lee Roth's 6 Steps to Marketing Success?

2007-09-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

Although any excuse to link David Lee Roth and business is a good thing (if you told me I would be writing this someday when I was a kid...), Brian Clark posted a great article which really does it at in The David Lee Roth Guide to Legendary Marketing over on Copyblogger. You can read the full article here but, the bottom line:

Be Fearless
If Roth had not created and lived a persona that caused passionate reactions—both good and bad—he’d have been forgotten long ago. You may have forgotten him, but millions in his target market clearly have not.

Give People What They Want
The key to legendary marketing is to give people what they really want, rather than what you think they should want.

Sell Something Big
Roth knew you have to give people something to believe in that they desperately want to associate themselves with. You’ve got to sell something big, and Roth knew no other way.

Be True to Yourself
Dave sees his life as one gigantic adventure, and lives life to the fullest via climbing Mt. Everest, mastering several forms of martial art, rock climbing, adventures in third-world countries, training and working as a paramedic, and even being bold enough to attempt a radio show in place of Howard Stern.

Let the Legend Roll
The key to legendary marketing is not what you say about yourself, but what your fans say about you. In that regard, David Lee Roth’s split from the rest of Van Halen has become a remarkable pop culture meme, with Dave coming out on top.

Relax… You Don’t Have to be Dave
You don’t have to be outrageous and over-the-top to succeed. Dave managed to find a rare connection between his fans and his ego that became self-reinforcing. It’s likely your path will be completely different.

Thanks Brian!

Jeffrey's Suggested Reading List

2007-09-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

Not this one but this one:

Jeffrey's updated his website and now has a list of suggested reads. It is interesting to see what is on his list. I wish I could say I read them all but I have only managed to get to:

Sales and Business
Swim with the Sharks Harvey Mackay
The Purple Cow Seth Godin
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking Malcolm Gladwell
Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss

Positive Attitude
Think And Grow Rich Napoleon Hill
The Power of Positive Thinking Norman Vincent Peale
Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude Napoleon Hill & W. Clement Stone
How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie

Fiction
The Fountainhead Ayn Rand

Since Jeffrey has never steered me wrong, I'll be sure to read the rest. Thanks Jeffrey.

Doesn't this sound familiar?

2007-09-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

Joshua Jeffryes' On Design blog talks about how he sees, "...requests for proposals that play coy. They refuse to reveal the scope of the project, the experience level required, and/or the budget. The people that do this seem to think that by playing some kind of amateur shell game with designers, they'll trick one into doing a job for less money than they should."

He is talking specifically about designers but it is the same no matter what the (professional) service. Buyers think they can get a better deal by keeping information close to the vest.

As I posted on his site, I think people believe they are at a flea market or a fair and, by not saying how much they have in their pocket, how high they are willing to go or what they really want to do with the item in question, they can haggle or bargain their way to a deal.

For those readers who are on the other side: take note - the more you give us, ultimately, the less it is going to cost you. Think of it like taking your car into the shop or visiting the doctor instead of going to a flea market. The more information you give the more likely you are to walk out with your car or your health they way you want them.

Professional service firms, be they designers or architects or lawyers, want to get this current engagement, impress you with their work, then get the next and the next and the next. They do not want to get in, charge a lot and move on. That is not the business model.

As an apocryphal story from a co-worker goes, in this case: MORE IS MORE!

Proposals aren't chaos, proposals are hell

2007-09-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

That's how Laura Ricci opens her post, Keeping Your Head When All Around are Losing Theirs, where she points out how she keeps cool under the fire that is proposals on her blog, "Laura’s Winning Ideas."

Laura's post resonated with me because one of the traits a proposal writer must have is cool under fire. Since most proposals are hell, sometimes the ability to stay cool is more important than pure technical ability.

The best line - A proposal team working in chaos up to the last moment doesn't check anything, and doesn’t catch glitches.

You can read Laura's post here.

5 ways to avoid post proposal depression (PPD)

2007-09-14T05:21:00.000-07:00

Last month I wrote a (somewhat) tongue in cheek piece about The seven stages of proposals. In talking with a couple of proposal writers about it, they said that they often suffer from post proposal depression (or PPD).

PPD comes after all of the adrenaline and late nights of the past two weeks come to and end, the proposal has been submitted and now you are left to either ramp up on another that is due soon or await the next one.

We have come up with 5 ways to avoid PPD:

Don't drink coffee - I know, this is blasphemous. Unfortunately, it might be the number one cause of PPD. The late nights require more and more coffee which ultimately brings you crashing down after just a few days.
Don't Drink alcohol - I know, this is sacrilegious. First coffee now your nightly glass of wine or cocktail! What's next, your oxygen? Unfortunately, yes, Skippy, yes. No more drinks. The alcohol seems to counteract the coffee and eventually leaving you feeling blue.
Exercise - You are thinking: when? Well, you will have to take back a half-hour or an hour from the proposals for you. That half-hour, even when you are spent from being up too late eating pizza at the office (and without coffee), will keep you energized throughout the day.
Read/listen to positive books - Reading books like Jeffrery Gitomer's Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Power of Positive Thinking or listening to Earl Nightingale's The Strangest Secret or Lead the Field will keep away the negative vibes that swirl around proposal writing and put you in a better mood generally.
Think and talk positively - No matter what! Regardless of how bad the situation goes off the rails, say to yourself that things are going great. No matter how utterly dire life may seem, if anybody asks say, "Life is great."

These five tips should help you avoid PPD and live a happier life as proposal writer. If these don't do the trick, we identified one more way to stave off depression but none of us is reading to publish it yet.

Everybody's favorite proposal guru, Tom Sant, is on YouTube!

2007-09-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

I read a post this morning, on the Unsolicited Marketing Advice blog, which said Online Videos are the New TV. Oddly, a friend of mine seems to have replaced TV with reading the personal blogs of friends, co-workers and then the friends and co-workers of those folks and so on and so forth. It's like potato chips, once you start, you can't stop. It must be weird to talk to people and act like you do not know all the goings-on of their life. I'm sure she'll start Facebooking soon.

Anyway, I ventured over to YouTube to see if there are any proposal videos and I came across a promo video by my (our?) favorite proposal guru, Tom Sant. Tom is really quite media savvy. He has the books, the blog, the newsletter, the podcast and, I suspect, is about to make a splash on YouTube. Now if I could just get everyone to heed Tom's words!

Here is that video. If I can ever get the video Tom and I shot in Arizona last year I will post it. Here, or on YouTube?

Proposal training this fall at apmp and your office

2007-09-05T18:09:00.001-07:00

That is what the message said, proposal training this fall at apmp and your office. Shocked to see someone offering proposal training, I opened it. The message was from Dennis Fitzgerald--24 Hour Company and said, in short, that "Several chapters of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) have engaged Mike Parkinson and Colleen Jolly, partners and senior designers at 24 Hour Company, to present at their chapter events this fall. These sessions will show proposal managers how to add compelling "bid-winning" graphics to their proposals--no matter how they produce their visuals--using freelancers, temps or in-house designers."

Now, I do not know any of these folks. (I swear.) I know nothing about them but they automatically go to the top of the proposal graphics trainer list. Why? Because no one else has ever sent me a note! Besides, it says they are, "the industry's premiere proposal graphics presenters and authors, featured at APMP national and local chapter events and in their publications."

So, here's to Mike Parkinson, Colleen Jolly and the 24 Hour Company. Now if we could only get the Greater Midwest Chapter up and running again so they could come and speak...

That's right, we are not alone

2007-08-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

The Proposal Guys gave Proposals are Chaos a mention the other day and added their take on RFPs:

But RFP responses is a way of life for many of us in the proposal world- and it is certainly possible to engineer some radical improvements to quality and win rates. Of course qualification is critical – but don’t despair if this is how your market sector happens to operate.

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that the RFP process is like riding a Chicago Transit Authority bus. More on that later.

As previously mentioned, The Proposal Guys are BJ Lownie and Jon Williams and ther blog has many interesting posts and the only blog of recent memory to mention Platini. Great stuff.

Proposal & Business Development Community Survey

2007-08-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Barbara Esmedina sent me a note about the proposal writers (professionals) survey she runs ever year. Bottom line, as she says on the survey homepage, it will also attempt to answer the important question: "Who makes more money than me and why?" You can take the survey here http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB226NLEEFQC8

"The Proposal Guys" had a post which took some preliminary results from the survey and suggested Join APMP, earn more. Quoting them, "By and larger, the longer respondents have worked in proposal roles, the more likely they are to join APMP. And that links to one other interesting perspective – the remarkably strong correlation between APMP membership and salary:

Sub-$50k : 11% are APMP members
$50k - $100k : 23% membership
$100k+ : 39% membership

Your mileage may vary.

Words from Gitomer

2007-08-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

What does Gitomer tell us about proposals? Two different posts:

Too many salespeople HAVE WASTED too much time on too many proposals that never amounted to a sale -- and Jeffrey's sick of it.

74% or more of all proposals are LOST
24% never needed to be created (you could have won without one)

SALES MOVES: The proposal and the sale are miles apart By Jeffrey Gitomer
“Sounds good, send me a proposal.”

How many times have you heard that? How many times have you run back to your office, put together a proposal, sent it to the prospect and started the follow-up process (and the prayer vigil)?

Guess what? The sale should be solidified before the proposal is written. Your proposal should be the essence of what has been decided by you and your prospect. It should solidify the sale and be the window on how business is conducted by your company. Is it?

Proposals are there because buyers think they’ll get the lowest price or the best deal by pitting one company against the other. Your job is to make yourself a winner before the proposal happens by creating conditions or terms that preclude others from either bidding or winning.

The first thing you need to do is to determine if it’s a price proposal or a value proposal. If they’re going to take the lowest price only, you’re going to lose even if you win because the lowest price is the lowest profit—and it may even be no profit.

So the challenge is to create a profitability formula or a productivity formula measured against what you do that sets a standard for the proposal, a formula that your competition must meet or exceed, regardless of initial price.

You need to convince your buyer that there’s a long-term cost, not simply a short-term price.

Are they buying your price only? Are they taking the lowest bid? If so, they only need a one-sentence proposal and you don’t need me.

Try this: Don’t do it...at first. When someone asks me for a proposal, the first thing I say is “No.” It always shocks them.

I ask the potential customer if he or she was taking notes. The answer is usually “Yes.” Then I say, “Well, let me just sign the notes. All we really need to do is pick a date to begin.” And 30% of the time the prospect will say, “You’re right.”

The other 70% of the time the prospect will insist on a proposal. But I’ve just won 30% of the business without submitting a paper.

Another reason proposals exist is to lower risk to the buyer and potentially the cost. But many proposals can be eliminated if your prospect feels that your price is fair and the risk is low. If the risk is low and the reward is high, the answer is always obvious.

Before the decision is made, it’s important to your customer to know what your product or service will be like after it’s been delivered. This will take away all risks and all fear. And it may also take away the price-only decision process.

Customers only buy for an hour or two, but they may use for years. So you say to your customer, “Ms. Jones, I’d like to add a clause to the proposal that insists on proof of salespeople’s claims. And so I’m asking you to require five testimonials in video form so that you’ll know any claim a salesperson makes has been validated by a customer, not just a sales pitch.”

The video testimonial is a powerful piece of support. And depending upon the quality, the video testimonial can be the difference between sale and no sale.

Three thoughts on testimonials:

1. Testimonials reduce the risk of purchase.

2. Testimonials are the only proof you’ve got.

3. Testimonials MUST be included in every proposal.

Effective proposals are a result of effective sales presentations. Proposals should be the solidifying factor, not the sales pitch. The proposal should document what has been said and agreed. The proposal should confirm the sale and all the claims you made about it. Does yours?

Your proposal process is not a regurgitation of your price list. It is not a document to see how much of your profit you can give away. It is not something you prepare in order to beat the competition.

A proposal is the gateway to a value driven sale that begins or extends a relationship where everyone profits. The minute you lowball a price you’ve gone from a relationship to transaction and the next person who lowballs will beat you.

Don’t just win the proposal. Win the value. Win the profit. And win the relationship.
Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible and Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless, can be reached by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.

http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/pub/6_26/news/3093-1.html

A forgotten resource

2007-08-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

Many moons ago, I used to visit a site full of articles on proposals and other subjects. I had forgotten about it until tonight.

Mel Lester (aka The Business Edge) offers http://www.bizedge.biz/index.htm "as a valuable source of "how-to-get-things-done" information and tools. He set out with an ambitious goal: To create the best internet resource for helping managers of architectural, engineering, and environmental consulting firms succeed, both corporately and personally.

Check the articles page http://www.bizedge.biz/articles.htm which has the following proposal related articles:

You Made the Shortlist: Now What?
Never Trust the RFP: Answering the Questions That Really Matter
Beyond Pretty: Designing Effective Proposals
Begin by Preparing the End of Your Talk
Strengthen the Weak Link on Your Presentation Team
Add "Hot Spice" to Keep Their Attention
Communicating Technical Ideas Persuasively
Structure Your Proposal Around Key Messages
Organize Your Presentation for Results
Getting the Right Number in Telephone Interviews
Save Your Best for the Executive Summary
Tell the Client Why--And Why Not
Use Visual Aids That Work For, Not Against, You
The Proposal Preparation Myth: What's Missing*
Research: Getting From the Shortlist to the Contract*
Seven Magic Questions: How to Improve Your Win Ratio...*
How to Write a Winning Proposal*
Tom Sant on Proposal Writing*

Although I think the site has been somewhat dormant for a bit, you can help contribute. Give Mel your feedback on how to make his site more useful by suggesting topics, asking questions, sharing ideas and passing along links to other resources you've found helpful.

Thanks Mel!

The seven stages of proposals

2007-08-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

Acceptance and hope! You just received the RFP. You are excited at the opportunity. You accept the challenge ahead and are hopeful that the process will go smoothly and that your firm will win the work!
Depression. The late nights and the missing of functions with friends, family or co-workers gets you down.
Anger. Seems to be necessary in order to face the reality of proposals. We must all deal with them in our own ways. Anger is a natural stage through which we must pass. Your anger at your proposal may even make you feel guilty.
Guilt is painful and hard to deal with. This is when one says over and over, "If only I had..." or "If only I had not..." This is a normal feeling and ultimately it may be solved by stating, "I'm a human being and I gave the best and worst of me to the proposal effort and what they do with it is their responsibility
Bargaining is your promise that "I'll be so very good that maybe I can wake up and find that it isn't so. I'll do all the right things if only...."
Denial follows quickly, crying "I don't believe it," or "It can't be."
Shock is the last stage. It is accompanied by disbelief and numbness at how far off the rails the proposal has gotten.

This was written as a joke a few months back. After finishing a huge RFP yesterday, I realize how close to reality these seven stages are. Check for yourself.

Proposal writers mantra

2007-07-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

Proposal questions on LinkedIn

2007-07-24T15:30:00.001-07:00

Looking at the number of questions posted to LinkedIn relative to proposals is probably as good a guage as any as to the state of the "proposal industry." Some of the more interesting questions (click through to see the responses):

Do consultants such as Accenture, BearingPoint, CSC, McKinsey and Capgemini have to deal with RFIs that are poorly worded and entirely inappropriate with respect to judging the fit between the consultant and the client? - Kevin Lee

What are the key pieces of information to put in an RFP for a PR firm? - Liz O'Donnell

The saying is "Proposals are Chaos!" Is this true for everyone? Does answering RFP's drive you or your organization mad? - This one is from me...

Join the discussion - The Dirty Little Secret about Proposals

2007-07-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

Lewis Green is asking for your thoughts on RFPs in his article, "The Dirty Little Secret about Proposals," on Marketing Profs Daily Fix. Lewis notes that, "there is no right or best way to issue RFPs or to submit proposals. Oh, sure, there are formulas and templates, but they are no more successful in terms of letting and getting work then those of us who change the way we do our proposals every time we issue or submit one."
In a comment to Lewis's note, Spike Jones says, "So I propose that we all ban the practice of writing and answering RFPs. It will change the way (in a good way) of how we do business. But it can only work if we all do it together." He also points to a couple of times he has written on the subject. (RFPs are evil and RFPs are still evil.) My favorite line, "in scrambling to answer [RFPs], [companies] give away the only thing that they get paid for - their time and ideas."

Have your say by commenting here or heading over to Marketing Profs Daily Fix where it started.

Proposal editing? No really, proposal editing!

2007-07-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

Editing is to proposals as checking tire pressure is to driving: you know it is important, you know you need to do it, you want to do it but somehow this time is just like the last and it never happens!

Unlike checking tire pressure, we do not skip editing our proposals simply because we forgot. We run out of time! But if you did have time to edit your next submission, how should you go about it?

The proposal guru's proposal guru, Tom Sant, says on his blog, First, ask three questions:

Have you said anything obviously dumb?
Have you provided all the information your reader needs?
Can you cut anything without interfering with the reader's ability to understand or your desires to persuade?

Next, take a hard look at the structure:

Does the overall organization make sense?
Is it suited to the audience's attitude and needs?
Have you used a pattern appropriate to your purpose?
Have you highlighted your structure and key ideas sufficiently - have you put the customer's chief concerns, in order of priority as the customer sees them, up front; have you used bold type, headings and subheadings, call-outs, and other tools to highlight the main points?

Then, try to simplify as much as possible; challenge jargon, eliminate as much passive voice as possible while keeping your sentences short. Work for clarity, conciseness, precision, directness, and emphasis and examine:

Word choice
Sentence lengths and patterns
Readability

Your fourth pass should be where you try to add a little extra pizzazz and see if you can develop a clearer, more readable style.

Lastly, examine the final draft for mechanical or typographical errors. Eliminate as much, as Tom called it in one of his email messages, background noise as possible. Spell check alone will not catch all the errors. Look for the wrong customer's name, make sure the recipient's name is spelled right and all of the other errors we've all seen are not there. Does the client have a hypen between the two parts of their name? You might not want to miss that!

Editing - coming to a proposal near you soon!!

Taken from a June 18, 2007 post on Sant's Messages that Matter, "The Sant Corporation's award winning newsletter with practical advice to improve your business communication skills and proposal writing. The newsletter is written by Dr. Tom Sant: best-selling author, educator, and founder of The Sant Corporation." Audio versions are available here.

Classic Article - The Difference Between a Proposal and a Doorstop by John Brien

2007-07-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

John Brien wrote this classic, posted on Peter DeLegge Consulting's Marketing Today site, a few years ago. It is worth revisiting in its entirety:

The Difference Between a Proposal and a Doorstop by John Brien
Clients have read and heard hundreds of proposals, and although a few are outstanding, most aren’t. Many offend with ‘cut-and-paste’ boilerplate, miss important opportunities to provide value, suffer from poor logic and organization, and focus more on you than on me and my organization. Although some do a few things well, some don’t do much well at all.

– Writing Winning Business Proposals

Ah, the dilemma of proposals. A distraction. A nuisance. A curse. But, in many cases, the only way to win business.

In smaller companies, subject matter experts have little choice but to shift their attention from profit making to proposal drafting. The rueful choice between doing the work or taking a gamble, albeit the kind of gamble that assures future income flows through the pipeline.

Larger companies will have a marketing component to lift the burden from the SMEs – conducting research, coordinating the process, providing writing support. There are several advantages to having a marketer on hand:

It frees up the SMEs’ time, allowing them to focus more fully on their work (and only contribute to the proposal on an as-needed basis).
Marketing involvement ensures that germane messages are incorporated.
By having proposals pass through a single gatekeeper, there’s a greater guarantee of quality assurance and a consistent look-and-feel … elements essential for branding.

As someone in the film industry once told me: “It takes as much money to make a bad movie as it does to make a good one.” Certainly, many factors bear on whether you win the work: chemistry, experience, proposed solution, price. But, clearly, your candidacy isn’t advanced by an uninspired, and in some instances unreadable, proposal.

Whether proposals are prepared by SMEs or by a designated marketer/writer, the effort can be undercut by myriad misconceptions. Following are the four most notable, and deleterious, notions.

1. The bigger, the better.
It’s probably the niftiest scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark – Indiana Jones dashing through the streets of Cairo, clashing with Dr. Todt’s henchmen, coming face-to-face with a beefy, sword-wielding Arab… and shooting him.

It’s a common belief (among proposal producers) that size, and showmanship, are critical. For many, size is synonymous with the amount of effort put into it. Conversely, a good communicator knows that quality, not quantity, matters. Your proposal can be a towering, overstated display like the scimitar-twirling thug, or it can be like Indy, dispatching the problem with a single bullet.

I’ve seen proposals the size (and weight) of marble slabs. Stop for a moment and imagine your audience. Gathered around a boardroom table. Asking, “Do we read this or simply request more copies to replace the lobby floor?”

As for those who feel that immense equals impressive (i.e., “Look at all the work we put into it”) – the intelligent reader, assuming the bulk of the text is boilerplate, will sigh “Look at all the work they didn’t put into it.” In fact, a portly proposal is a sure-fire way to estrange your audience. “Enormous” intimates:

You’re unable to communicate in a straightforward, succinct manner.
Tabs or no tabs, you expect the reader to slog through a swamp of extraneous information to get to what they want.
You’re trying to hide something (“Well, we didn’t say that exactly. The fine print on page 118 indicates…”).

In addition, for all your protestations about understanding the client, a giant proposal blares: “You’re busy? Nah. You can spare an evening or two to pore through our answer to War and Peace.”

Think about it: you want to differentiate yourself. In a world of gargantuan proposals, a smaller, more focused effort stands out.

2. Proposals have to be dull.
Officious. Verbose. Stilted. That’s how (submitting) companies like their proposals. (As noted above, receiving companies often have a different opinion.) Seasoned proposal readers can skim a proposal and tell how intent the company was in communicating to me. Hmmm… Constipated phrasing. Large blocks of copy. Plenty of stats… about their firm. Wait a minute, there are more mentions of their company than mine. What’s going on?

Most proposal writers are stuck in a rut, convinced that – in order to be taken seriously – they must (a) adopt a tone more solemn than a funeral director, and (b) knead content as flat as a Passover matzoh. This is the age-old myth of business writing, where everything needs to sound like a legal document. (How do you know you have a good idea? When it elicits a prissy dismissal – “That’s not professional” – from a senior manager.)

Whenever you’re communicating, your job is to engage the audience. Proposals fall short when they:

Are focused inward, not outward – Do your homework. If you boast a “global network of offices,” show how those offices overlap with the client’s facilities. If you have a new service, show how it helps solve the client’s predicament. Remember: it’s not about you – it’s about the client. Everything is about the client.
State the obvious – I’ve seen too many proposals that begin with a variation on “XYZ Inc. is a utility company with 30,000 employees in four states.” Congratulations, Sherlock, you visited the company website. Few things cry lazy more than parading readily available factoids. Tell me something I don’t know… or could only have discovered after considerable legwork.
Are saturated with off-the-shelf information – The reader will only know whether you specially prepared content if it speaks directly to their organization. Anything that veers from that road is extraneous. Boilerplate has its place, but just know: readers can spot canned content a mile off; it won’t win you the business.
Have no theme – You’re courting a hospital. What goes on the cover? “A Proposal to Provide Laundry Services to All Saints”? Or a picture of a maternity ward with the heading “Delivering every day”? One merely describes. The other is not only customized, but conveys a unique benefit. That’s a theme.

You can talk “professional sounding” all you want – it doesn’t take an Einstein to realize that a disinterested reader stops reading. Call me a heretic, but “professional” and “creative” can coexist. Imagine you’re at a social gathering. Who would you rather spend the next hour with? A jabbering boor (a legend in his own mind)? Or an individual who’s attentive, energetic, informed, incisive?

(Note: The only time proposals tend to get creative is in varying from the structure recommended by the RFP. I can’t state this strongly enough: obey the RFP guidelines. Failure to do so is a red flag, warning: you can’t follow directions; you want to prevent the organization from making an apples-to-apples comparison between submissions; you want them to hunt for information. The RFP process is distasteful enough for the decision-makers – you don’t want to make it worse.)

3. Proposals should be packed with graphics.
It’s a natural inclination – your proposal is sagging with text, so you want to jazz it up with pictures. A piece of photo art here, a diagram there. Used appropriately, and in moderation, graphics are great. They can complement and illuminate your copy. Used excessively, they not only prove distracting but downright obnoxious.

Organizations may argue that the audience won’t read the text (“Okay, maybe they’ll scope the Executive Summary and the fees”); ergo, an emphasis on graphics. This psychology leads to a plethora of sidebars and a gallery of charts, tables, and models. (At some companies, marketers feel like galley slaves on a Roman trireme, rowing to a relentless beat: “More graphics! Faster! Faster!”). The cumulative effect can be disjointed – a mind-boggling banquet offering everything but last week’s salmon loaf.

When considering what graphics to use, and where, keep the following in mind:

Is the graphic serving a purpose? In proposals, as in most things, simplicity is key. Because a proposal is already rich (overflowing?) with text, you should keep a tight rein on the visual supplements. Beware of ornamentation, graphics meant to liven up a title page or add color to headers and footers. Graphics should have more of a reason for being than to adorn a boring page.
Are your graphics easy to understand? Some equate complexity with profundity. Readers, in turn, are treated to baroque, baffling diagrams. This is fine if they have an eye toward labyrinthine mysteries a la Angels and Demons. For those seeking a lucid explanation, busy diagrams resemble nothing so much as a wall layered with graffiti. Proposals aren’t the forum for showing how erudite or esoteric you are (columns like this are). Patterns and strategies are best laid out plainly. Spare the lavish touch.
Do you have more than one model? I’ve seen proposals that include multiple models. Granted, different models may apply to different aspects of the project, but this can get confusing. Unless it’s clear how, and where, the models apply, clients may believe one contradicts another. Also, in the course of a presentation, do you really want the client inquiring, “Which model are you referring to?”
Do your graphics have a consistent look-and-feel? Unless you stick to a single style, your proposal could end up like a room full of mismatched furniture, mixing Arts & Crafts with Colonial with Modern. In such a goulash, such an optical free-for-all, brand identity is lost. Readers are adrift in images, with no solid impression, perplexed.

There’s another good reason for keeping graphics to a minimum: they can be voracious, consuming megabytes of space. What points do you earn if the final file is so huge, recipients are unable to open it (or give up during an interminable download)?

4. Proposal writers are just glorified AAs.
As Rodney Dangerfield said, “I don’t get no respect.” And neither does the average proposal writer. Because the proposal process is so often denigrated, it goes without saying that proposal writers are denigrated along with it. Demands for efficiency lead to an assembly-line, color-by-numbers approach. (But at least the company’s well-paid talent is freed from “serving time.” )

Writers play a vital role in the proposal process. At best, they serve as stewards, gatekeepers, constantly wondering, “How does this tie together? How does this serve your central point?” Writers are essential in defining that central point.

At worst, they are overruled and under-utilized. Like anyone else, writers will sink to the company’s expectations. If a company is intent on getting the least from their writers, they should:

Employ a team solely composed of recent grads – Nothing diminishes credibility like inexperience. Recent grads may lack the critical ability, and the confidence, to extract the right information from subject matter experts. While some SMEs may see value in directing a bunch of cowering novices (“They do what I say”), a system in which SMEs aren’t challenged is like any one-party system – a prescription for disaster. Being a gatekeeper is meaningless if there’s a penchant to let anything pass through.

Have writers perform a limited set of responsibilities – What can you say about proposal centers or groups that are no more than proposal mills, the process reduced to a mechanical exercise whereby writers are graded by output and piecework (“Your quota is five proposals a week”), with quality a sad afterthought? Writers become clerks in an unvarying grind – ringing up purchases, stocking shelves… the path to burnout and turnover. The alternative? Presenting proposal writers with other challenges / opportunities – drafting collateral, composing press releases, writing articles.
View the boilerplate database as a silver bullet – Many companies feel that a bounteous database is the epitome of efficiency. Just cut-and-paste your responses and, voila, a completed proposal. The job becomes a breeze, with writers dispensing answers like Yu-Gi-Oh cards (“Dark Raven! Aqua Jolter! High Vizier!”). Uh-uh. An over-emphasis on rote answers not only makes the job deadly dull for the writer, but doesn’t demonstrate a deep understanding of the client’s issues and salient solutions.
Let everyone have their say – Proposals have a tendency to snowball, drawing in more contributors, more viewpoints as the process rolls along. What you end up with is a cacophony of voices trying to out-shout one another, too many chefs in the kitchen. (Cue one of my favorite sayings: “A camel is a horse designed by committee.”) This doesn’t crystallize the message, it dilutes it; with every constituency awarded its own message, the proposal becomes formless and meandering. The writer’s job is to keep things in check, keep things simple and on-message. In effect, they’re serving as a dam, countering the impetus to make the proposal more complicated than it needs to be.

Maybe the most accurate image of the proposal writer is that of a charioteer trying to steer a team of horses… and win the race. The good writer doesn’t blindly accept the SME’s hastily scribbled missive; the good writer spurs them to deliver their best work.

*****
You can only shake your head when you consider how much goes into a proposal… only to find a finished product clotted with vapid, convoluted, worthless material. From my time in the proposal warzone, I can assure you – it doesn’t have to be that way.

Writers aren’t only struggling to get proposals out but are contending with a chorus of nay-sayers. “We’re too busy to help.” “Don’t we already have a proposal like this?” “Don’t worry, nobody reads proposals.”

Here’s a truth that seems to elude the more deluded proposal producers: Proposals are marketing. In fact, they’re one of the strongest tools in your marketing arsenal. The proposal is a front-line sales piece. It’s likely to have greater impact than any brochure or e-mail… in part because the proposal was actually requested. If the reader only spends five minutes looking at it, that’s four more minutes than they’ve spent with your other communications.

Can lousy proposals win business? Sure. Especially among undiscerning buyers primarily focused on price. (Just because they put candidates through an elaborate selection process doesn’t mean the buyer can tell excellence from egg salad.) Otherwise, quality counts.

By quality, we mean more than an absence of typos or the accuracy of information. Quality is about how well you’re speaking to the client. It’s hard to believe a company when it says it’s committed to quality and that isn’t evident in the proposal.

Quality. It’s the difference between supplying rote answers and exhibiting real intelligence – the type of awe-inspiring aptitude and razor-sharp judgment the client desires. It’s the difference between a page-turner and a turn-off. It’s the difference between a proposal and a doorstop.

Writing White Papers

2007-07-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

Writing white papers is very similar to writing proposals with one key difference: they are proactive rather than reactive. Still, they are not easy to write.

I heard Michael Stelzner on the Guerrilla Marketing Association call tonight and thought he had a good view on the subject. I checked his website and saw that he is holding a seminar - Creating and Marketing Winning White Papers - WhitePaperSource on Friday, September 21st, 2007 in San Diego. You can get more information by clicking here.

Why RFPs Should RIP

2007-07-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Not sure how I missed this from Adweek back in March. As Mike Manuel says on the Media Guerrilla blog, "It's one of those write-ups you read, nodding your head in agreement throughout, only to conclude, sadly, that things will never change..."

Why RFPs Should RIP
March 26, 2007
By BOB GREENBERG

I've been on the new-business front for more than 30 years. I've won lots of battles. I've lost many more. But in the past couple of years, the process by which clients choose agencies seems to be getting weirder, and I think it's an indication of some profound changes.

The fact of the matter is that the pitch process no longer works, for clients or agencies. As with so many other vestiges of our rapidly changing industry, it is time to abandon the RFP.

The basic model of new business is at least as old as agencies themselves. The multi-round pitch process was born in an era when single agencies would present ideas for a TV campaign, a print campaign, or both. Back then, client needs were much simpler, which enabled this model to work effectively. It was easy to compare work and pick an agency based on the quality of its creative ideas.

The world has changed dramatically since this model became de rigueur, but the process remains fundamentally the same. The modern pitch often includes multiple partner agencies (e.g., traditional, media, interactive, direct), multiple ideas and several channels of delivery, all rooted in complex research and insights. The entire range of thinking comes together in a couple of weeks and is conveyed in a 90-minute presentation.

During a pitch, agencies lack the deep, day-to-day client relationships that are essential to good work. In most cases, agencies are shooting in the dark, with only a limited understanding of the client's needs, which is all the process affords. That a decision so complicated can be made with so little communication is ludicrous when you really think about it.

For interactive agencies, the pitch process can be downright goofy. Unlike traditional agency pitches, which are routinely covered in the trade press (everything from the client assignment to the agencies competing to the size of budget is revealed), interactive pitches are treated like a dark secret. Interactive agencies rarely know whom they are competing against, or what budgets have been allocated to the assignment—all of which makes it extremely difficult for agencies to qualify if an opportunity is even worth the investment to pursue.

In the past 12 months, R/GA has:

1) Participated in a six-month review with multiple rounds of unpaid strategic and creative thinking, only to learn at the 11th hour that the client hadn't established a budget for interactive services.

2) Participated in two simultaneous reviews where, for the same kind of work and the same budget, Client X required a full-blown spec presentation and Client Y made the decision based on a couple of productive discussions (proving there is no consistency among client review needs).

3) Participated in a review where our ideas were exactly right for what the client needed, but there was no one at any level of their organization with a deep enough understanding of the digital landscape to recognize it (in my humble opinion).

Let's face it, the standard pitch model is broken. How many times have we seen clients conduct an elaborate review, hire a new agency partner and then put the work back in review in less than a year? If the process actually worked in matching clients with agencies, this would almost never happen.

In rethinking the pitch process, clients and agencies have a common interest at stake. Clients want to save money and reduce costs for marketing services, while agencies similarly want to avoid the expense of long, drawn-out pitches with no clear objective. An agency can easily spend $500,000 or more to win a major client assignment (with the client possibly owning the losing agencies' pitch ideas, even if those agencies haven't been paid a dime for their work—another troubling trend). In turn, agencies eventually charge their pitch-related costs back to clients in the form of higher fees. So if clients and agencies can find a way to match themselves better through a more efficient, less expensive process, then everyone wins.

There are at least two avenues the industry should consider. One is to go modern, using technology to make the supply chain of ideas between agencies and clients work harder. Tools like databases and wikis might provide the inspiration for a technologically enabled solution. Online dating sites like Match.com and Chemistry.com are using sophisticated algorithms to match potential couples for romance. There is a business for someone—a new breed of search consultant?—who can do the same for clients and agencies, based on current data showing which agencies are doing effective work in specific areas that a client is interested in.

The other is to go the old-fashioned route and just take an agency out for a "date." If I were a client today, I would consider the agencies doing the best work and take one or two out for a test drive with a project assignment. There are a handful of clients that do this (Target comes to mind), but the vast majority still rely on the outdated RFP process. Only through a real assignment can clients truly discern the capabilities not just of the agency, but also of the very team that will be committed to the work should the first date blossom into a long-term relationship.

If given the choice between a costly review and a paid assignment, I don't know of a single agency that wouldn't go all out to ensure the paid project was a success. So the risk clients face with this approach, as long as they start with a great agency, is limited. Great work at affordable costs is what clients and agencies both need to move forward, but our relationships together usually start on the wrong foot.

http://adweek.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Why+RFPs+Should+RIP&amp;expire=&urlID=21694173&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adweek.com%2Faw%2Fmagazine%2Farticle_display.jsp%3Fvnu_content_id%3D1003562606&partnerID=3620

However, the Shining the Penny blog ("The creative blog of Lucky Penny Productions") takes another view:

To go off on how the RFP process is broken is largely misleading. Yes it is true that the system can use some fine tuning - but that falls on everyone’s shoulders, not just the client that can’t see how wonderful you are. If the RFP process isn’t working with a client, lay out what isn’t working and decide where to cut your losses. Reducing this to a one sided issue, and demonizing clients while ignoring your own role in the issue is what should really be put to rest.

Which is correct?

Were you ever taught: How to give feedback?

2007-07-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

Posting something from Seth Godin, for a business developer or a marketer, is much like a priest quoting from the Bible: maybe just a little too easy. However, I was reading Seth's post on How to Give Feedback (from Small is the New Big) and it made me think about all the many things we have to do daily that we were never taught. We may have been given an informal lesson or two but there does not seem to be any trace of formal feedback training. (Consulting business idea 437). If you have had some, please let us know.

Seth's post, which you can read here, gives four brief rules:

The first rule of great feedback is this: No one cares about your opinion.
I don't want to know how you feel, nor do I care if you would buy it, recommend it, or use it. What I want instead of your opinion is your analysis. It does me no good to hear you say, "I'd never pick that box up." You can add a great deal of value, though, if you say, "The last three products that succeeded were priced under $30. Is there a reason you want to price this at $31?" Or, "We analyzed this market last year, and we don't believe there's enough room for us to compete. Take a look at this spreadsheet." Or even, "That font seems hard to read. Is there a way to do a quick test to see if a different font works better for our audience?"
The second rule? Say the right thing at the right time.
If you're asked to comment on a first-draft proposal that will eventually wind its way to the chairman's office, this is not the time to point out that "alot" is two words, not one. Copyediting the document is best done just once, at the end, by a professional. While it may feel as if you're contributing something by making comments about currently trivial details, you're not. Instead, try to figure out what sort of feedback will have the most positive effect on the final outcome, and contribute it now.
The third rule? If you have something nice to say, please say it.
I've been working with someone for about a year, and in that entire time, he's never once prefaced his feedback with, "This was a really terrific piece of work," or "Wow! This is one of the best ideas I've heard in a while." Pointing out the parts you liked best is much more than sugarcoating. Doing so serves several purposes.
The last one: Give me feedback, no matter what.
It doesn't matter if I ignored your feedback last time (maybe that's because you gave me your opinion, not an analysis). It doesn't matter if you're afraid your analysis might ultimately be a little shaky. It doesn't matter if you're the least powerful person in the room. What matters is that you're smart; you understand something about the organization, the industry, and the market; and your analysis (at the very least) could be the kernel of an idea that starts me down a totally different path.

This is first in a series.

Try everything, talk to everyone, be really nice all the time. You never know who's talking about you.

2007-07-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

Andy Sernovitz tells a great story on his blog, Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That! , about how a random person might be a path to an opportunity.

Basically, Anshul Samar (age: 13) started Elementeo to teach chemistry with playing cards. Andy mentions this to his wife who is a former editor of Chemical and Engineering News. She mentions it to them and the kid is in print in front of 160,000 chemists.

You never know who might be talking about you.

Not only a business development lesson but a lesson in the number of chemist. Who knew there were that many!

Even more proposal blogs

2007-07-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

Somehow I forgot some of the blogs that are out there last time. One of particular note is Laura’s Winning Ideas which is published by "proposal expert Laura Ricci." Always good stuff.

Her post LOL: I’m not in the Top 100,000 will make any blogger smile.

More to come...

Why Being Bold is Critical to Getting Noticed - The Seven Magic Questions

2007-06-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

The post this title comes from was on Copyblogger but was written by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. "With so many blogs talking about the same topics, how will you differentiate yours from the rest," was the gist of the post.

The same could be said of proposals. With so many reponses saying the same thing, how will you differentiate yours from the rest?

Well, Tom Sant has the answer! If you can answer what he calls the Seven Magic Questions you can differentiate your proposals from the others. The questions are:

1. What is the client's problem?
2. Why is it a problem?
3. What objectives does the client have in mind for a successful solution?
4. Which of those objectives is most important?
5. What are the ways we can solve the client's problem?
6. What are the probable outcomes from each potential solution?
7. Which solution is best?

Ask these and get the answers and, as Tom Says, you will be amazed how your customer relationships improve and how your win ratio goes up.

The saying is "Proposals are Chaos!" Is this true for everyone? Does answering RFP's drive you or your organization mad?

2007-06-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Following on from my post about LinkedIn, I posed that question there. Chris Pirillo was certainly right, "the responses started to stream in." You can read all of the responses here but some of the responses:

If your industry is in a Complex Sales environment, your Consultative Sales approach will not work and you must develop the ability to strategically select and answer RFPs.

The upside to answering RFPs is that the contracts tend to be much larger, which is what drove the customer to the complex sales approach. Customers resort to a complex sales environment for several reasons: Too many people in their organization need to come to consensus in order to get on with the work at hand, the project/contract is too large to risk less than a 360 evaluation.

The winner doesn't find the RFP chaotic, because they've developed enough of a relationship and understanding of the customer's organization to read between the lines of the RFP.
When at IBM, we would not answer most RFPs. The effort was huge, the cost staggering and the outcome very unpredictable. Answering RFPs is not a good way to do business.
Not to be blunt, but if you're answering RFPs you either enjoy getting whipped as a provider of commodities, or you're not marketing yourself very well. Your marketing should lead you to a dialog among decision makers that leads to a tailored proposal and a solid Work Plan, rather than a rigid RFP process. If you're answering RFPs instead of having that dialog, you're heading for a relationship of servitude, not partnership. Not that you can't make a lot of money with that kind of a business, but most people I talk to are constantly trying to work their way up to a more strategic relationship with clients and customers. Answering RFPs won't get you there.
Interesting saying. I have managed many RFPs for my clients and only answered a few from potential clients.

IF the RFPs that you are responding too are poorly organized and require a significant amount of time and resources, then it points to: 1. Customer has poor understanding of needs 2. Customer has too many chiefs running the show.

From the perspective of managing the RFPs, we use them so that the responses to the demand set are uniform and easy to compare. In terms of responding to RFPs, we do have some canned material that we just cut and past into the RFP..:)
I've tried to streamline the proposal process many times, but getting an office of 300 to follow a set procedure is very difficult, especially when the professionals are much higher up than I. It seems like an unfixable situation.
It does drive me mad, but that is necessary sometimes. Currently I'm answering one RFP. The rule of the thumb is - if we were "involved" in creating the need for the customer - then Yes, we answer it, otherwise, skip this process.

What is an RFP

2007-06-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

I was somewhat surprised to find an entry for RFP on Wikipedia. Is it a good entry? You decide. Oh, and don't forget, you can change it if you disagree!

2007-06-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

LinkedIn is a great tool that proposal writers, business developers and others (anybody) can use to connect with people, stay in touch with people and better understand who they are connected to. Think of it as Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon without Kevin Bacon or, the most popular description, MySpace for adults.

A post on the LinkedIn blog (How do you use LinkedIn?) made me think back to when and why I started using it. I believe it was 2005 and a colleague sent me an invite. I signed up, didn't think much of it until 2006 when our head of "Strategic Learning*" left the firm and started connecting with people. He had quite a number of contacts. I did not want to look like a cyber-loser in comparison so I started reaching out to my friends, colleagues and contacts.

At first there was a land grab mentality to my connecting. The more the merrier. How many can I get. However, as I began to use the system, and get request from people and connect with people for various things, my contacts began to rise organically. I then began to realize the power LinkedIn had.

An example, I am currently writing an article and needed to interview a few people. A quick search in LinkedIn garnered a number of people that are perfect sources. Not all of them were willing to participate but enough are. (See Karma works in Kay Luo's post, 3 ways to make networking work.)

Most people seem to use LinkedIn for recruiting purposes but the potential for LinkedIn to help in business development is huge. Guy Kawasaki, in "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn," quoted some amazing figures:

People with more than twenty connections are thirty-four times more likely to be approached with a job opportunity than people with less than five.

All 500 of the Fortune 500 are represented in LinkedIn. In fact, 499 of them are represented by director-level and above employees.

Two posts, also in How do you use LinkedIn, that are worth reading.

Chris Pirillo: "Top Reasons to use LinkedIn"
Jason Calacanis: "LinkedIn hits a tipping point"

So, the long and the short of it are, you are either LinkedIn or left out. Get LinkedIn.

This and Jeffrey Gitomer's excellent "Little Black Book of Connections" should have you on your way to, as they say, "connecting with confidence."

*You may wonder, as I do, about "Non-Strategic Learning." If you asked, I believe you'd get something back about "single-loop-learning, quadruple loops of feedback, etc. See Mason (1993) apparently.

Sales presentations

2007-06-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

If any topic has been more written about than sales please let me know. I don't claim to be a master salesman but many people have asked me about sales presentations lately. A sign of the slowing economy? Maybe.

Sales presentations, by their very name, are filled with two things most people hate - presenting and sales. However, they are a necessary evil.

So where do you turn to find out how to make sales presentations work:

Sant's Messages that Matter did an interesting piece on how to start the presentation back in April that should be required reading for anyone just starting out.
If you've been at it for awhile, check Mahan Khalsa's "Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play." Not only is it a great book but it also gives the best advice about avoiding the written proposal I've ever seen.
Jeffrey Gitomer's "Sales Bible" is probably the most comprhensive place to go.
Also recommended is a great but hard to find (Australian) book my boss gave me, "The Pitch Doctor's TOP 100 Business Presentation Tips" by Neil Flett. It is full of anecdotes on sales pitches and presentations. Great for those in the trenches, perefect for those training those in the trenches.
Guy Kawasaki gives some great advice in his oft told 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. There is a great MP3 that covers the 10/20/30 rule and more valuable sales presentaition tips available here. It comes from chapter three, The Art of Pitching, from his book "The Art of the Start".

You had me at fish

2007-06-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

Brevity is not on the side of business writing or business presentations. Even the simplest ideas balloon up to 50 pages or slides.

The most likely apocryphal story below (which I first read on Kenneth W. Davis' Manage Your Writing blog - he read it on Brian Clark's Copyblogger) is a great reminder to keep it short:

Andrew Stanton (one of the writers of Toy Story) had the opportunity to pitch his story idea for Finding Nemo to his mentor, Pixar's studio head John Lasseter. Stanton used every trick in the book including elaborate visual aids, character voices and reportedly went well over the top.

When the meeting was over, Stanton asked Lasseter what he thought of the idea and Lasseter replied simply, “You had me at ‘fish’.”

Keep it simple.

Golf and Proposal Writing

2007-06-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is an excerpt of an interesting post on Content for Reprint by anutt. I am not sure I agree that when "you visualize the success of your first stroke - it will travel straight down the fairway." A positive attitude and visualizing success will certainly get it to travel straighter but if it were that easy everyone I know would shoot a 76 and have their proposals done two days before they are due!

What can golf and proposals possibly have in common? The answer came to me last week just after I had finished an extensive proposal and had rewarded myself with a trip to the links.

When you approach the tee for the initial shot, you address the ball and visualize the success of your first stroke and it will travel straight down the fairway. The secret to a good proposal is to start by addressing the audience. Open with your understanding of their needs or problems. This section can be long or short, but it must be direct. It shouldn't hook or slice into concerns the reader doesn't know he has.
As you approach the green, carefully select the appropriate clubs-the ones that work for you. Heed the advice of the other players but know what you can deliver and keep focused on what is required. After all, you're the one who has to make the shot.
When you are on the green, take your time. Watch the lie; putt cleanly and boldly. And, at the end of the hole add up your strokes. Be honest. As you come to the end of the proposal, include the time-frames and the costs clearly. Don't include deadlines you can't meet or complicated pricing. You'll lose your credibility for future jobs.
Outside the clubhouse, look around you. Who is ready for the game? What are their chosen tools? Steel or graphite shafts? Alloy or titanium heads? Do the chosen clubs reflect the golfer's skill? Are they right for that particular course? A high-tech driver is overkill on a short par three hole. Remember a strong, steady game will give you long-term success in both the proposal writing and golfing fields.

About the Author CMC Training offers professional development and communications seminars that will teach you important skills to help you stay current and move forward in your career.

http://www.content4reprint.com/business/communication/proposal-writing-a-golfers-perspective.htm

One more blog - The Proposal Guys

2007-06-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

BJ Lownie and Jon Williams started this about a year ago. It is the real thing and has many interesting posts. The need for proposal training is a short but good post and the quoting of feared midfielder Platini's timeless bit of losing bidder positivity, "there are no losers today, rather only bids that have not won this time round," is great stuff.

A sampling of proposal blogs

2007-05-29T19:30:00.001-07:00

One would think that there would be literally hundereds of blogs on proposal writing. The whole bit about writing/writers would seem to lend itself to it but by my non-scientific survey there seem to be only a handful:

Sant's Messages that Matter
Although it is a blog using Blogger, this is actually "the Sant Corporation's award winning newsletter with practical advice to improve your business communication skills and proposal writing."

http://proposalwriting.blogspot.com/
Attributed to Ivan Walsh in Ireland, Tips and Tutorials for Writing Successful Business Proposals. It hasn't been updated Since last year but...

Deborah's Proposal Writing Blog
A blog (mostly) about her work. Apparently her work ended in 2005.

Business Writing
This blog is about business writing of all kinds and has an interesting post by Robert Moment (business strategist and author) that says, "Proposals are traps, ways to build up and break down dreams. Sound dramatic? It’s not. In many cases, writing a proposal is a waste of your time and effort."

Guerilla Consulting Blog
This is an all-around good blog (and the companion to the book Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants) by Jay Conrad Levinson and Michael W. McLaughlin.

More soon...

Jeffrey Gitomer on Proposals

2007-05-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

Jeffrey Gitomer, like "The Secret," and most business/self-help writers, has nothing new to say. He has taken the works of sales and motivational greats like Dale Carnegie, Napolean Hill, Earl Nightingale and Norman Vincent Peale and packaged them into attractive hard bound best sellers. Each repeats the previous edition in some way or another and Gitomer always asks for the reader to re-read and re-read again.

In an article titled, Barnum Would Be Proud, Time Magazine said:

Jeffrey Gitomer often sounds more like a carnival barker than a business guru in his best-selling books on the basics of salesmanship: "As you study these principles, your sales will increase. As you implement these principles, your sales will begin to take off. As you master these principles, your sales will skyrocket." Step right up, folks, and make your quota.

So very true. However, you should run out and get each of Gitomer's Little Book Series right now!

I first came across Jeffrey Gitomer while working on a presentation in 2005. Yes, I judge books by their cover - the Little Book series covers are very nice and distinct. The Little Red Book of Sales was the first one I read and the first one in the series.

His latest, the Little Green Book of Getting Your Way is not as good as the other four books in the series (maybe I have just overdosed on Jeffrey) but it does have some great points about proposals:

Use a headline above the body of text to state your objective.

Use short paragraphs.

Edit, edit, edit.

Keep the proposal short.

Use bullets to break up the monotony. Use bullets to make the proposal seem (or be) short and sweet. Use bullets to emphasize the most important points

Bold stuff.

Bold what is important to the reader.

Edit out (almost) all the words that end in "ly."

Avoid superlatives ("est").

Avoid the word "unique." I'll add avoid the phrase "uniquely qualified."

Don't make it sound like a rubber stamp.

Don't misspell a word.

Include the extra - the unexpected - the plus one.

Write a great (short and sweet) cover letter.

Read out loud to edit.

It must read like a book.

I do recommend the book, although, as I mentioned, not as highly as some of his others. Some of the points on presentations should be mandatory reading for everyone that will ever stand in front of an audience.

You can buy it through his website http://www.buygitomer.com/ or "wherever books are sold."
Pick up the Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude once you are done then the Little Black Book of Connections.

Ten Gaffes of Proposal Writing by Geoffrey James

2007-05-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

Leslie at BNET reminded me of this article by Geoffrey James on BNET. As with most things proposal related, Geoffrey mentions Tom Sant.

I agree with him that if you can avoid these mistakes your proposal may actually produce results. Ten Gaffes of Proposal Writing.

The Proposal Writer's Bookshelf

2007-05-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

When I was with Grant Thornton, I would get asked quite often what books I would recommend for proposal writers so I created the Proposal Writer's Bookshelf Listmania! list.

I tried to make the list industry neutral so I did not include classics like Troy Waugh's Power Up Your Profits or Herman Holtz's The Consultant's Guide to Proposal Writing.

Other books I didn't include but should also be required reading are "The Non-Designer’s Design Book" by Robin Williams and Marty Neumeier's "The Brand Gap."

Michael McLaughlin's list, "Companion Books to Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants," is interesting as are "Business Proposal Writing: Recommended by Kip Piper," and "technical sales" by Wong Shiu Keung "Roger Wong".

The 10 Don'ts Of Writing A Winning Business Proposal

2007-05-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Henry & I wrote this article for Rain Today - The 10 Don'ts Of Writing A Winning Business Proposal. It is, obviously, modeled after Tom Sant's Top 10 Tips for Winning Proposals.

Rain Today is one of the best sites, along with BNET, for free business information. You will need to register for complete access.

Larry Bodine's post "The Dreadful Boeing RFP"

2007-05-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

Larry Bodine's Law Marketing Blog has an interesting take on a recent big RFP, "The Dreadful Boeing RFP." I hope to see more "postmortems" like this on the web.

At the end of the article Larry writes, "the ACC/Serengeti annual survey of in-house counsel reported that nowadays, few law firms respond to RFPs." Is that really true? My experience is exactly the opposite and a few folks I have spoken to feel the same but, between Larry & ACC/Serengeti, they should know better than us!

God!

2007-05-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

Tom Sant is the god (or godfather) of the proposal world. Tom is the author of the proposal world's bible too: Persuasive Business Proposals: Writing to Win More Customers, Clients, and Contracts. If you don't know Tom, start with his Top 10 Tips for Winning Proposals:

Top 10 Tips for Winning Proposals

Never title your proposal "Proposal." That doesn't say anything clients can't figure out themselves. (Would you ever title a book "Book"?) Instead, write a title that states a benefit to the client: "Increasing Network Reliability and Convenience through Advanced On-Line Capabilities."
Focus on your clients' business needs or mission objectives first. Mirror what you have heard from them before offering a solution. That addresses what they care about the most, and it shows you've listened and considered their interests and are not offering a canned approach.
Avoid lengthy corporate histories. Nobody's interested!
Eliminate jargon. Even if your contact at the client organization understands all of your jargon, who else will be reviewing your proposal? Will they understand it? However, it is okay-a good idea, even-to use the client's jargon.
Keep your proposal as short as possible. It's always tempting to throw in anything and everything that might be of interest, but in reality the decision makers won't read it. At best, they'll skim through your document. A short proposal is likely to be looked at first, which means all others will be judged in comparison to it. That's an advantage if you've done a good job.
Highlight your key points. Note the comment about skimming in the previous tip: Executives skim. You can make your document more "skimmable" by highlighting the main ideas. Use bullets, headings and subheadings, boldface type, color, borders, graphics, and anything else that will make your key points jump off the page.
Quantify your benefits and payback. Show the decision maker how much he or she will save, or how much more productive the organization will be. A convincing calculation of your client's return on investment is more compelling than a slogan or cliché.
Prioritize your uniqueness factors or competitive advantages. Think about what you have to offer and select a few qualities, prioritized in terms of what your client cares about. If possible, tie them to the ROI you're demonstrating.
Ghost the competition. If you know who you are competing against, raise issues in your proposal that strike at their weak points. Don't disparage them or mention them by name. But if you know their software is susceptible to viruses, make a big deal about the importance of protecting against viruses.
Ask for their business. Ask for it in the cover letter, ask for it in the Executive Summary, and ask for it when you deliver or present the proposal. Being passive doesn't work. You have to ask.

Proposals are chaos!

2007-05-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Every professional service firm must complete them. Yet very few people understand them. Even fewer know how to mange them. Still, they will not go away. What are they? Proposals, of course – arguably the most arduous type of client communication.

This blog will concentrate on proposals: what they are (and are not), when they work (and when they don’t), and, most importantly, how to produce proposals that will help your firm win more business.