Claim OwnershipBids and Proposals for Dummies: Short Episodes, Big Wins
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Welcome to "Bids and Proposals for Dummies: Short Episodes, Big Wins," a podcast inspired by the book written by APMP Fellows, Charlie Divine and Neil Cobb. Each episode gives you bite-sized, expert tips to help you navigate the complexities of bid and proposal writing and provides industry best practices on winning business.
36 Episodes
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In this episode, we'll cover writing persuasively by understanding your audience and applying rhetorical principles, and the use of descriptive headings to guide readers and summarize your story in proposals.
In this episode, we'll cover clear writing techniques to save readers' time, how to structure proposals to encourage evaluation selection, and the importance of editing, revising, and seeking feedback for proposal improvement.
In this episode, we'll cover the importance of structuring your argument in writing, tips on using outlines to organize content effectively, the significance of clear writing in proposals and how to achieve it through storytelling, the use of strong, active verbs to enhance clarity, and practical writing techniques such as using simple words, avoiding technical terms, and structuring paragraphs for coherence.
In this episode, we'll cover the importance of reviewing and finalizing proposals, the skills and roles needed for proposal preparation and review, efficient production activities and scaling plans, adapting to challenges in the proposal process, electronic procurement systems and clear writing, the significance of visuals and practice in presentations, and the importance of non-verbal communication and question preparation.
In this episode, we'll cover the importance of design in proposals, consistent document styles, sketching ideas for consistent design, applying basic design principles, using graphics in proposals, and guidelines for placing graphics in proposals.
In this episode, we'll cover the advantages and challenges of adopting virtual teams for proposal preparation, effective communication strategies for virtual teams, and tips for conducting virtual kickoff meetings and reviews.
In this episode, we'll cover the importance of guiding your team in managing a proposal, the balance between structure and autonomy for proposal leaders, and the use of immediate feedback and responsibility matrix to track progress and recognize team contributions.
In this episode, we'll cover the role of a proposal leader and the importance of being a leader, engaging colleagues at all levels, including executives and peers, effective proposal team training, and alternative metrics for grading proposal operations.
In this episode, we'll cover strategies for improving proposal processes, gathering customer feedback, scheduling internal review sessions, implementing knowledge management for content reuse, and the importance of proposal training, professional organizations, certifications, and mentorship for leadership development.
In this episode, we'll cover how to effectively divide tasks and provide feedback when tackling large assignments, the importance of tracking expenses in costly proposals, and the significance of assembling a capable team with specialized roles and thorough partnering agreements
In this episode, we'll cover the importance of a workable schedule and effective team in keeping a proposal on track, tips for scheduling and managing time for production and delivery, allocating time for proposal reviews, establishing proposal infrastructure, creating realistic plans, sequencing tasks, ensuring accountability, developing and applying standards for proposal development tasks, making the proposal schedule visible on a collaborative platform, providing schedule in appropriate formats, and using scheduling tools like Gantt charts.
In this episode, we'll cover how to set yourself apart from competitors in a proposal by emphasizing the features, benefits, and proofs of your solution, understanding customer needs, presenting features effectively, using benefits to answer the "so what?" question and help customers achieve their goals, quantifying benefits with discriminators, using headings to highlight discriminators and back up claims with proof points and past performance, and ensuring proof points are persuasive, tangible, credible, and supported by specific details, measurable facts, and verifiable information.
In this episode, we'll cover producing the proposal which involves printing, creating media, packaging, and delivering it and how to plan and coordinate these steps carefully. Additionally, we'll discuss how to respond to customer questions and concerns, prepare for oral presentations, capture lessons learned, and harvest reusable content after submitting the proposal, in order to align your process with the customer's buying cycle and increase your chances of success by overcommunicating and driving the process.
In this episode, we'll cover the essential elements of proposal content plans, including outlines, style guides, project style sheets, and mock-ups, as well as the importance of incorporating win themes and using appropriate tools. We'll also discuss the process of summarizing main points, describing the solution, and writing a letter of transmittal in a proposal, as well as the significance of reviewing, editing, scheduling reviews, involving reviewers, and tips for revising and proofreading proposal drafts.
In this episode, we'll cover the proposal development stage, including finalizing strategy, creating a custom plan, writing the argument, and producing the proposal. We'll also discuss the importance of kick-off meetings and how to plan the content for successful proposals.
In this episode, we'll cover developing a proposal, including understanding the process, making the bid/no-bid decision, and creating a successful proposal.
In this episode, we'll cover competitive intelligence and analysis, including SWOT analysis and bidder comparison matrix, as crucial tools for assessing competitors, gathering intelligence on incumbents and customers to unseat them, and the art of ghosting the competition by highlighting strengths and minimizing weaknesses.
In this episode, we'll cover the importance of understanding and assessing your competition when writing a proposal, along with tips for gathering information, asking the right questions, utilizing publicly available information, engaging with customers and colleagues, and conducting competitor reviews to assess strengths and weaknesses.
In today's episode, we'll cover the importance of developing a proposal by summarizing your offer, addressing customer questions, and expressing value, crafting a unique, visual, and persuasive executive summary, following a standard format for transmittal letters, and understanding the customer's situation by expressing empathy, adding insight, highlighting the problem and pain, and using pictures and echoing the customer's words.
In today's episode, we'll cover addressing customer needs and concerns when responding to questions, as well as effectively writing the solution section of a proposal by providing proof points and explaining how to solve the customer's problem.
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