engineered adj. Planned, managed, and put through by skillful acts.      proposals n. pl. Things put forward for consideration, tenders for contracts (US).

— RETIRED —

What I learned in 40 years of doing proposals —

I founded EP in 1987 to help companies compete for new business. Before that, I did proposals as a consultant with another company and as a corporate employee. Over the years I realized that writing good proposals was a pretty easy job... providing you followed a handfull of simple rules. And I realized that most of those rules were quite close to ones I had learned in grade school. You could almost say that everything I know about proposals I learned in the fourth grade. Don't make proposals harder than they have to be. RADean, 2022. 1. Don't Underestimate the Job… A successful proposal involves three separate tasks: conceptual design of a program (technical, management, and cost/price solutions), formulation and implementation of a sales campaign to persuade the customer to choose your program, and preparation of a document to present both your program and your sales messages in a convincing manner. For any proposal, there is a lot to do to develop a responsive program, a focused sell, and a persuasive document! Identify and plan for all required resources appropriately. 2. Lead from the Front: Manage the Proposal, Don't Just Let it Happen… "Management" has only one principal responsibility: ensuring company success. Thus, management must accept responsibility for defining and ensuring the proposal's "big picture" and how it relates to other company activities. Good proposals are managed from the top down, not the bottom up. Management must lead the proposal from the front, throughout the proposal. Successful proposals demand active management leadership, throughout the entire proposal development effort. 3. Assemble and Organize the Right Team… Put the right people-and the right number of people-in the right jobs at the right time. Match people and skills to tasks, clearly define expectations, and efficiently communicate ideas and information among the entire proposal team. 4. Understand the "Rules of the Game"… Understand the competitive environment, customer requirements, and factors that will impact proposal preparation. Collect and use all competitive data: Know who the customer is, what they want, and why. Read and understand the RFP. Know who your potential competitors are and why they could win or lose. Analyze your company capabilities and consider why you should win or might lose! 5. Think Before You Do… Make sure your team separates "ideasmithing" from "wordsmithing." Segregate proposal tasks into a logical sequence to identify and correct problems while their impact is small. 6. Start Early… Make time for substantial pre-RFP planning and advance proposal development. There's almost always too much to do to wait until the RFP! 7. Review Progress Frequently… Do, Review, Redo. Even the best engineers, managers, and writers probably won't get everything just right the first time. Practice short interval control, schedule intermediate steps, leave time to make it better. 8. Get Independent Opinions Along the Way… Use outsiders-people not directly involved with proposal preparation-to keep you focused on the basics of responding to requirements, satisfying needs, and persuading your customer to select you instead of another offeror. 9. Prepare a Professional Response… Satisfy the basics; satisfy the "R-F-P." Make certain the end product is: R esponsive to (and, ideally, compliant with) all customer requirements F ocused on satisfying underlying needs not just individual requirements P ersuasive and clear in presentation