11.21.14 Top 10 Reasons Your Proposals SUCK! ( And what you can do to make them ROCK!) 2014 Mid-Atlantic Conference & Expo Sheraton Premiere Tysons Corner

11.21.14

Top 10 Reasons Your Proposals SUCK! (And what you can do to make them ROCK!)

2014 Mid-Atlantic Conference & ExpoSheraton Premiere

Tysons Corner

Olessia Smotrova-TaylorPresident/CEO

OST Global Solutions

Bridget SkellyDesign Expert,

Independent Consultant

2014 Mid-Atlantic Conference & Expo 2

About the Presenters

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Olessia Smotrova-Taylor, CF.APMP FellowPresident/CEO, OST Global Solutions, Inc.• Won $20 billion in new business• Founder of Bid & Proposal Academy• President of NCMA Bethesda/Medical Chapter• Former president of APMP NCA Chapter• 19 years of BD experience• Author of How to Get Government Contracts: Have a

Slice of a $1 Trillion Pie

Bridget SkellyVisual Communications Expert, Independent Consultant• Creative contributions resulting in billions in

revenue for govcon and commercial clients • Develops and teaches courses on graphics

conceptualization and design• Served as the 2013 Marketing Chairperson for

the APMP NCA Chapter

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Why So Many Proposals Tend to Suck

Winners leave nothing to chance. They proactively review their proposals to see where they stack up to the competition, and they assess them for improvement opportunities.

Few proposal professionals have had formal proposal training, or worked in the premier proposal organizations, to know what "good" looks like.

Although some small businesses have seen their larger teammates' proposals, they don't know if these specific proposals were indeed that good.

A winning proposal could've been the "least bad" proposal, reinforcing poor habits.

Companies tend to recycle the same mistakes from pursuit to pursuit (copy and pasting from an old proposal is the cardinal sin).

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Potholes that Wreck a Proposal

Top 10 Reasons:1. Organization

2. Content

3. Persuasiveness

4. Language/Voice

5. Visual Appearance (Graphical Elements)

6. Visual Appearance (Layout/DTP)

7. Accuracy

8. Process

9. Proposal Resources

10. Continuous Improvement

For example, at OST, we examine proposals through 60 weighted parameters that address these areas.


Proposals fail to convey their allure to the evaluators in at least 10 different common areas.

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1. Poor Organization

Section titles, numbering, and structure don't track to RFP; it is hard to find sections.

Compliance references inside sections and/or graphics are not there.

Compliance within sections is unclear due to lack of subheadings, synonymous instead of RFP language, and fuzzy structure.

Evaluator-friendly keyword highlighting and requirements summaries are lacking.


Good content, poorly organized, is like snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.

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Example: No Keyword Highlighting to Emphasize Strengths and Key Points

Systems integration. The Acme Team has extensive systems integration, sensor, and command and control (C2) technology expertise, particularly in security system design, which will enhance our technical oversight of TO 80. While our site security designs will use the approved suite of PPS equipment, we will exercise our technical capabilities to assess and validate the designs. We are now, at our own expense, in the process of integrating several sensors from the approved list of equipment, including the Senstar-Stellar Repels relocatable electrostatic sensor, the PULNiX Sensors PB_IN_100HF Photoelectric Beam Sensor, and the Southwest Microwave MIL PAC 385C relocatable microwave sensor into our electronic sensor test bed. Our test bed is a corporate resource used to test and evaluate sensors for border surveillance and facility intrusion. It integrates a variety of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), Infrared (IR), radar, motion, heat, and other sensor systems from U.S. and other commercial vendors to determine their degree of compatibility with industry standard interfaces, and helps us compare performance under controlled conditions and develop cost benefit evaluations. This test bed will be available to assist our systems engineers in any troubleshooting needed to support Customer in this project. Technologies and standards that offer potential to enhance security at the weapons storage site will be discussed as part of the TO 80 semi-annual Implementation Working Group (IWG) meetings.Acme's Integrated Project System (IPS) which we use on all our CTS IDIQ TOs (see Section 3.5), will provide the overarching structure for integrating and executing this project. IPS communicates "the way we do business" to our project team and all subcontractors, and facilitates success through a defined set of activities and deliverables for each project phase. We have tailored each step of our IPS project phases to satisfy specific entrance and exit criteria within the host nation environment. Our jointly drafted Systems Engineering Management Plan (SEMP) for TO 80 documents this approach and integrates the systems engineering processes of both Acme and Host Nation Integrator. Figure A3-1 illustrates this approach; it depicts specific tasks and formal reviews to be performed in each phase, and illustrates our melding of the host nation and U.S. processes.


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Text Without Emphasis is Like…


(Boring, monotonous, and… ewe)


2. Missing Content

The "What" is there but "How" is not apparent – there is none or patchy description of processes, tools, and workflows.

The description of "who" is going to do the work doesn't go beyond "we", the company, or the team.

"When" and "where" the work is going to be done or has been done before is unclear from the text or is not required.

There is no concept of operations overview and/or graphic showing at the 1000 ft view level how the whole work will be performed.

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Example: CONOPS Graphic



3. Lack of Persuasiveness

Failure to focus on the customer throughout text and graphics to showcase understanding of their issues and their mission.

Not including at least three win themes throughout the proposal that contain credibility-building quantified and qualified proof that you can do the job and how that benefits the customer.

Not using stories or employing written and visual metaphors to engage all of the evaluator's senses and clearly illustrate offeror's value proposition.

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http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http://www.zazzle.com/persuasive+posters&ei=y1BrVPL0HtihyATwn4HADg&bvm=bv.79908130,d.aWw&psig=AFQjCNEmo6_SC5v_ytVlhrCFvrWOMumrSw&ust=1416405499994635

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Can you imagine modern sales and marketing without visuals to persuade buying decisions?

…Yet we try to win multimillion-dollar proposals (mega-sales) without visuals.

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4. Language/Voice

Excessive use of adjectives and adverbs that destroy credibility.

Use of cold, bureaucratic and impersonal language; or the opposite, overly familiar.

Use of credibility killers such as "unique", "we understand," "world-class"…

Tentative and soft language like "we could" "we propose," or "we believe".

Not written in a single voice and reads like a poorly synchronized work of multiple authors.

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Don't Ask the Reader to Rely on Faith


Believe

ApproximatelyMany

Multiple

Numerous

Several

Significant

SufficientNumerous

A lot

NumerousVarious

Years of..SeasonedExperienced

Vast

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Examples of Poor Language/Voice

Our team's seasoned instructional design team will advise the government regarding the advantages and disadvantages of each option based upon the stated learning objectives, intended audience, and delivery considerations.

Team Acme will leverage its vast experience to successfully complete this project on time and within budget.Many of our proposed team members are recognized thought leaders in a wide range of relevant topics.

Our approach to recruiting, training, and retaining qualified personnel offers several advantages to traditional staffing strategies and we intend to fully implement this process.

We have years of experience with the DHS to ensure successful project performance.

We believe there are many touch points between training management and stakeholder engagement.


Nothing kills credibility faster than fluffy adjectives and unsubstantiated claims.

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5. Visual Appearance (Graphic Elements)

Ineffective visuals that fail to portray intended concepts; not customer-focused; overly complex or vague.

Lack of titles and action captions in the customer-focused feature-benefit format.

Amateur or inconsistent visual appearance.

Difficult to read due to fonts that are too small (less than 8-point).

Failure to comply with RFP formatting requirements.


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Visuals Directly Impact Proposal Persuasion and Win Probability


VISUALHUMANS ARE

CREATURES

10 MILLIONBITS PER SECOND

The rate in which the human retina transmits data to the brain or the speed of

an Ethernet connection

90%of information transmitted

to the brain is visual1/2% of brain dedicated to visual function

Our brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text

Approximately 65% of people are visual learners

Most people only remember 20% of what they read

Remember…

Proposal evaluators are human.

Significant competitive advantage.

Level of professionalism. Increased perception of

value. More prominent win themes. An easier proposal to

skim-read. Faster to review and

comprehend proposal, showing respect for evaluators' time.

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What's Wrong with this Graphic Visually?


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Don't be "that guy"…

Distorted proportions


Many evaluators don't pick at small flaws in artwork, but they still get the subliminal message that you are not professional and polished.

What NOT to do…

By resizing a graphic within a document, you are resizing the text, making it difficult to read and likely non-compliant


6. Visual Appearance (Layout/Format)

Not using a document template with styles, and/or failure to apply styles correctly, consistently, and compliantly throughout proposal.

A sea of text with little or no use of visuals (figures, focus boxes, tables, or any other visual elements).

Inconsistent or sloppy use of fonts and other visual elements. Visual elements that are not within margins and improperly

placed on the page - visual irregularities, improper white space, or run-away figures.

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7. Accuracy

The document is full of errors in spelling and grammar.

There are consistency errors. Acronyms are not spelled

out when used in the text for the first time.

Action verbs are not used throughout the text, relying on nouns disguised as verbs, and verb "to be", provide, make, get, offer, and a handful of other non-descript verbs.

There are major omissions and document imperfections that could create a negative opinion in an evaluator about the offeror.

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8. Process


Better define undefined or general processes to avoid chaos.

Simplify "thick" bureaucratic processes. "Thin" process + clear workflows and

definitions of roles and responsibilities do the trick.

Don't cut out steps in the name of efficiency.

Align the proposal process with your goals.• If you consistently don't have enough time to

polish maybe you're not sticking to your deadlines.

• Consider reviewing the writers' work daily.

Go back to the drawing board with your processes and defy convention – but in a smart way, without throwing the baby out with the bath water.

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9. Proposal Resources


Provide management support for driving proposal quality instead of the idea that cut and paste will do.

Focus on winning, not just proposal completion.

Line up the right resources and enough of them to win.

Invest in continuously training personnel (courses, conferences, books).

Be the driver of your organization's success instead of being an obstacle.

For those in management positions, you set the tone for the proposal. If management is not engaged, the proposal staff will do a cut-and-paste job.

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10. Continuous Improvement

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Conducting lessons learned sessions is the most common best practice not followed.

This leads to repeated mistakes. You should:

• Document your lessons learned after the proposal and after the debrief.

• Upload your lessons learned document to a common access area.

• Review the lessons prior to the next proposal.

As past performance and experience accumulates, you need to incorporate lessons learned into your subsequent business development efforts.

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Continuous Improvement – Best Practices

Proposal plan tailored to the circumstances

Compliant, annotated outline or correctly built work packages

Comprehensive kick-off Daily status meetings Just-in-time training for all

proposal participants In-process reviews "If you haven't seen it, it doesn't exist" Checklists


Stay connected to the proposal community to keep up on the latest thoughts and techniques in the profession.

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Checklists and Templates


Don't leave anything to chance; implement customizable, detailed checklists to ensure no step are missed from capture to solution brainstorming, day-to-day management, production, and other vital proposal tasks.

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In a Nutshell…

It is true that a lot more than proposal quality goes into winning or not winning a proposal:• Someone else buying their way in• Competition outdoing you through capture/wiring• Politics• Luck

Nothing is guaranteed, but your Pwin is higher if you do a great job on every front.

Just because your past proposals have won doesn't mean they are good, or they will keep winning in an increasingly competitive market.

Put your best foot forward each time to ensure that you stay competitive in an asymmetric competitive environment.


Proposal quality matters: If you present well, you have a much higher Pwin, even in an LPTA environment.

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Thank You


Olessia Smotrova-TaylorPresident/CEO, OST Global Solutions, Inc.

Office: 301-384-3350 | Cell: 240-246-5305

[email protected]

Bridget SkellyVisual Communications Expert, Independent Consultant

Cell: 703-431-4423

[email protected]

Documents

11.21.14 Top 10 Reasons Your Proposals SUCK! ( And what you can do to make them ROCK!) 2014 Mid-Atlantic Conference & Expo Sheraton Premiere Tysons Corner