contact sid@sidjaffe.com or 703-855-3160

Archive for month: March, 2015

You are here: Home / 2015 / March
✎

About to Embark on a New Proposal? A Few Reminders

March 24, 2015/in /by

by Sheryl Birsky

Compared to this time last year, there seems to be an abundance of RFP/Task Order releases from the Government.  In the heat of proposal preparation, there are often over-looked factors that can make a difference to the evaluation of your proposal. Here are a few reminders.

Write customer-focused, not company-centric proposals. Ensure that every paragraph of your response addresses their solution, their pain points.  Your company mission is irrelevant to them – it is about their mission! Do a word search and see how many times your firm’s name appears versus theirs.

Design for proposal evaluators who skim.  Make your proposal easy to read – short sentences with headers, bullets, and graphics.  Do not make evaluators have to work to get your message.  Use “’features/benefits” tables or text boxes to summarize your key points and “take aways.”  Write like a newspaper—headlines and most important points first, followed with additional information, and then full details last.

Choose language carefully.  Use the customer’s language and terms in your proposal – which may differ than your company’s or that of industry.  As well, avoid negative turns of phrase (e.g., 99% retention rate versus 1% attrition rate). Your language must be in agreement with the compliance language of the solicitation.

Support your claims! Evaluators question everything – ensure that all claims and offerings can be validated. Provide qualitative or quantitative proof and be careful when using such words as “guarantee” “promise,” or “ensure.”  When you make a statement, be prepared to follow up with a statement beginning “as evidenced by…”

Beware of boilerplate.  Take the time to tailor your text! Do not give short-shrift to resumes or past performance descriptions! And, make them “’skimmable” as well with summary boxes or short headers that highlight key attributes.

If you have questions or require proposal support, contact Sheryl Birsky at Sheryl@sidjaffe.com or phone (202)785-5811.

✎

What’s in a Brown Bag?

March 24, 2015/in /by

by Steve Bruce

We hear it often… business development leaders complain that their companies just do not have the time for much-needed business development training.  For small companies with limited staff, even a half day is a tough sacrifice given today’s chock-a-block proposal schedules. When you factor in the cost of flying-in remote employees (let’s face it, virtual training just does not have the same impact) and having staff sitting in a conference room, business development clinics can have significant “hidden costs.”

On the flip side, isn’t there also a significant cost to not doing business development training? For those of you trying to raise the level of your business development culture, what do you do? Don’t punt: Consider Brown Bag sessions as an alternative.

Approximately 60 minutes in length, our Brown Bag sessions range from basic market research to capture management highlights to proposal management “light.”  Obviously, 60 minutes is not intended to convey the entire subject matter of a one-day program, but it is a start that will energize your team. One of our typical Brown Bags cost $1500 plus expenses (usually sandwich and cookie for the facilitator). Best of all, the audience size is up to you.

So what is in our Brown Bag?  If you are interested in finding out, please contact Steve Bruce at steve@sidjaffe.com or call Steve at (703) 989-2799.

✎

Tactics for Successful Teaming

March 24, 2015/in /by

by Sid Jaffe

Teaming is more than making a few contacts in a company and hoping to be a part of the winning bid.  It is an organized approach for growing your business.  Following are some tactics and techniques to maximize your effectiveness as an organization in becoming a strong teaming partner and increasing your win rate.

Create Access to Prospective Teaming Partners. Every business relationship begins with access to someone in a target organization. Often, that access is a result of a social or casual contact. It is through these initial access points that you begin to expand your familiarity with an organization—and, the people in that organization get to know you and your company. The relationships that you create happen over time; it is incumbent on you and your staff to follow-up on and nurture them.

Know the Decision Makers and Influencers. There are often specific people tasked with the responsibility of identifying business teaming partners. While there are no unimportant people when it comes to business relationships, there are those people with whom it is crucial that you have access to and who know your company’s compelling story.  Earn their attention.

Know the End User Problems. The reason companies team is to win business and ultimately solve an end-customer’s problem. The more you understand the end customer’s dream, mission and requirements, and can relate it in their words, the more likely you can position your firm and solutions as a requisite part of the winning strategy.  Early on in the contact process with the client and with potential teaming partners, your people need to confirm the research that they have done that establishes the nature of the end user’s problem to be solved. Be in a position to select the team with which you have the greatest affinity, and work hard to make that the winning team.

Understand the Funding. In this time of changing priorities, policies and people in the administration, there are programs that will have better and worse chances of being issued as solicitations, and once awarded, becoming funded.  The closer you are to the funding decision maker and the project “champion,” the more valuable you are to your team. Frequently, the decision to pursue an opportunity rests on the relationship and knowledge the bidding company has with the decision maker.  It is through these trusted relationships that the relative importance of a program for the program is best understood. Whether you are the prime or the sub, having these relationships will make your firm an important teaming partner.

Be a Responsive Partner. Once teaming agreements are made, the process is just starting! Be an active participant in joint marketing and strategy, and, be responsive in supporting the proposal.  This means providing timely responses Data Calls, and actively participating in theming and solution sessions. Even if you are the sub, put your A-gamer’s on it and establish yourself as the go-to partner!

For additional information, contact Sid Jaffe at sid@sidjaffe.com or 703-855-3160.

Recent Comments

    © Copyright - Sid Jaffe & Associates, 2019 - Enfold Theme by Kriesi