Writing winning business proposals / by Richard C. Freed, Shervin Freed, Joe Romano.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780071742320 (alk. paper)
- Physical Description: viii, 311 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Edition: 3rd ed.
- Publisher: New York : McGraw-Hill, [2011]
- Copyright: ©2011
Content descriptions
General Note: | Includes index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | Understanding generic structure logic -- Understanding the baseline logic -- Aligning the baseline logic -- Using a measurable-results orientation -- Using logic trees to construct your methodology -- Analyzing the buyers -- Identifying, selecting, and developing themes--determining what to weave in your web of persuasion -- Green team reviews: collaborating to improve your odds of winning -- Writing the situation and objectives slots -- Writing the methods slot -- Writing the qualifications slot -- Writing the benefits -- Writing the fees slot -- Summary--the proposal development process. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Proposal writing in business. Business report writing. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Evergreen Indiana.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Other Formats and Editions
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spencer Co PL - Rockport Main Library | 808 Fre (Text) | 70741000106420 | Adult Non Fiction | Available | - |
Loading Recommendations...
Writing Winning Business Proposals
By RICHARD C. FREED, JOSEPH D. ROMANO, SHERVIN FREED
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Contents
Preface | |
Introduction | |
PART 1 Proposal Logics | |
CHAPTER 1 Understanding Generic Structure Logic | |
CHAPTER 2 Understanding the Baseline Logic | |
CHAPTER 3 Aligning the Baseline Logic | |
CHAPTER 4 Using a Measurable-Results Orientation | |
CHAPTER 5 Using Logic Trees to Construct Your Methodology | |
PART 2 Proposal Psychologics | |
CHAPTER 6 Analyzing the Buyers | |
CHAPTER 7 Identifying, Selecting, and Developing Themes: Determining What to Weave in Your Web of Persuasion | |
CHAPTER 8 Green Team Reviews: Collaborating to Improve Your Odds of Winning | |
PART 3 Proposal Preparation | |
CHAPTER 9 Writing the Situation and Objectives Slots | |
CHAPTER 10 Writing the Methods Slot | |
CHAPTER 11 Writing the Qualifications Slot | |
CHAPTER 12 Writing the Benefits Section | |
CHAPTER 13 Writing the Fees Slot | |
CHAPTER 14 Summary: The Proposal Development Process | |
APPENDIX A Paramount Consulting's Proposal Opportunity at the ABC Company: A Case Study | |
APPENDIX B Worksheets | |
APPENDIX C Paramount's Proposal Letter to the ABC Company | |
APPENDIX D Internal Proposals (Make Certain They're Not Reports) | |
APPENDIX E A Few Comments About Writing Effective Sentences (and Paragraphs) | |
APPENDIX F Using the Right Voice: Determining How Your Proposal Should "Speak" | |
APPENDIX G Reading RFPs | |
APPENDIX H A Worksheet for Qualifying Your Lead | |
Notes and Citations | |
Index |
Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Understanding Generic Structure Logic
Like most people, I like stories, so let me begin by telling you a very shortstoryâafter which I'll ask you several questions.
Paula was hungry. After she entered and ordered a pastrami sandwich, it wasserved to her quickly. She left the waitress a big tip.
* Where was Paula?
* What did she eat?
* Who made the sandwich?
* Who took the order?
* Who served the sandwich?
* Why did Paula leave a big tip?
How is it that you could answer those questions rather easily even thoughnothing in the story explicitly provides the information necessary for youranswers? Because you have a schema for the concept of "restaurant."
Schemas are knowledge structures that you have built and stored in your memoryas patterns, as analytical frameworks. Schemas represent generic concepts suchas restaurant or airplane or house. Each schema has "slots" that exist in anetwork of relations. Your schema for restaurant may have slots for "ordering,""eating," "tipping," and "paying." Your schema for house may contain slots for"family room," "kitchen," "living room," and "bathroom." A slot for "homeoffice" is also possible, but probably not for "boardroom" or "conference room,"since such spaces typically are not found in residences. Therefore, you don'texpect to find a boardroom or a conference room in someone's house.
You also have schemas for different kinds of texts, and these schemas createexpectations. In a novel, for example, you expect character and plot andsetting. In a particular type of novel, such as a spy novel, you may expect thatthe hero will be betrayed and captured, only to escape and triumph. In a eulogy,you expect some account of the deceased person's character and accomplishments;in a personal letter, some account of your friend's life and feelings; in asermon, some moral based on a religious belief. If the sermon consisted solelyof an analysis of price-earnings ratios or bills of materials or variousstrategies for penetrating new markets, your expectations would be denied, andyou'd be suspicious of the speaker's competence and reliability, maybe even hisor her sanity.
Proposals and other business documents also carry with them schemas and sets ofexpectations. If I asked you to submit a proposal to me, I'd be surprised if thedocument contained findings, conclusions, and recommendations. These are slotsI'd expect in a report, not a proposal. Potential clients like me, then, havecertain expectations, and as a writer, you're at some risk if you don't meetthose expectations. If your reader is in a proposal-reading situation, you'dbetter deliver a document that fits your reader's proposal schema, not theschema for a report or a eulogy or a novel.
Your schema for a proposal also has slots, and those slots make up what I call aproposal's generic structure. No matter how different one proposal may be fromanother, something generic makes them both proposals, and that something istheir generic structure.
The Slots in a Proposal's Generic Structure
Most of your proposal opportunities exist because I, your potential client, havean unsolved problem or an unrealized opportunity. Therefore, your primary taskis to convince me, both logically and psychologically, that you can help meaddress my problem or opportunity and, in competitive situations, that you'll doso better than anyone else.
Your entire proposal needs to communicate that message in one seamless argument(which may happen to be divided into sections or even volumes for myconvenience). Your argument is suggested by the following propositions, each ofwhich is preceded by the proposal slot that contains it. (See Figure1.1.)
Slots Speaking to Slots
Although the preceding statements might suggest that your proposal's argumentflows only one wayâfrom top to bottomâthe argument should be sotight that the logic also can flow from bottom to top:
    These are the benefits or value you will receive
    considering the costs you will incur
    given our qualifications
    for performing these methods
    that will achieve your objectives
    and therefore improve your situation.
Now, I've never seen a proposal organized that way, but however the proposal isorganized, every generic structure slot needs to "speak" to all the others. Noslot exists in isolation: Each contributes to your communicating the proposal'sprimary message. In later chapters, I'll show you specific techniques forassuring that each slot in your proposal speaks to every other one.
Slots Are Not Necessarily Sections
You've probably noticed that I've been referring to OBJECTIVES, METHODS,BENEFITS, and so on, as "slots," even though many proposals might designatethose parts of the proposal by using section headings of the same name. I'vebeen calling these elements slots rather than sections because in any givenproposal it is possible that:
* No slot could be used as a section heading. That's the case if youdon't use headings in your document or if your headings are different from theslot names. The situation slot could be called "Background" or "Business Issues"or "Our Understanding of Your Situation." The methods slot could be named"Approach" or "Methodology" or "Study Strategy."
* Two or more slots could be combined into one section. You couldcombine SITUATION and OBJECTIVES into one section. Or OBJECTIVES and METHODS.
* One slot could be split into two or more sections. METHODS could bedivided among "Approach," "Workplan," and "Deliverables." QUALIFICATIONS couldbe split among "Project Organization," "Qualifications," "References," and"Résumés."
All Slots Should Be Filled or Accounted For
Every proposal you write or present contains six slots, but these slots are notnecessarily organized into corresponding sections or presented in predeterminedor fixed order. Nevertheless, whether they are combined, split, or not named atall, each slot should be filled or accounted for. On some occasions, you don'thave to fill slots in the proposal document or presentation because they'vealready been "filled" in prior discussions with me, your potential client, andtherefore accounted for during the proposal process. We all know that proposaldevelopment itself is often only one part of the selling process, and actions,good or bad, that occur before the actual document is submitted affect theproposal's content, organization, tone, and the like.
If before you submit the proposal you have already convinced me that youthoroughly understand my problem or opportunity, you've already filled much ofthe situation slot and may not need to fill it (or fill it very much) in theproposal. If you and your team previously have done a good deal of commendablework for me, you've filled much of the qualifications slot, and loading thedocument with résumés and references may be not only unnecessary butstrategically unwise and perhaps even annoying. Remember, there are no rules,only strategies. And effective strategies are driven by the specifics of thesituation, by the context of the selling process.
* * *
By understanding the schema for house, you know what kind of rooms can exist ina house; therefore, you expect rooms such as a kitchen, a bathroom, and abedroom. You also have some sense of the relationship among those rooms and, tosome degree, their placement. For example, in a two-story house, you wouldexpect a first-floor kitchen; in a two-story house with only one bath, you mightexpect a second-floor bathroom; in a house with more than one bath, you wouldnot be surprised to find the second one adjoined to a master bedroom. Similarly,by understanding generic structureâthe schema for proposalsâyouunderstand an important logical element of proposals. You know that proposals,to be proposals, also have certain kinds of rooms or slots, and you know therelationship among those rooms. You know, for example, that one slot explainsthe problem or opportunity, another explains a method for addressing the problemor capitalizing on the opportunity, and yet another argues the benefits of doingso. Throughout much of this book, I will build upon the concept of genericstructure. In fact, the next two chapters focus on the three proposalslotsâSITUATION, OBJECTIVES, and BENEFITSâthat make up what I call"the baseline logic."
CHAPTER 1 REVIEW
Understanding Generic Structure Logic
1. All proposals have the same generic structure, which contains thefollowing six slots:
* Situation: What is the problem or opportunity?
* Objectives: Given that problem or opportunity, what are yourobjectives for solving or realizing it?
* Methods: Given those objectives, how will you achieve them?
* Qualifications: Given those methods, how are you qualified to performthem?
* Costs: Given the methods and qualifications, how much will it cost?
* Benefits: Given those costs, what benefits and/or value will accrue?
2. Generic structure is not a matter of organization. That is, aproposal is not necessarily sequenced according to the slots as they are orderedabove.
3. The slots do not necessarily correspond to sections. One sectioncould contain two or more slots. A single slot could be distributed among two ormore sections.
4. The extent to which the slots should be filled in the proposalpresentation or document depends upon how much they were filled in preproposalmeetings or prior working relationships.
WORK SESSION 1: Proposal Opportunity at the ABC Company, a Division ofConsolidated Industries
See Figure 1.2 for the instructions for this chapter's work session.
To: You, The Reader
From: Your Potential Client
Subject: Work Session 1
Before I take you to the next chapter, I need to introduce you to this first of10 work sessions that will help you think about and apply the concepts discussedthroughout this book.
Fortunately, you won't have to do the work; the work sessions take you throughthe paces. You only have to pretend to watch yourself work and think about whatyou're doing. It won't be this simple in the real world, but understanding thesework sessions will make it far easier.
Each of the work sessions is based on the ABC Case in Appendix A, whichyou should read for this session. Please do not be concerned if the case relatesto a business situation unfamiliar to you. Understanding the technical aspectsof the case's situation is not a prerequisite to understanding the strategiesused in subsequent work sessions to prepare a winning proposal. In subsequentchapters, I will refer to the work sessions and the proposal that gets writtenpiece by piece throughout them. So don't skip these sessions! Tointernalize this book's concepts, you need to read the work sessions in order.
You might not always agree with the analyses in the work sessions or with what"you" decide to include or not include in the proposal. In fact, I encourage youto disagree, to consider other alternatives, perhaps even better strategies. Butplease, let's not debate the technical aspects of the case. I've simplified itsomewhat for the purpose of this book, which is to discuss proposal strategy anddevelopment rather than the technical aspects of the ABC situation.
Remember, there is no Right Answer, no rules, only some possible guidelines anda set of possible alternatives at every juncture. Some alternatives may bebetter than others, depending on your analysis of the specific sellingsituation, its history, its magnitude and importance, your relationship with thebuying committee and your competition, and other situational factors discussedthroughout this book.
CHAPTER 2
Understanding the Baseline Logic
A lot of people (and I'm one of them) think that too many proposals try to makethe simple complex, when in fact what I and many other buyers want them to do isto make the complex simple. So let me simplify what proposals do, or at leastwhat I'd like them to do from my potential client's perspective. Let'sconcentrate on just three things (which, we'll see in Chapter 3, arerelated to three of the generic structure slotsâSITUATION, OBJECTIVES, andBENEFITS). Figure 2.1 depicts your proposed project (with examples fromthe ABC case) in a nutshell.
In the beginning is my organization, which is in a condition, a current "stateof health," a current situationâcall it S1. This current situation is whatis happening today. Perhaps we don't like this situation because we have aproblem that needs addressing or solving. Or perhaps we would like anothersituation better because we have an opportunity on which we might capitalize. Ineither case, we desire to change. Or we might be uncertain about whether we likeor should like our current situation, and we'd like to know whether we ought tolike it or dislike it.
In each of these cases, an actual or possible discrepancy exists between wherewe are and where we want to be. Therefore, we are willing to consider engaging aconsultant to help us, to propose a project at the end of which we will haveclosed the gap and be in a different, improved stateâcall itS2âwhich is what I call my desired result. At that point, our problem willbe solved (or on its way to a solution), or our opportunity will be realized (orat least closer to its realization), or we will know whether we even have aproblem or an opportunity. In each case, we will have or know something morethan we had or knew before. And we will be better off because of it; we willbenefit and gain value from reaching our desired result, S2, by theend of your proposed project.
We are here, we want to be over there, and we'll benefit when we get there. Thatsimple idea needs to function as the baseline of your proposalâand of yourthinking about your proposal to me. That idea has a logic to it, a fundamentallogic, a baseline logic. And that idea, that baseline logic, needs to drive theargument of your proposal: "You are here, and we understand that 'here' is ormight not be desirable. You want to be somewhere else instead, which is moredesirable. Once we help you to be that somewhere else, you will enjoy thebenefits of being there."
Although all this certainly isn't rocket science, only a minority of proposalwriters understand this logic, and far fewer know how to test for and apply it.Most proposals are illogical at their core because the writers don't understandthe baseline logic, and even when they do, they don't know how to convey thatunderstanding clearly to me. They don't know how to take advantage of that logicto increase the persuasiveness of their presentations and documents. Illogicalthinking reduces your probability of winning, and, if you should win, itdramatically reduces your likelihood of conducting a successful engagement. Thisbaseline logicâor, if you prefer, this problem definition or analyticalframeworkâis the basis for a meaningful and persuasive exchange of ideas.
Here I should express two cautionary notes. First, there are times when I, yourpotential client, am not clear about this baseline logic. I'm not clear about mycurrent situation or about where I want to be at the end of your proposedproject. When this occurs, and you do not help me achieve clarity, you and I arein a potential lose-lose situation. In this situation, you probably will write aproposal without clear objectives, without clearly defining my desired result,S2, at the end of your project. I might even accept that proposal, but we mightboth pay a price, often a significant price, during the project. You may notsatisfy me, possibly incur a cost overrun, and not develop the long-lastingrelationship we both desire.
To avoid this situation and to ensure that your proposal is fundamentally sound,the rest of this chapter, as well as the next, will build on the concept of thebaseline logic, show you how to test for it, and demonstrate how you can use itto your advantage.
The second cautionary note: Although I remarked at the beginning of this chapterthat I want you to make the complex simple, I have to admit that the relativelysimple concept of the baseline logic often is not easy to understand.Accordingly, this chapter on understanding the baseline logic and the nextchapter on aligning the baseline logic are not easy going. At times, the readingwill be laborious. Sometimes it will even appear redundant because I wantconstantly to reinforce important points that will help you use the baselinelogic, in this chapter and those that follow, to:
* Challenge the depth of my thinking
* Clarify my overriding question(s)
* Clarify your project's objective(s)
* Articulate and generate benefits
* Communicate a measurable-results orientation
* Construct your methodology
* Define the magnitude of your proposed effort
* Identify your necessary qualifications
* Make better go/no-go decisions about deciding to bid
* Demonstrate your ability to address thoughtfully whatâto me,anywayâis a complex issue
(Continues...)
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Writing Winning Business Proposals by RICHARD C. FREED, JOSEPH D. ROMANO, SHERVIN FREED. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.