As a long-time writer, analyst, researcher, and "proposal maker," I provide for you and your corporation an excellent writing service, and it is just in time to assure the document you are about to turn in is in the best format possible. Not only format, but straight forward thinking and writing. It is in that document you must express the all-important underlying message that your team is the most skilled and talented group to fulfill the clients need. You have worked on this for so long, and you alone, your story, must stand out on the desk of the, hopefully, new client.
The morning after you submit all those documents and pricing plan, you wake up with your stomach in your throat, "Did I make it the best I could have? Will I stand out from the crowd?”
The message? Was the message on point, easy to read and making sense in such a way the client can conceive of no other team for his project, but yours? Are you proud of the final artifacts that will forever define your company and that amazing team you have put together over the years who will all represent your dream while working forward? Always forward. Can the next proposal story be as good, if not better? You take a breath, shake your head, sip that coffee, and think about the proposal all day...all week...all month. Then award day. Where do you stand?
Proposals can be the most stressful documents you build during your career. They are expensive to create, demanding of perfection if not better, and shore you up as the team that leads on, or -- you are at the second, maybe the ready, but never quite there. You gather your group and write like crazy. You build graphics, do research, and find every little tidbit about this new "client," but you are never sure. Then you send it off perfectly packaged -- all according to the instructions. There you are – hopeful, proud, scared! You have officially spent a lot of money, created, written, packed and wracked your first proposal. It will not be forgotten. Yet it is akin to standing on the 50-yard line in your new crisp uniform, but blindfolded, and you have one long, exceedingly long, throw or kick to get that ball through the upright goal posts -- sightless. You make the throw and await the decision from the referee. Just like proposal submission.
I never say to anyone who works in the proposal industry that it gets easier or it gets better with age. It just keeps on coming. Questions, demands, task orders, big offerings, small offerings, grants... on and on. Yet those of us in the proposal environment thrive on that kind of movement, pressure, and elation with a win. I guess we are addicted to that final notice of the multi-million-dollar win. That moment when you have been chosen to provide the absolute best and for that brief moment in time, you are known as the best. The winner, the one. Yes, it is delicious.
So, all that said, I can offer no magic, not promises or empty words of grandeur that I would get you to a big win every time. I offer only one thing. A professionally written document that shares your exclusive message with the right people who need just what you do best. Together, your story can be brilliantly and gracefully placed on paper where many eyes pass by each word and learn of your inimitable blend of learning and experience that has opened the door for you to create an amazing product or service. Then you soundly tell the client that when put into action -- the exact action they are seeking -- their success will be well known in the industry. And there is the magic. You step back and watch your client rise. You know they are heralded for the vision you implemented. It is their recognition, and your success. You are now on your way.
As I write your story, I am very tuned into the nuances of the client’s request. They not only put in front of you an exceptionally long, and often not too well written, request. But in each request, there is a tiny string of words that answers the real question. Many proposal responders, and way too many, miss that short sentence, which often shows up in some odd section. It is the point at which, the client tells you exactly what they want because they tell you exactly what the problem is! At last.
At first it just looks like an odd sort of comment in some odd section, but you realize you have found a directive, marching orders. Suddenly, the true nature of the RFP can be ascertained after reading the little snippet the client added. Until you find that aha moment or you tune into the fine-grained read underlying each section, you cannot pay attention to the essence of the client’s request or know the client’s struggle that led them to making the request. Many a great company has failed on this point -- missing the true nature of the RFP and failing to answer back with the solution that solves the client’s problem. RFP responses tend to veer off to discussions about the respondents own company and trying to impress the client with company greatness. That is a tell tale sign the respondent completely missed the true essence of the request.
The client does not care about your great company, other than it has enough resources to do the job. They do not care about the vision of “your” company, they care about their own. They care about what you can do to help them move forward, get out of a bad situation, resolve long-standing issues, or just give them daily support. Whatever it is, it is NOT about you. It is about that aha finding where the client finally opens themselves up and simply asks you to provide them help, or relief, from their situation. Daily office support, building a new product, logistics, whatever it is, you have your marching orders right there. I love finding that piece. This is where you can finally get down to business and drive your solution straight into the client’s need writing of how you will do that. Client first, client focused. This is where you win it.
While I setup the initial proposal plan, I have learned to look for that special nuance tucked away where most will not understand and miss the personalization in that document. It is that place where the client loosens up their wording for just a bit and discusses how they got to the point of needing help, and what it was that finally made them ask for the help or pushed their timing on a special project to engage the RFP/Proposal process.
An RFP, or request for proposal, as you know, is the main artifact from which you plan your response. It is ridiculously hard work for your client’s as well, and most proposal writers forget this. While your client’s are usually not "writers" they are still human beings and businesspeople, whether government or not, and the request, like your response, is very personal to them. Somebody in that group of workers owns that RFP and that owner will tip their hand in their request. It is often unique, sometimes very surprising, but they say what they really want. Not just a cookie cutter response; they have their heart and soul in it like you and want you to respond in kind. They need you to find that special meaning, unfortunately, they just do not know how to ask.
The story you need to tell is the type of story I develop best. I pair the request -- the true request -- with your solution and make sure with your solution, you answer the specific piece of mail head on. It is the story. Your technical input, which becomes my written word. With you and your team, the story must be told and told well.
It is hard work. It can be exhausting. But the final tally is where your career soars because you share with the client a true lust for perfection of their vision -- their vision.
Now, after all that writing, agonizing, waiting, sleepless nights, and stress, you also must be ready to take on the real work. Here is where you win or lose your next job, project -- gig. You must truly take on what every client asks. You cannot just tell the story and not arrive with the work team. It moves from a lot of words, pictures, and storytelling into the physical. Putting a true person in the office to work the problem. That, thankfully for me, is for another team. This is where I get to go home, finally eat a real meal and sleep for two days.
I am not perfect. I have not won every proposal or grant I have put forward, but I have had some good outcomes. I know you can too. Together, a true proposal team can walk you through the door for the first time and guide you through a very busy future. I would like to do that for you. I love the story. I like the different industries, whether I know them all or not. When it comes to putting together a proposal or grant, there are certain basics that hold true for all. That, along with the very well identified needs and nuanced tasks of any RFP, I can wrap up some very good story telling, which I like to take direct from the heart of your team, for you and your company.
My contact information is on all my Web pages here, so please get in touch with me when you are ready to go. We can work through and answer whether or not the project you seek may or may not be the best for you.
May you write well, may you tell your story, and may your story create a hard working team where your prosperity swells.
Call when you need the answers. I am usually the one to whom professionals go when they don't know where to go.
Lori Ericson
