creating a winning proposal
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India Chapter Best Practice Webinar
Creating the Winning ProposalDavid Warley PPM.APMP
Learning from Experience
Choosing the right opportunities Establishing Requirements Developing Strategy
Managing Time, Cost and Quality
Communicating your PlanPlanning the Proposal Phase
Proposal Strategy DevelopmentTeaming Identification
Winning Price Development
Our previous webinar topic:
How are we going to win?
Creating the winning strategy:
Solution Strategy
Teaming Strategy
Proposal Strategy
Price Strategy
Customer Analysis
Competitive Analysis
Our Weaknesses
STRATEGY STRATEGYSweet Spot
• Mitigate Our Weaknesses
• Highlight Our Strengths
• Neutralize Their Strengths
• Ghost Their Weaknesses
Their Strengths
Our Strengths
Their Weaknesses
Customer’s NeedsSTRATEGY STRATEGY
Sour Spot
Base your strategy on discriminators:the differences that matter to the Customer.
SMART Actions, memorable themes:
Win Strategy
(What and How
sentences)
• Ghost competitor 1’s weakness in space usage.Show that our solution needs 30% less spaceStress extra cost and delivery risk with larger kit
• Experience: Show compliance, provide references show experience of team
• TCO: Neutralise Competitor 2 strength on price by stressing early benefits and savings over the full cycle
• Ghost Competitor 2’s delivery performance by showing that our systems are shipping and in service now
Win Themes
(Key messages)
Major:• Compact cost effective solution• Early delivery, early benefits• Savings available this yearMinor:• Proven resilient solution• Experienced team
Getting the strategy into the proposal:
The Foundation Exam
Outline Development Requirements Identification
Compliance Checklist Development Storyboard Development
Executive Summary Development
Planning the Proposal Phase
Learning from Experience
Choosing the right opportunities Establishing Requirements Developing Strategy
Communicating your Plan Managing Time, Cost and Quality
Learning objectives: In this unit we are going to look at:
Creating a customer focused Outline
Mapping your win themes to the Outline
Planning winning content for the writing team
Developing and using Theme Statements
Proposal Guide 251
Creating and using an Outline
Simple three step process
• Follow RFQ instructions
• Create top level headings and numbers
Develop Top Level Outline
• Weight by customer priority
• Develop informative headings
Add detailed structure
• Allocate Win Themes to sections
• Guidance for writers
Annotate your Outline
The top-level, topical outline might start like this
Proposal Guide 125
1 Table of Contents2 Executive Summary3 Technical Responses4 Pricing5 Delivery Schedule6 Terms and Conditions7 Compliance Matrix8 References and Testimonials
Section Typical Contents
1 Table of Contents
2 Executive Summary
3 Technical Response
3.1 System Architecture
3.2 Performance Analysis
3.3 Availability
3.3.1 Reliability
3.3.2 Reparability
And develop like this…
Assign or allocate all other response requirements within the topical outline.
Try to maintain a balance when extending the topical outline.
That is, for all requirements that weren’t dealt with in the top-level topical outline, consider how they can be incorporated.
When adding structure:• Confirm compliance with the customer’s instructions• Do not interfere with the “core” numbering system and/or naming conventions• Announce organisation; then follow it• Order points in decreasing order of importance• Group similar ideas
Allocate pages and additional structure according to the relative importance of the topic to the prospect.
Determine relative importance, based on:
Evaluation criteria
Discussion with the prospect
Judgement
Add more detail (and pages) for higher priority topics
Technical Evaluation Criteria Priority Pages
Heat Output 6 0.5
Performance 1 2
Physical Footprint 5 0.5
Power Consumption 4 1
Reliability 3 1.5
Reparability 2 1.5
Proposal Guide 128
Map your Win Themes to the Outline
Win Themes• Compact cost effective solution• Early delivery, early benefits• Savings available this year• Proven resilient solution• Experienced team
Section Heading
3 Technical Response
3.1 System Architecture
3.2 Performance Analysis
3.3 Availability
3.4.1 Reliability
3.4.2 Reparability
4 Pricing
4.1 Investment Analysis
4.2 Price Schedule & Terms
5 Delivery & Implementation
5.1 Project Organisation
5.2 Implementation Schedule
Tip:Think about getting your Themes into Informative Headings
To assist evaluators in finding information quickly, use telegraphic headings for top level sections.
Use informative headings at section levels below those specified by the prospect.
Telegraphic Headings Informative Headings
Informative headings can impart a positive message.
Project Team Structure Proven Team Structure Reduces Risk
Fire Protection Plan Proactive Fire Risk Management Cuts Losses
Seismic Protection Plan Earthquake Readiness is a Priority
EXAMPLES
Use storyboards to share your strategy
• Create a template• Provide a sample
completed example• Develop initial
storyboards before the kickoff
• Review and revise storyboards as a team BEFORE you start writing
Review storyboards as a team
Horizontal Review:
Vertical Review:
Turn Themes into Theme Statements
© LORE Systems International
Speed of implementation
Fast deployment approach
Payback this year
Early OPEX reduction. Reduced project costs
XYZCo case study
Develop the theme:
© LORE Systems International
50% TCO reduction
Cost of space and power
Small footprint and low power consumption
Only 30% of space needed and 50% of power
Gartner benchmark report
High support charges
Lifetime warranty
No ‘break fix’ maintenance charges. (-15%)
Financial projection vs competition
Theme statements link discriminating features to Customer benefits:
“You will be able to realise financial payback this year(GOAL), overcoming the problem of implementation speed (ISSUE) because of our rapid deployment approach(FEATURE). This will give you early OPEX savings and release space equivalent to twice the purchase cost. Your internal project costs will also be half what you could expect with a typical alternative (BENEFITS).
After a similar project XYZCo’s Managing Director said “ABC really delivered for us. The system was installed in half the time and paid for itself in 6 months”. (PROOF)”.
A Theme Statement can also be a GRAPHIC
© LORE Systems International
Organising section content
Put the most important information first
Introduce a structure• Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em
Follow the structure introduced• Tell it to ‘em
Add a conclusion• Tell ‘em what you just told ‘em
Highlight your key content
1. Telegraph HeadingsDirect the reader to main sections.
2. Informative HeadingsTell the reader why they should read.
Page layout should make it easy for the evaluator to find key information. Use a consistent way to highlight your theme statements and section summaries.
Today
Tomorrow
Forever
Graphics. Will always have greater impact than just plain text.
Tip:Create a page layout
template and insist that your authors use it.
You’re ready to start writing!
Clear strategy => focus
Outline => compliance & easy evaluation
Themes => responsive and focused
Storyboard => team direction
Page layout => easy evaluation
Quick Quiz Question: Which of these statements best describes a theme statement?
Please click on your selection
Sorry! Try again.“Theme statements link strategy and solution” is not the best description because themes should tell prospects why they should select you. Strategy and solution say more about the seller than the prospect.
“Theme statements link the advantages and benefit ” is not the best description because whilst important, these are saying more about the prospect than they say about why the prospect should buy from you.
“Theme statements establish sales objectives” is not the best description because it says what the seller want to achieve for themselves.
The best themes contain your unique discriminators. That is, something the prospect wants which only you can offer.
Congratulations!
A theme statement links a prospect benefit to the discriminating features of your offer.
In this session we have:
Learned what’s meant by a ‘customer focused’ Outline
Learned how allocate Themes to the Outline
Learned how to share the strategy with the team
Learned how to develop and use Theme Statements
Proposal Guide 251
Thank you for listening!
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