proposals that create high impact
TRANSCRIPT
Proposals Can Change Buyer’s Last Decision
3 Months 12 Months 3 Months
BusinessIssue
Develop aBudget and
Solution
Express Solution as
Requirements
Seek Proposals
Evaluate Alternatives
Negotiate and
Contract
Capture Phase Proposal Phase
First Decision
Last Decision
“A good proposal can win
us business that others should have won”
Source: Shipley
So…Let’s Define A Good Proposal
Compelling SolutionValue for Money
Business Alignment DifferentiatedClear and Specific Value Propositions
Technically CompetentCompliant
Good Document Design
Vis
ual
ly R
ich
Compelling Solution
Visually RichBusiness Alignment
Value for MoneyCompliantDifferentiated
Clear and Specific Value Propositions
Technically Competent
Technically Competent
Differentiated
Differentiated
Ingredients of A Winning Proposal
“If you wish to persuade me,
you must think my thoughts,
feel my feelings, and speak my words”
Cicero
Key Process
CategoriesCustomer Focus People Capabilities
Themes Increasing Customer
Value
Improving Performance
and Synergy
Building Competencies
and Teams
Enhancing Systems
and Processes
Levels Key Process Areas (KPAs)
Optimizing Innovation and Transformation
Managed
Defined
Repeatable
Initial
Relationship
Management
Solution
Development
Response Generation
Enterprise Influence
Quantitative Process
Management
Organizational Tactics
Quality Management
Business Development
Administration
Quality Control
High-Performance
Teams
Organizational
Competencies
Development
Individual Skills
Development
Business Development
System Integration
Infrastructure
Management
Business Development
Processes
Support Systems
Sales/Capture
Procedures
Work Environment
Ad hoc
Business Development Capability Maturity Model (BD-CMM)
Capability Maturity Model and CMM are registered trademarks of the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute
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BD-CMM is The Answer
BD-CMM- Key Process Areas
Levels Key Process Areas (KPAs)
Optimizing Innovation and Transformation
Managed
Defined
Repeatable
Initial
Relationship Management
Solution Development
Response Generation
Enterprise Influence
Quantitative Process
Management
Organizational Tactics
Quality Management
Business Development
Administration
Quality Control
High-Performance Teams
Organizational
Competencies
Development
Individual Skills
Development
Business Development
System Integration
Infrastructure Management
Business Development
Processes
Support Systems
Sales/Capture Procedures
Work Environment
Ad hoc
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Continuous business development process improvement is enabled by quantitative feedback from the process and from piloting innovative ideas and technology.
Process is characterised as ad hoc and occasionally even chaotic. Few processes are defined. Success depends on individual effort and heroics.
Business Development Capability Maturity Model (BD-CMM)
Capability Maturity Model and CMM are registered trademarks of the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute
Detailed measures of the business development process and results are collected. Both the process and products are quantitatively understood and controlled.
Process for business development activities is documented, standardised, and integrated into the organisation. All activities follow an approved, tailored version of standard processes.
Basic business development management processes are established to track cost, schedule and progress. The necessary process discipline is in place to repeat earlier successes.
Themes Increasing Customer
Value
Improving Performance
and Synergy
Building Competencies
and Teams
Enhancing Systems
and Processes
Key Process
CategoriesCustomer Focus People Capabilities
Generate Qualify Propose Shortlist Close
Lead, Suspect Prospect Customer
Bid Manager
BDM/Sales
Stages
Life-Cycle
Responsibilities
Opportunity Management Process
Opportunity Background
Customer
Opportunity
Background
(Describe why the customer has undertaken this project and how we
received the opportunity. E.g. Customer wants to add another vendor
and has floated an RFP to which we have been invited; RFP received
from website and no details on the background, etc.)
Objective
Scope (Describe in a few points what the customer is looking for. E.g. L1
support for xx apps; App maintenance for xx apps; XX resources for yy
years; Set up and run customers’ data center , etc)
Opportunity Size (Sales / Account Manager’s estimates based on indication from client /
incumbent’s price / other sources)
At a later stage, update with actual estimates
Incumbent /
Competition
Bid Team
Solution Owner
Review Team
Submission Date
Leadership Review
Win Strategy (List what in the view of Sales/Account Management the proposal
should address to meet customers’ expectations in order of importance;
E.g. Speed to market, Risk free transition, past experience, price, etc)
Discussions till date: (How many conversations have been had with the customer and what
messages have been communicated prior to receiving this RFI / RFP?)
Strong Value Proposition
DeliverTangibleResults
Increased Revenues
Faster Time To Market
Decreased Costs
Improved Operational
Efficiency
Increased Market Share
Improved Customer Retention
Levels
Quantify Your Value Proposition
FINAL
DOCUMENT
VERIFY
COMPLIANCE
COMPETITOR
STRATEGY
WIN STRATEGY
BUSINESS CASE
LESSONS LEARNT
BLUE TEAM REVIEW
To review capture plan and validate
your win strategy
BLACK TEAM REVIEW
To review competitors
likely strategies and update
your win strategy
FINAL
DOCUMENT
VERIFY
COMPLIANCE
COMPETITOR
STRATEGY
WIN STRATEGY
BUSINESS CASE
LESSONS LEARNT
PINKTEAM REVIEW
To validate the deployment of your strategy
and verify compliance
FINAL
DOCUMENT
VERIFY
COMPLIANCE
COMPETITOR
STRATEGY
WIN STRATEGY
BUSINESS CASE
LESSONS LEARNT
RED TEAM REVIEW
To evaluate for customer focus, completeness
and communication of your solution
FINAL
DOCUMENT
VERIFY
COMPLIANCE
COMPETITOR
STRATEGY
BUSINESS CASE
LESSONS LEARNT
WIN STRATEGY
GOLD TEAM REVIEW
To confirm your acceptable
profits and risks FINAL
DOCUMENT
VERIFY
COMPLIANCE
COMPETITOR
STRATEGY
BUSINESS CASE
LESSONS LEARNT
WIN STRATEGY
WHITE TEAM REVIEW
To determine how your
processes and strategies can be improved
FINAL
DOCUMENT
VERIFY
COMPLIANCE
COMPETITOR
STRATEGY
BUSINESS CASE
LESSONS LEARNT
WIN STRATEGY
Have followed our instructions, answered our questions and delivered a compliant proposal that is easy to evaluate
Compliance
Strict adherence to submittal instructions and requirements
Create and submit a compliance matrix
Ideal response is 100% compliant and any non-compliances are clearly
mitigated
Ref Requirement Compliant Y/N
Proposal Ref
Comment / Note
1 The system shall have a diagnostic capability
Yes 5.1.1 The system is the only one to be
offered in the UK with this capability
2 The system shall be capable of powering up in less than 12 sec
Yes 5.1.2 The system powers in less than 8 sec if
required
3 The system shall be protected from electrical surges
No 5.1.3 Whilst not self protecting, an
auxiliary search protector can be
attached, if required
Compliance Matrix : A Sample
Compliance: Rating Factors
Compliance with organizational and
format instructions is obvious and
deliberate
Major section titles and subheadings
are consistent with the names and
numbering in the proposal request
The proposal has a compliance matrix
that is easy to find and is mapped to
the proposal request )even when the
customer did not ask for one)
The proposal is >90% compliant with
requirements, and any non-
compliances are clearly identified and
mitigated
They understand our business issues and what we are trying to achieve-they are likely to interpret our requirements correctly
Responsiveness
Proposal demonstrates understanding of the customer
vision, operational scenarios and issues
Summaries link solutions to hot buttons and features are tied to
benefits
Each section reflects customer language and tone in the proposal
Responsiveness: Rating Factors
The executive and section summaries
offer a self-contained and discriminated
solution linked to the customer’s hot
buttons and requirements
Major sections open with clear
statements( in an informative title, theme
statement or summary) that the offering
satisfies the customer’s hot buttons and
requirements
Major sections tie product/service
features to customer benefits addressing
hot buttons and requirements
The language in each section reflects the
customer’s language and tone; the
customer is mentioned first and more
often than the supplier
It is clear why I should select this proposal
Strategic Focus
Reasons for selecting the proposal are clear and obvious
‘Why you’ should jump out of the page; strengths are emphasized,
weaknesses are mitigated
Proposal should do the work for the customer’s evaluators
Strategic Focus: Rating Factors
The proposal emphasizes the strengths
and mitigates the weaknesses of the
proposed solution
Theme statements are specific, factual,
believable, and quantified where possible
Theme statements, action captions, call
outs and informative headings exist, and
are consistent in content, language,
structure and placement
Value added is emphasized, quantified
and substantiated
The proposal builds upon clear and
coherent benefits; any boilerplate is
tailored specifically to the customer
Risk assessments and corresponding risk
management approaches are discussed
I don’t know why, but I have got some real concerns about those other proposals
CompetitiveFocus
It is obvious why your proposal is better than that of the competitors
The proposal should downplay competitor strengths and exploit
competitor weaknesses
Proposal should ghost the competition
Competitive Focus: Rating Factors
Competitive discriminators are
prominent in themes, captions,
headings, callouts, lists and
summaries
Competitors are ghosted in trade
studies or other discussions that
substantiate the proposed offering
Competitors’ approaches are
discussed; competitors are not named
This is a well structured quality proposal, suggests that these people know what they are doing
Structured andSuccinctWriting
Proposal is written “Top Down”
The proposal should be grammatically correct, and have been
spell-checked
Proposal should use the minimum number of words
Structured & Succinct Writing: Rating Factors
Sections use the “Top-Down, 4-box
writing approach”
Summaries are used at all levels
Section sub-headings and content
reflect section summaries
Paragraphs, sentences and words are
kept short where possible
Jargon an acronyms are appropriate
and not overused; a glossary is
included to explain acronyms
Word use and grammar are accurate
and correct
These visuals actually help me to understand the proposal
Visualization
Proposal should make effective use of visuals: pictures, graphics, action captions and informative headings
Clearly communicates the Win strategy and selling points
Understandable in <10 seconds
Visualization: Rating Factors
Graphics are professionally and
consistently formatted
All graphics are appropriate,
contributing significant content
All graphics have action captions
linking benefits to the features shown
All graphics have figure numbers and
informative headings/titles
All graphics and tables are referenced
in prior text
The proposal is easy to read. All the work was done for me
DocumentDesign
Key information stands out
Page easy to read and comprehend. Balanced use of text and graphics
Consistent and appealing presentation
Document Design: Rating Factors
Key information stands out
Pages are easy to read and
comprehend
Text and graphics are balanced and
appropriate for the evaluators
Document, pagination and graphic
standards are applied consistently
Package is appealing, the evaluator
would want to look at it
How to Develop an Executive Summary ?
Don’t assume prior knowledge Maintain customer focus
Mock up bySales before
Kick-off
Review with Customer if possible
Complete andRefine by sales/
management
Use for briefingInternal and
external
NOTo Just an introductiono A brochureo Longer than 1000 words
Write for decision makers
Make brief but comprehensive
Make more visual than proposal
The proposal expands upon the Executive Summary
• Articulate customer vision, mission and issues – use Customer words
• Summarize what you believe that your Customer could achieve and which unique capability offered by your organization could enable the Customer to achieve this goal
• Introduce the Key concerns and issues of the Customer and provide a brief description with benefits of the proposed solution to each of concerns/issues
• Provide references to similar solutions already implemented by your organization
• Suggest Next Steps
Executive Summary: Guidelines
Pricing Model Unit of Measure Customer Benefits Provider Benefits
Time & Material • FTE • Resourcing flexibility• Control•No long term commitments
• Revenue certainty for resource deployed
Fixed Price • Project Size • Pricing certainty• Predictable quality / SLAs
• Revenue certainty• Ability to manage margins
through internal efficiencies
Transaction Price • Transaction • Resource flexibility and pricing certainty• Scalability with no
increased capital investments
• Ability to leverage home-grown solution across clients and thereby manage margins
Outcome Based • Business outcome • Alignment between IT spend and business outcome
• Greater pricing power;better margins upon success• Demonstration of true
value; increased stickiness
Benefits: Various Pricing Models
Staffing & Fulfillment
Project Management, Delivery Capability
Program Governance, Process Maturity
Business knowledge, Agility, Domain
Expertise, Solid Risk Management CapabilityBusiness Outcome
Linked
Output Based
Fixed Price
T&M
Risks: Pricing Models
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