So you’d like to start a career as a Proposal Manager but not sure what’s involved. This role is actively involved across the Proposal development lifecycle. You need good Project Management skills and knowledge of how Request For Proposals are written, evaluated, and awarded. And the pay is very … [Read more...]
Request For Proposals: Writing the Format Section
December 10, 2010 by
What’s the quickest way to evaluate responses to your Request For Proposals? One way to speed up the evaluation and award process is to create a Format section in your RFP document. RFP Template – Sample Costs Format Understanding the RFP Format section Most format Request For Proposals (RFP) … [Read more...]
Business Proposal Development: How to Calculate the Effort Required By Funding Agencies
December 7, 2010 by
One mistake to avoid when writing a Business Proposal is to hide or disguise the resources the funding agency needs to commit to the project. Indeed, you can increase your chances of winning a government contract if you show in the Executive Summary the amount of effort that required by the agency … [Read more...]
How to Write Abstracts For Business Proposals
October 25, 2010 by
Philip Koopman, at Carnegie Mellon University, reminds us that, “Writing an efficient abstract is hard work, but will repay you with increased impact on the world by enticing people to read your publications. Make sure that all the components of a good abstract are included in the next one you … [Read more...]
Donald Trump’s Guide to Delivering Negative Business Messages
October 20, 2010 by
Ever watch the Apprentice? I enjoy waiting for Trump to pull the trigger and give it to them. ‘You're fired!’ It’s nice to watch this from the safety of our sofas. We’re involved but also separate from it. And we can switch off. In the real world, it’s not so cosy. Sometimes you’re the one that … [Read more...]
Blah! Blah! Blah! Is that how your Business Proposal really starts?
October 12, 2010 by
I evaluate Business Proposals. I do this every week. In the last fifteen years, I’ve seen hundreds of business proposals ranging from the large Consultancies to one-man/women businesses. Part of evaluating a proposal is checking that the numbers add up but also to see if the project in question is … [Read more...]
6 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Deliverables
October 1, 2010 by
The next part of the Business Proposal to write is the Deliverables section. The Deliverables section should be simple to understand but many Proposal Writers fall over themselves here. Where to start with Deliverables Let’s play good cop, bad cop for a minute. In the Request For Proposal, it … [Read more...]
How To Guarantee Consultants Meet Their Goals
September 30, 2010 by
So far our Proposal Writing Course has looked at two things. How to create a central hub (the table of contents) and define your first pillar (the Exec Summary). Next up we'll go through each section and 'satisfy' the folks who published the RFP that Yes, we do know what we're talking … [Read more...]
6 Ways To Write a Better Executive Summary
September 28, 2010 by
This is part 2 in our Proposal Writing Course. Yesterday, we looked at why you need to make the Table of Contents that central hub from which all information flow. Today, we'll go a step further and examine the Executive Summary. Most Proposal Writers are intimidated by the Executive Summary. … [Read more...]
Why The Table of Contents Is The Heart of Your Business Proposal?
September 26, 2010 by
This is Part 1 of a 20 part series on writing Business Proposals. What we’ll look in this course is how to get started, format the proposal, and submit it. Once we’ve done this, we’ll look at how to improve your chances of getting the bid accepted, for example, by giving presentations to the … [Read more...]