Writing Business Bids and Proposals For Dummies - Cobb Neil

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(RFP) has just landed on your desk with the clock ticking. Maybe you’ve written a proposal before, and you want to do a better job on the next one. Whatever your immediate need, we assume that you want to do this job right, and that’s what we aim to help you do.

      ❯❯ You know how to use a computer and word-processing software. You can’t write a proposal on the back of an envelope or napkin and be taken seriously. The leading word-processing programs on all platforms provide enough layout and graphics capabilities that you can easily create a professional document that follows basic design principles. If you don’t know how to use them, you can always grab another For Dummies book and improve your skills!

      ❯❯ You know how to convert a word-processing file into PDF format, which allows you to create a digital copy of your proposal that is more tamper-resistant. Leading word-processing tools have menu selections that can do this in a couple of clicks.

      ❯❯ You’ll eventually work your way through the entire book and will understand that there’s still more to learn. That’s where the APMP comes in. If you do need to know more, an APMP membership provides a legion of mentors and volumes of references. The APMP also offers a professional certification program for those who want to demonstrate mastery of the craft. Go to www.apmp.org for more information.

Icons Used in This Book

      We use a few icons throughout this book to call out important information that you may otherwise miss.

      

This icon provides extra information for applying proposal-writing techniques or alternative ways of doing things.

      

This icon points out important information that you may want to note down or highlight, or that you may want to keep in mind as you try your hand at the task.

      

This icon highlights potential pitfalls and danger spots.

      

This icon indicates examples that we provide to illustrate what we’re talking about as you work through the book.

Beyond the Book

      We’ve created a handy, access-anywhere Cheat Sheet, which provides high-level reminders that you can easily reference when you don’t have the book on hand. For instance, are you looking for a reminder of some of the key reviews you can undertake to help develop and perfect your proposal process? The Cheat Sheet helps you remember at a glance. To access this Cheat Sheet, go to www.dummies.com and search for “Writing Business Bids & Proposals For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.

      We’ve also created a one-stop-shop for all digital content related to this book. Check out the appendix at the end of the book for the URL and a list of the online templates and checklists.

Where to Go from Here

      Writing Business Bids & Proposals For Dummies takes you from the basic concepts behind proposal writing and the practical techniques you apply to create winning proposals to advanced concepts you may consider after you’ve mastered the basics. We recommend that you check out the table of contents for the complete list of topics, and then read Chapter 1 to get the end-to-end story from 30,000 feet.

      You don’t need to read this book in any particular sequence. Each chapter is self-contained, tackles a single proposal-related subject, and, like a good proposal, has cross-references to related information. Just pick a chapter that addresses an immediate problem you have, and read, think, and apply. For example, are you already responding to an RFP? Look to Chapter 4 for advice on identifying all the customer’s requirements, or jump to Chapter 9 for ways to collect and structure your past-performance records.

      And last (or maybe first), to get a general “lay of the land” in proposal writing, be sure to review our simple proposal process in Chapter 6. This list of major steps provides an “at-a-glance” view of the many duties a proposal writer performs over the span of developing either a proactive proposal or an RFP response.

      Part 1

      Understanding Proposal Development

      IN THIS PART …

      Find out what proposals are and why everyone in business needs to know how to write them. Take a peek into the world of professional proposal writers and how they do their jobs. Look at the bigger picture and how proposals fit into a business’s sales process and a customer’s buying process.

      Discover the similarities and differences between proactive proposals and reactive proposals (or responses to a Request for Proposal [RFPs]). See how to avoid the traps lurking in RFPs and how to make sure the customer finds what it’s looking for. Understand how creating a consistent structure and format for your proactive proposals can help customers choose you over your competitors.

Chapter 1

      Introducing Bids and Proposals

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      Getting the intel on bids and proposals

      Gearing up for your proposal

      Developing a professional approach

      This book is about writing business bids and proposals. Why bids and proposals, you ask? Aren’t they the same thing?

      Many proposal professionals would say so. Others favor one term over the other, especially when used to modify another term. For example, in the United Kingdom, they may say bid manager and tender; in the United States, we say proposal manager and Request for Proposal (RFP) response – and we mean pretty much the same thing.

      Some people think of bids as something we’d call a quote – a line or two about the offer and a price – something you can write on the back of a napkin. Some may even call that a proposal. The more people you talk to, the more confused you can get.

      As we use the terms, bids and proposals are more formal, more thorough, more informative, more persuasive, more descriptive, and more professional than quotes. They’re more about communication than selling, more about value than price, and more about relationships than a single deal. Throughout this book, we use them interchangeably because it’s how proposal professionals talk: A bid is a proposal; a bidder is someone who submits a proposal or bid (and we’d never use the word proposer).

      In this chapter, we introduce you to the world of bid and proposal management – what proposals do, how they work, and how you write one – drawing from the best practices that bid and proposal professionals use worldwide.

Defining Bids and Proposals

      In the broadest sense, business proposals are formal, written offers by businesses or individuals to perform work on the behalf of other businesses, government entities, or other individuals. Proposals set out in clear, concise language what you’ll do for a customer, how you’ll do it, how much it will cost, and the business benefits the customer will realize after the work is done. Proposals aim to both inform and persuade. And that makes them pretty unique.

      In some industries, business proposals are precursors to contracts. That’s why many proposals stipulate how long certain offers or prices are valid. Some government entities require the proposals they receive to be authorized by a bidder’s officer to underscore their legal status. Some proposals even become an integral part of the final contract.

      

Business proposals come in two main flavors:

      ❯❯ Proposals submitted further to a formal request from the customer: These are sometimes referred to as solicited proposals. You may also hear them called reactive proposals, because you can’t

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