Business Proposals - Who Needs Them?
(After you read this, please go to www.proposalmanager.com for more information...)
Do you want to do business with the big guys? Do you want a sale or contract with the government? Then consider this:

• Most medium to large companies ask for proposals for their major purchases.
• Government agencies ask for proposals more often than not...
  (I developed and wrote a winning proposal for a county towingcontract. It was worth thousands yet most local towing companies either failed to submit a proposal or did a poor, non-responsive job.
  That's why my guy won!)
• Proposals are often used for work that is ongoing. The winner is in the driver's seat for some time. In the defense world this can be worth millions.

The persons who evaluate, and award or recommend the winner, are your target audience.
I know that seems to be obvious...in fact it's a BFO...(Blinding Flash of the Obvious)...
But (you saw that coming) long experience on both sides of the proposal activity has shown that the companies submitting proposals are all wrapped up on themselves...

Here's the BFO of proposals:
"They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care"...
That bit of good advice from the counseling world has a direct application in the business world.

The business proposal version is:
"They don't care about your whiz-bang product/service until they know What's In It For Them...WIFM"

Here's the secret...STOP...another BFO...
As with most secrets, the secret is hidden in plain sight. Here are the main points:

• STOP is an acronym for Sequential Thematic Organization of Publications .
• It a logical presentation of information that provides that information is a manner that is clear, understandable and useful to the reader...the audience.
• It started at Hughes Aircraft in 1963 or so...By a man named Jim Tracey, Proposal Publications Manager.
• Here's a bit about that: In 1965, Jim Tracey and others, at Hughes Aircraft (now Raytheon) published a landmark report: Sequential Thematic Organization of Publications (STOP), How to Achieve Coherence in Proposals and Reports. The approach is to adopt a storyboarding approach to the development of proposals. It is remarkable effective for complex proposals such as those for airplanes, air traffic control systems or satellite systems. I worked on air traffic control systems and satellite communications systems programs that were very lucrative for the company.
  These programs were won in some part due to the excellent presentation of STOP.

I was part of Hughes Aircraft Proposal teams on a number of proposals. I worked with Jim Tracey and learned a lot in not only the STOP technique and format but also how to manage a proposal.
It's a logical extension of Project Management techniques which I have also done...and taught in seminars.

Bottom Line:
A proposal is a sales tool...As with any form of sales, the presentation can be critical to making the sale...
It's not always the best or cheapest who wins...More often it's the best presented that wins...
If you want to win, you want to call me...Now!!!