Posted by Jon on 26 February, 2009 under Musings | 
It’s rare that our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, says anything memorable. But I was quite fascinated by a comment he made in the Observer Sports Monthly magazine recently, in which he was interviewed by soccer player Rio Ferdinand.
He was reflecting on the outstanding success of the “Team GB” cycling squad at last summer’s Olympics – at which they captured fourteen medals, including eight golds:
“The TeamGB cycling coach, Dave Brailsford, has done a great job. He says… that a big factor in success is what he calls the aggregation of minute differences. So you’ve got the handlebars better designed and he got the fitness improved and the uniform they wear … The aggregation of small improvements has put them at the top of the league.”
The same theory holds so very true for proposals – where one extra mark out of ten in the evaluator’s scoring, for every question in your proposal, can make the difference between winning and being an also-ran. It can happen systemically – improving your processes, getting access to better resources (tools, equipment, space), improving the “fitness” (or skills) of your contributors. And it can happen on each and every deal, as you cajole and help the team to push itself to the limit in the quest for success.
Posted by Jon on 25 February, 2009 under Proposal Guys news |
A quick reminder of the three ways in which you can view the Proposal Guys:
- come here to the website, www.theproposalguys.com, to see the latest posts every two working days;
- click on our email subscription link here, and have the latest posts sent directly to your mailbox;
- subscribe to our RSS feed, if you read other blogs using services such as Bloglines or Google (whatever it is!)
Posted by BJ on 24 February, 2009 under Musings |
My son Scott is 30 years old, intelligent, well mannered, stylish and has a great personality (I know what you’re thinking, Jon. He takes after his father, right?) Not surprisingly, Scott is occasionally asked for his phone number by someone who is interested in getting to know him better. Because he is a kind person and doesn’t wish to hurt someone’s feelings, up until recently, it has been difficult for Scott when he is asked for his number by someone he has no interest in getting to know better.
That changed recently when a friend told him about the “rejection hotline”.
This service allows a person to give someone a real number* and avoid having to decline their request. When the number is called, the caller is informed that the person who gave them the number has no interest in getting to know them better and does not wish to be contacted.
I think this would be a great idea for proposal evaluators. They could give the number to companies that have not been awarded the contract and they would receive a recorded message along the lines of,
“You were given this number because your proposal has been rejected. The evaluators are speechless and don’t even know where to begin.
The solution you propose was obviously something you offer to every client and is as relevant to the client’s needs as snow shoes are to a polar bear. The bulk of the content appears to have been cut and pasted from several previously written and now quite old proposals (we hardly ever see the term “groovy” used anymore and by the way you might want to remove the names of those other clients from within the text next time.)
Your paisley binder got a good chuckle and brought back fond memories of college days for several of the older evaluators. Also, the parents among us appreciated your having printed the proposal on pink paper as they were able to give it to their young children for use in their classroom.
The person to whom you submitted your proposal kindly requests that you please remove their name from your list of potential clients and should you inadvertently receive a request for proposal from them in the future, they ask that you kindly ignore it.”
* The real number for the rejection hotline is 617 861 3962.
Posted by Jon on 20 February, 2009 under Purchasing insights |
It’s always fascinating to hear from those on the buying side. I started my career in purchasing before switching to proposals, and still spend as much time as possible with those who evaluate our documents, listening to their views. (Actually, it strikes me that there’s an important question to ask proposal consultants hoping to work with your organisations: “When did you last have a paid engagement with purchasing folks, or publish research based on their views?”)
That’s why I was delighted when Kevin Treeby, Director of Procurement for the House of Commons, agreed to give the keynote presentation at the recent conference, “Taking proposals to the next level.”
I sat at the back of the room, noting down as many of his comments as I could. Here are a few of my favourites:
“We have a fear and distrust of people who sell us things.”
“I hate people who shuffle the answers” and whose proposals don’t reflect the structure of the RFP.
“Don’t tell me it can’t go wrong. Tell me what you’ll do if it does.”
“Don’t hold anything back” from your proposal to your presentation. “There’s no such thing as a nice surprise in a bid presentation.”
“It all comes down to confidence” in the bidders and their teams.
“Many buyers are frightened – I daren’t risk a legal challenge.”
And finally, one I particularly loved. “This is a great game, people – enjoy it!”
Posted by BJ on 18 February, 2009 under Word play & writing |
A long time client, who has become a good friend over the years (no names mentioned but Howdy Robin D. and how’s things down Nashville way?), has recently taken a job with a new company.
When I sent her a note congratulating her on the new company and position, I of course, as any good consultant would do, suggested, “Perhaps we’ll have a chance to work together on improving proposal capabilities or if you get a ‘big one’.”
Her reply is a good example of how written communications can have different meanings.
Robin wrote back, “You’re of course at the top of my list when it comes to needing help.”
Till I hear from her, I’m going to assume she meant that in a good way.
Posted by Jon on 16 February, 2009 under Musings |
I fell into a conversation recently regarding the different character traits of folks likely to be successful in the different roles within a proposal centre. To illustrate, we talked about where one would be most likely to find each individual at their happiest.
The favoured milieu for proposal manager, I reckoned, would be the war room. They’d never be happier than leading a group session, cajoling the team into visualising and realising a truly successful proposal.
Meanwhile, the proposal writer would make the occasional foray to a subject matter expert’s desk – getting them to pour out information to be turned into polished text. But their ideal lair would be the quiet corner of the office – somewhere to hide and concentrate on their editing, in peace and quiet.
And the document manager would be found contentedly at their desk, playing with the document – until the closing stages when the lure of the hot presses would prove necessary and irresistible when the document had to be printed.
Where do you go to play during the proposal effort – and to hide?
Posted by BJ on 12 February, 2009 under Word play & writing |
As a “word person”, I like to think I have a fairly extensive vocabulary, as does Jon.
Once, Jon concluded a mail with, “With all best wishes for the forthcoming holidays”.
I thought this was a case of him using the term “forthcoming” incorrectly, thinking the word he meant was “upcoming”. If I was right, this would be a rare case, the first in my experience, of Jon using a word incorrectly. I relished the idea of catching him!
Rather than challenge him immediately, I looked up the definition and, to my slight dismay (okay, more than slight. I was bummed.), Jon’s use of the term in this case was correct. (I’m glad I checked first or I never would have heard the end of it from him!)
However, if this had been a proposal, I think using “upcoming” would have been better and I think there’s an important, though somewhat subtle point to be made here. Please allow me to explain.
I thought the word forthcoming was defined as “candid”, “open” or “cooperative”, and when I looked up the definition, I found that is how the word is defined. However, it is also defined as “approaching in time” or “about to come forth”, as Jon (yes, he was correct, sigh) used it. When I looked up the word “upcoming”, the only definition given was “coming up” or “about to take place”.
So for proposal purposes, using the term “forthcoming”, with multiple definitions, has the potential to cause a reader to question the use of the term (it DID to THIS reader and like I said, I like to think my vocabulary is fairly extensive). “Upcoming”, with only one definition and I suspect more familiar to a greater percent of the population, doesn’t pose this risk.
But I guess I’ll have to continue to wait awhile to catch Jon using a word incorrectly. :)
