Three for the price of one
Working with a client on a proposal the other day, we played with the age-old proposal strategy mantra:
“Why us, why not them?”
Their draft document was relatively strong on the “why us” angle – with clear customer insights, strong proof points (case studies, quotes, research findings), a coherent and well-explained solution. But still somehow the story, and the proposal as a whole, felt lacking.
So we broke the statement down into its components – making sure the team understood that there are actually three questions in one, each of which needs to be covered:
- Why? – the proposal has to demonstrate that there is (and that the bidder understands) a strong rationale to deliver the initiative
- Why us? – giving confidence that the bidder can deliver an excellent solution
- Why not them? – the ways in which the bidder’s approach differs from, and is more desirable than, the offers that will be received from their competitors.
Brainstorming each of the three topics in turn – rather than, as usual, treating it as one question – drove out some fascinating insights. I’d urge you to try the technique in your next strategy workshop.
This article was written by Jon on 23 April, 2009 and filed under Processes & best practice. If you found it useful, you can with others. To receive automatic updates, subscribe to The Proposal Guys via 
RSS or 
Email.
2 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Excellent example of ‘a better mousetrap’ as I spoke about in a recent post.
Oh wait. That’s right. That post hasn’t been posted yet. :-)
When it IS posted, and you read it, you’ll see that Jon’s “Three for the price of one” post is what I’m talking about.
I learned three C’s, Customer, Capabilities, Competitors. You’ve taught me Why, Why Us, and Why Not Them? More reinforcement of good ideas/techniques is a good thing.
Thank you.