Posted by Jon and BJ on 27 May, 2009 under Proposal Panda | 
Proposal Panda arrived in the mailroom at 9:42 a.m. on Thursday morning, April 9. Oddly enough, he did not make it upstairs until 4:00 p.m., wearing a CONEXIS excellence award pin and smelling faintly of Tequila. We had to do some last minute scrambling when he informed us that he can’t work in a cubicle, requires a window office with plenty of natural light and prefers a laptop with a suitable ergonomic stand. Fortunately, he decided my office would suit his needs, so we set up his laptop and he got started.
Proposal Panda really jumped into action on Friday. I can understand the rumors of his exorbitant consulting salary ($800 USD per hour). Proposal Panda is a real team player, He helped the proposal specialist organize and update the RFP board, consulted with our marketing writers, and after a long busy day, offered to stay and finish the fulfilment by himself. Proposal Panda was amazing, what a work ethic!
Saturday things took a turn when we got a call from security. It seems Proposal Panda had gotten together with the office bears and some of his hijinks were captured by the security camera.
I decided it would be safer to bring him home with me and have my Basenji, Lucy Liu keep an eye on him. It was love at first sight. Lucy Liu was devastated when he had to leave on Monday morning.
We learned so much from Proposal Panda and can’t wait to hear about the rest of his travels.
Team CONEXIS
Posted by Jon on 21 May, 2009 under Processes & best practice |
Ever feel like those in positions of power in your organisation just don’t “get it” in terms of the pain factor associated with developing proposals?
Ever think to yourself that if those ‘on high’ did realise how challenging the process was – the late engagement from salespeople lacking the necessary customer insights, the difficulties in getting the right experts involved, the late nights, the lack of resouces (war rooms, graphics design skills, fit-for-purpose IT kit, decent production facilities) – they’d be horrified, and would take your calls for change more seriously?
So here’s an idea. Suggest to your most senior sponsor – a VP Sales, Sales Director, someone on high who’s worked with you and likes you – that each senior exec on your board should personally sponsor one proposal effort in the next two months. Not necessarily those for biggest opportunities, mind – but a random cross-section, so they get to see the full picture.
Let them sit in on meetings. Copy them in on all of the relevant documents. Charge them with helping where help is needed.
Review the proposal effort with them – being sure to pinpoint anything that happened differently and better as a result of their involvement, that wouldn’t be the case on a ‘normal’ bid.
And then get them to share their experiences with one another.
As a result, they should understand the precarious high-wire act that characterises your proposal efforts. At the least, they might start to provide you with some safety nets and a little more time for training and rehearsal. And, at best, they’ll help you to find an easier way altogether to help you find altogether easier ways to navigate the path from hearing of an opportunity to submitting a first-class proposal.
Posted by BJ on 19 May, 2009 under Musings |
My dog Jack has just received his “Canine Good Citizen (CGC)” certificate. For those of you not familiar with this program, this is a standardized evaluation of a dog’s ability to perform a specific set of skills, as evaluated by a certified evaluator. A dog who has passed the CGC exam has demonstrated that he or she understands how to behave in typical day-to-day situations.
The purpose of the CGC test, as stated within the CGC participant’s handbook is “to ensure that our favorite companions, the dog, can be a respected member of the community. The handbook goes on to state, “Dogs become respected members of their community when they are trained to act mannerly in the home, in public places, and in the presence of other dogs and people. All dogs are welcomed in the Canine Good Citizen program.
The test consists of ten items, each of which is designed to test a specific skill. These include accepting a friendly stranger, sitting politely for petting, walking on a loose leash and other skills one would expect naturally expect a well behaved dog to exhibit. Some of the more difficult tests include staying in place, wherein the dog must remain in the same place, either sitting or lying down for a full three minutes, and reaction to distraction, wherein the dog is exposed to loud noises and objects that it might encounter such as a person on a bicycle or a child’s wagon.
So, what’s this have to do with proposals you ask? Well, it’s this. I was wondering what a “Proposal Good Citizen” test would look like. What skills and behaviors would a proposal person need to demonstrate, borrowing language from the CGC handbook, “to ensure they can be a respected member of their company.” Borrowing again from the handbook, “A proposal person becomes a respected member of their company when they…”
What 10 specific skills and/or behaviors would be included on the test? What would be the proposal equivalent of “Accepting of strangers” or “sitting politely to be petted”? And what would be the more difficult challenges, equivalent to the “reaction to distractions” or “staying in place”?
Let me know what would be on your version of such a test. I’ll provide mine once a few of you have had a chance to provide your ideas.
Posted by Jon on 15 May, 2009 under Musings |
I found a kindred spirit recently in a sales manager with whom I’ve been doing some work.
I mentioned that I’m extremely competitive. So is he.
I explained that I don’t lose many opportunities on which I work. Neither does he.
I commented that I still feel frustrated by the bids I’ve worked on that have been lost. Him too.
Between us, we then listed the brands that we respectively boycott, having been involved in unsuccessful bids to the organisations concerned. And we realised that between us we avoid shopping in a fair percentage of high-street stores as a result.
Anyone else find that they only lose a few deals, but find it hard to forget the ones they do?!
Posted by BJ on 13 May, 2009 under Musings |
I recently worked on a client site in London and the building in which I worked (recently built) had about 10 floors serviced by a bank of six elevators.
Outside the elevators was a keypad into which I entered the floor to which I wished to go. The system then directed me to a specific elevator. Once in the elevator the system announced the floors at which it would stop.
Did you catch that? I didn’t push a button to get the elevator to come to me, enter and then tell the system at which floor I wished to stop. The system anticipated what I needed and addressed this need. It asked me “Where do you wish to go?” and then determined which car I should use to get their as quickly as possible.
This system did not operate on merely knowing where I was (based on my pushing the button on that floor) or merely letting me know where it was (by way of numbers shown as the car moved from floor to floor.)
As I used this system for several days I was very impressed by the ability of the system to load cars with people going to the same floors or nearby floors. In my several days using the system and going up and down many floors each day, I never stopped at more than one other floor. In comparison, on a recent trip to New York City I was often in elevators that seemed to stop at every floor between where I entered and when I exited the car (often stopping at 10+ floors and often there was no one waiting when the door opened [this was during school break week and I’m guessing the children had been pushing buttons for the fun of it]… ugh!
Who would have thought an elevator system could be improved, and improved dramatically in my opinion?
Makes me wonder/ponder as to which of the systems and methodologies we use, and have been using for some time, to develop proposals might be significantly improved if we stopped and thought about it.
Posted by Jon on 11 May, 2009 under Musings |
What a surreal conversation, played out towards 10pm on Friday evening. I just had to transcribe it as accurately as I could straight afterwards…
My mobile phone rings: “Is that Strategic Proposals?” asks the heavily-accented stranger.
“It is indeed. I’m Jon: I run our UK business. How may I help?”
“Do you help people to win contracts, then?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“OK. I’ve found a contract that we want to win. I’ll send you the details, OK?”
“Erm… OK.”
“And then you’ll write the proposal for us. That’s really great. Is there anything else we need to do ourselves at any point, or can you do it all from here?”
Where does one start?!
Posted by BJ on 7 May, 2009 under Musings |
I’m currently attending obedience training. (No, this isn’t a class for me to learn how to better respond to my wife Azra’s requests. This is a class I attend with our dog Jack* where he and I are learning how to communicate with each other and are developing good behaviors.)
The approach used within this class is one of “positive reinforcement”**. With this approach, when I communicate clearly and in a way Jack understands and he does what is desired, he is rewarded (with treats, affection, toys, etc.). Only positive results are rewarded. If Jack does something incorrectly, I do not reward him, but I don’t correct him or punish him. I just ignore what he did and we try it again. Only if Jack does something that could endanger him or another dog (becoming aggressive, going somewhere he shouldn’t such as into traffic, etc.) do I use a harsh or stern tone or physically restrain Jack. (And even in such cases, this is done, as Cesar Milan, the dog trainer known as “The Dog Whisperer”, advocates, in a calm and assertive manner.)
Most dogs respond extremely well to positive reinforcement and learn very quickly. With this method I’m convinced it would be possible to teach Jack to do most anything. (Jack understands many commands in both English and Turkish, my wife’s native language.)
Experiencing positive reinforcement and watching how effective it is has been, made me think back on those times I’ve either been managed or observed management of someone else, by a manager whose only approach was “negative reinforcement”. From such observations, it seems to be that all too often only incorrect behavior is acknowledged. My experience, and I suspect that of most of our readers, is that this approach is much less effective. (And I’m sure as a manager I’ve been guilty of managing in such a way.)
The class has certainly made me more aware of how I manage both myself and others and I consciously focus on reinforcing positive behavior and results.
* I’ve written about dog Jack, an American Staffordshire Bull Terrier (one of the many breeds mistakenly referred as a Pit Bull and often unfairly banned through breed specific legislation [BSL]), in a post titled “Don’t Ban the Breed“.)
** Two books/authors that advocate positive reinforcement which I highly recommend are “The Loved Dog” (Tamar Gellar) and “Animals in Translation” (Temple Grandin)
