Posted by Jon under APMP & accreditation, Processes & best practice | 
One of APMP’s powerful contributions to the profession is its code of ethics. It’s hidden away on the APMP website, and is well worth a read if you’ve not looked at it lately:
Members of the APMP are expected to:
- Comply with rules, government regulations, and laws in their respective countries, as well as other appropriate private and public regulatory agencies.
- Ensure compliance with all rules concerning interaction with clients and Government liaisons.
- Protect sensitive information and comply with all legal requirements for the disclosure of information.
- Avoid conflicts of interest, or the appearance of same, and disclose to their employer or client any circumstances that may influence their judgment and objectivity.
- Ensure that a mutual understanding of the objectives, scope, work plan, and fee arrangements has been established before accepting any assignment.
- Represent the proposal profession with integrity in their relationships with employers, clients, colleagues, and the general public.
- When in doubt about how to resolve an ethical dilemma, confer with a person you trust—one who is not directly involved in the outcome.
We circulate the document periodically around our team within Strategic Proposals; I’ve actually just proposed that we each also sign a copy of the code once a year as a reminder of good practice. I wonder whether others in the profession should do the same – or, at least, distribute a copy to colleagues who might not have seen it?
Posted by Jon under Musings |
The railway line from our town into London takes us right past Wembley, England’s national stadium. It’s a wonderful place – stunningly-designed, and an amazing arena in which to watch matches.
Whilst one would expect to get bored of the sight of it after so many journeys, or simply not to notice it at all, my heart never ceases to beat a shade faster every time the train rolls past: a sense of national pride, perhaps, combined with the aura of a place that’s inextricably linked to competition and victory. My excitement levels reach fever pitch when I’m occasionally fortunate enough to go to a game there – even if it’s a mere ‘friendly’ such as England’s recent 3-1 victory over Egypt, at which the atmosphere was quite wonderful.
Do you get that sort of buzz when you start to work on a new proposal? Is there a sense of excitement, of passion, of the significance and importance of the proposal effort. Do you get a the thrill from engaging in a doubtless-close, highly-competitive contest where only the most successful team can carry off the prize? Of knowing that – as a key participant rather than a mere spectator (indeed, at times, as captain of the team) – you’ll have to play your best to succeed, to use all of your skill and to inspire your fellow team members? Of the prospect of having fun whilst – and as a result of – playing? I certainly do: it’s at the core of why I continue to find proposal management to be such a wonderful, exhilarating and rewarding profession in which to work.
Posted by BJ under Musings |
A week or so back, on a Tuesday, as I was waiting for a plane in Boston, headed to Dallas to present an APMP Foundation Level accreditation workshop, I sent Jon a mail asking him if he was available for a quick call on Thursday. He responded, “I’m in Germany Thursday. I’m in Ireland on Friday but might have some available time, if you’re open then. I replied, “I’m presenting at the Texas All Star Symposium in Houston on Friday. I’m open on Monday morning, but then I’m headed to Chicago to present a two-day Executive Summary workshop for a healthcare client. I’ll be back in the office on Thursday afternoon. If you’re open, let’s try for then.” He replied, “I’m with a client all day Thursday and Friday, Let’s plan for Monday.
A pretty typical week for both of us. It’s a good thing we have e-mail to keep us connected while we wait for our respective schedules to align.
Posted by Jon under Musings, Processes & best practice |
I’ve been having some lively debates lately with clients on that age-old favourite, the respective definitions and roles of bid management versus proposal management.
In case it helps others, let’s go back to basics. Your organisation has a sales relationship with a current or prospective client. At some point, your salesperson will identify an opportunity to capture a piece of business at some point in the future. You’ll need to carry out a range of bid activities if you’re to win this contract or project – meeting the client, conducting proofs of concept, arranging reference site visits, negotiating… as part of which, you’ll doubtless submit a written proposal.
Our experience suggests that many of the problems experienced on larger deals result from confusion between the bid and proposal roles. Particularly, companies assume that their bid managers – client-facing, expert in bringing together the best technical and commercial resources to define a robust solution – are equally adept at articulating their story through the written word. And, frankly, that’s rarely the case – even were the bid manager to have the necessary time available to devote to the proposal effort.
Likewise, danger lurks whenever a proposal professional lays claim to expertise outside their scope of expertise. Ask me to coach a team through the negotiation phase? Not my skill – but I know the best people to do so. Get me to review the terms and conditions, design the offer, build the pricing model – I could probably muddle through (in some market sectors), but it’s not what I’m best at, what I’m paid for, or where I should be spending my time. And bidding is no place for enthusiastic amateurism.
APMP doesn’t always help matters: in its drive to grow its membership base over the years (and, perhaps, to reflect the commercial aspirations of some of its sponsoring companies), it’s diluted its focus away from proposal management (the clue’s in the name, folks) to discuss capture planning, business development and the like. You know: if I wanted an expert in business development, I’d turn to one of the many excellent sales consultancies or forums out there (such as Huthwaite or SAMA), rather than rely on a group of proposal folks seeking to broaden their horizons.
Cost of sale does play a factor, of course. I fully recognise that some organisations can’t afford to engage both a bid manager and a proposal manager on a deal – just as many can’t justify specialist writing, graphics or document management resource within their proposal centre. I’m nothing if not a pragmatist. But if there’s no separate bid manager, I’d advocate reallocating most of their responsibilities into the sales and technical teams, rather than inevitably compromising the quality of that so-important proposal. And the fact remains that those organisations which maximise their win rates do, by and large, clearly understand the difference between the bid and proposal, and resource their efforts accordingly.
Posted by BJ under Proposal training |
Many of our readers have attended a training course (or courses) that Jon or I presented. Those who have attended one of our workshops may recall that we usually ask participants to share what they have learned during the session.
We typically hear such things as, “I now understand the roles and responsibilities of the various individuals involved and why it is critical that we all understand and respect our respective roles and responsibilities.” Or “I have a much greater appreciation for the importance of an Executive summary and the role it plays in influencing the person review my proposal.”
On a recent workshop, when I asked if someone had a significant learning that they wished to share, a young man excitedly raised his hand and waved it to get my attention. I asked him to share what he had learned he said, “The coolest thing. I found out that you don’t have to drag the cursor over a word or sentence to highlight it, you can just click on it and it automatically highlights the word or sentence. That is SO much easier and it’s going to save me tons of time.”
Just goes to show that there are a great many levels of expertise with the tools we all rely upon on a daily basis (and varying levels as to what will get any one person excited.)
Posted by Jon under Musings |
Before setting off on a ridiculously early train into London this morning, I devoured a selection of the reports on the web of The Hurt Locker’s Academy Award success.
When the movie came out, I’d read a glowing review of it in The New Yorker – the sort of exceptional commendation from that publication that makes something a must-see or must-read. (’Gilead‘, Marilynn Robinson’s Pulitzer-winning novel was another such New Yorker recommendation that undoubtedly lived up to its compelling review).
I finally got to watch the movie last week on DVD, and been incredibly impressed. So much so, in fact, that I’d sworn to my wife that it was a certain bet to sweep the board at the Oscars.
She, being a rational sort, pointed out that I couldn’t be sure of the result, since I’d not seen the other contenders – the highly fancied Avatar, in particular. Yet I’d spent the past few days telling anyone who would listen of the film’s brilliance, and its inevitable forthcoming success.
The parallels to proposals? First, think back to that New Yorker review. If the client’s been successfully ‘warmed up’ before your document arrives, they’ll doubtless approach it in a far more positive and receptive frame of mind: “I want to read this one: I’ve heard it’s going to be great.”
And then my certainty that the movie would win, even without seeing the rest of the field. True, too, for proposals – when sometimes the evaluators read a document that is so impressive that nothing else stands a chance. No matter how good the competitors’ proposals, will the reader always default back to yours as ‘the one that I want’, looking for any reason not to choose the others?
So, what awards will your next proposal win? Best document, for sure. Best original story? Best design? Best writing? Best direction, for your work leading and inspiring the team?
Posted by BJ under Word play & writing |
I just love it when a typo creates a word which changes the meaning of a sentence in a humorous way and, as the saying goes, “You just can’t make this stuff up folks.”
In a recent AP article on the Westminster Dog Show being held this week in New York (at Madison Square Garden, should you care to know or go.) I spotted this delightful typo:
She is a hot dog, this little Sadie. Tongue out, and wagging tail up, the perky, 4-year old Scottish terrier has won more than 100 Best-in-Show ribbons and is the overwhelping favorite to complete dogdom’s Triple Crown this week at Westminster. She’s already charmed the judges, in fact. (Yeah, and her overwhelping would suggest she has charmed her fair share of male dogs as well.)
Someone I shared this with suggested the typo could have also been “overyelping”. That would have been fun too.
