Posted by BJ under Word play & writing | 
Not Quite What I Was Planning. That phrase has, no doubt, been uttered by a great many proposal folks before, during and/or after a proposal effort. However, in this case, it’s the title of a book (thus the use of title case, for those that thought this was incorrect.
This simple little book is a compilation of “Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure” drawn from Smith Magazine (edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith, published by Harper). Talk about word count limits!
I found the entries delightful and very clever. And it certainly got me to thinking about mine own six word memoir. (This will be a work in progress for a bit as, as many of us are well aware, the shorter it is, the longer it takes to write. :) )
A couple that I really like are:
- “I colored outside the lines.”
- “Full life. Impossible to summarize in…
And one or two that really hit home for me:
- “Next time, better parents, better hair.”
- “Oh sweet nectar of life, coffee.”
Then there are those that could definitely be said about proposal efforts are:
- “Filled blank spaces with ambitious endeavors.” (proposal writer)
- “Indeterminate, not enough data for conclusion.” (a customer/decision maker)
- “Once was blind, now I see.” (a sales person [Hey, it could happen!])
- “It was embarrassing, so don’t ask.” (a proposal manager)
I suspect this post will have many of you thinking about the “six words” that capture one of your proposal efforts. If that’s the case, Jon and I would love to read it and share it with our readers so please do send them in (as a comment.)
Posted by Jon under Proposal Guys news |
We want your money! Not for ourselves, you understand (although that’s always nice!), but for an even better cause.
Our colleague Richard Jenkins is bravely making a parachute jump on 29 June in aid of Help for Heroes, the charity that helps wounded ex-services personnel.
Many of you will know Richard, from his work with us at Strategic Proposals or through his APMP activities (including his spell as last year’s Chief Exec of UKAPMP). This is a charity that’s particularly close to my heart, and I’m delighted he’s chosen to raise funds for them; the Strategic Proposals team here in the UK has already pledged a £1,000 contribution to support him.
Please, please do consider sponsoring him – we’d be extremely grateful for any contributions, no matter how small or large. You can click here to make a donation. Thank you!
Posted by Jon under Musings |
Qvidian, the leading proposal automation software folks, were kind enough to invite me to give a keynote speech at their recent well-attended “Connect 11 Europe” conference. Their President and CEO, Lewie Miller, opened the event with an excellent presentation – the first time I’d personally heard him speak since the merger that brought together the Sant, Kadient and Pragmatech brands a few months back. I thought that some of his perspectives might be of wider interest.
I was delighted to hear Lewie’s affirmation that “our core is proposal automation”; Qvidian’s commitment to this market was important to hear for those of us who focus on proposals. Stability was key for many customers; this merger brought that about, giving users confidence in their chosen supplier’s financial robustness. And the opportunity to work with a client base of over 1200 customers globally created scale and opportunity.
I loved Qvidian’s new slogan – “the business of winning” – very much aligned to our own view that efficiency is important, but that more strategic proposal teams add huge value to their sales organisations in terms of enhancing win rates. There’d been huge progress on the product front – new functionality; simplification to make the user interface more appealing; better support for multiple languages; improved capabilities to embed pricing within quotes and proposals generated by the system; a re-architected “Library Architect” function (what some may have known in the past as ‘Smartforms’) and much more.
There have been some bold steps, too, as they’ve started to undertake the necessary rationalisation of the previously-competing product sets. Now that their process for converting clients from Pragmatech 6.x to Sant Suite is well-proven, development has been discontinued on the former, and over 40 customers per quarter are converting. Users now receive RFP Master and Presentation Builder at no charge when they use Proposal Master. And Qvidian’s “sales playbooks” are leading to significant win rate improvements for various customers.
All in all, it was a coherent, compelling session. I’ve worked with Sant and Pragmatech individually for twelve years or more now; whilst any merger brings a degree of uncertainty, I was genuinely impressed with the way this one’s being executed. Exciting times for their customers – who in turn seemed enthused by what they’d heard.
Posted by BJ under Word play & writing |
A recent letter to the editor in my local paper was on the topic of dog owners who do not clean up after their dogs. The title of the letter was, “Dog owners, please do the right thing.”
This letter failed on several levels and the parallels are such that I thought I offer to our readers as a reminder to keep their strategic messages on target and directed to the intended audience.
Okay, right at the start, that being the title, this misses the mark and causes me to be a bit skeptical. Surely the definition of what the “right thing” is for any one dog owner is, in my opinion, open to interpretation.
The article then leads with, “This article is intended for all irresponsible dog owners.” So, I shouldn’t read this, is that what the author is saying?
The article then goes on to read, “It seems to me the city has become a toilet for dogs. (In a court of law this would be objected to with a resounding, “That’s an opinion, not a fact.”) What is wrong with people. (And that’s just way too loaded a statement to include here!).
This writer then goes on to point out the amount of dog droppings they encounter on their daily walk with their dog. They point out this is disgusting and “really annoying to the rest of us who won dogs.”
So what’s the strategic message here? That these individuals should be embarrassed? If such individuals are so inconsiderate as to not clean up after their dogs, will they really be persuaded to do so by this attempt to embarrass them? I think not.
A better strategy, in my opinion, would be to target what these offenders have to lose if they don’t change their ways. In this case, that is the privilege of walking their dog and the risk to the health of both their dog and themselves and their family. I’d point out, “If you continue to not clean up after your dog, people will eventually complain and the city will respond by making it illegal to walk your dog in this area.” I also offer the risk to both their dogs and themselves. “When you and other dog owners don’t clean up your dog’s droppings your dog is at risk of stepping on them. Your dog could easily get sick from this and also could track excrement into your home and put yourself and your family at risk.”
I’d title the letter, “Dog Owners – Help keep the park open to dog walking and keep your dog and family healthy by cleaning up after your dog.”
