Posted by BJ under Interviews and the Panel | 
Either “Run the other Way!” or “Watch and Learn”
Connie Sanford is well known and respected within the proposal community and has presented at many APMP conferences and Pragmatech User Forums. She told us she was enjoying the questions so much that she answered 7 of them instead of the usual 5. Here’s Connie input:
Please describe your current role?
I am the Manager of Proposal Services for Kforce Professional Staffing. I manage a team of 4 – 3 full time proposal writers and a developer for our automated documents. Annually, we review about 350 RFPs and were instrumental in adding $44 million in new revenue to the Firm last year. We support a field sales force of approximately 1,500. We also have 30+ automated documents for the field to use for smaller opportunities. They used the website to create more than 1,000 proposals in 2007.
How did you first get involved in sales proposals?
I finished my BA at the ripe age of 39 and took a job as a technical writer, which was really an RFP responder – I hesitate to call it a proposal writer because they only expected me to answer questionnaires (insurance company). I was a one-man show and had no idea what I was doing, but knew there had to be more than this. I looked around on the web and found APMP and they were just about to have their Salt Lake City convention. I asked to go and my boss approved it. I was intrigued by the presentation you guys (BJ and Jon) did and felt like I’d finally found a family of people who were like me. I learned about software like Pragmatech that could make my life and our company’s responses better. I became a proposal evangelist at that conference and haven’t stopped seeking better, building better and wanting more.
Any advice for proposal people needing to get greater sponsorship from senior colleagues within the business?
My advice would be to learn to speak their language. We are ‘word’ people – all of us think and speak and even dream in full sentences. Personally, I find it difficult to text because I can’t bring myself to leave out the punctuation or misspell the words. Your executives are probably not ‘word’ people; they are number people, statistics, ratios, win rates and return on investment. You must speak to them in those terms and make them understand that your department doesn’t just ‘do proposals.’ Your department reviews (for instance) 5 RFPs per person per week, resulting in 35% win rate. Each proposal takes about 20 hours and results in $500,000 in new business. That way they can begin to quantify your value to the Firm and justify your headcount, growth, your need to spend money to send the team to conferences, training sessions, pay for certification tests or anything else. It is our responsibility first to learn to speak to them before they learn to understand us.
Every proposal professional has a favourite horror story of the proposal that nearly (or actually) went wrong. What’s yours?
We did a proposal for a State a couple of years ago. We had just acquired a new company who was already doing business with the State, but the State wanted Kforce to win the bid not just sign over the old award. It was complicated and a large document with multiple copies but after weeks working with the folks from the new company and our organization, we got the document submitted. The State called us to say our headers were wrong. They had not mentioned the header requirement in the RFP, but we would need to reprint the proposals and send them in again. We completed and delivered the new documents only to receive a call from the State that they had posted an updated RFP on their website while we were working on the second version. We would have to comply with the new RFP and its format changes, language changes etc., which meant we had to review the old and new RFPs page at a time to catch all the changes. We submitted the third versions and then heard that our contact person had retired and we would be assigned a new reviewer, which would add months to the review cycle. It all worked out … we were awarded the business, but the entire process took 18 months. Our RFPs are usually released, responded and awarded within three months.
What one piece of advice would you offer to a newcomer just starting work on proposals?
I was reading these questions aloud to my team as I was contemplating which ones to answer. They all responded, in unison, “Run, run the other way.” That has to tell you something. Now, you have to understand, my team is the best – lots of experience, iron wills, strong backbones to deal with our constituency and loads of heart. Each is doing this because they want to. This is not an easy road. There’s no book to read, no degree to seek, finally we have some certification, but still each industry is so different, each of us has to be prepared to forge our own path. It’s not for the faint of heart. So, if the newcomer doesn’t heed, “Run!” I would have to say, “Watch and learn, don’t be afraid to ask and don’t be afraid to stand up when you know you are right.”
How did you come by your belief in the importance of proposals?
Many years ago I had occasion to request other vendors’ proposals through FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) on a couple of municipalities. Even though the opportunities were for very different services, many of the vendors’ proposals were identical – word for word. Either the documents were wrong (in a couple of spots) or they were so vague, they resembled pre-printed marketing material. I knew we could do better, so I took the bad proposals to my boss to help him understand what the competition was doing and that we weren’t much better. We made some changes to our documents and won several of those new documents, got good feedback from brokers and that was enough to convince everyone else.
If you had to recommend one book to proposal managers, what would it be? (It doesn’t have to be specifically about proposals!)
Wow, there are lots of good books, but it doesn’t have to be a book. Last year, I completed Dale Carnegie’s Leadership Skills training, and it gave me so many new skills. I would recommend anything that helps you to be a leader and not just a manager. Frequently, we are ‘managing’ people who don’t need to be ‘managed.’ Our teams need to be led, encouraged, shown the way to make their jobs a career choice. They need help in creating a path to continually improve in that career. We need to go to bat for them with our superiors so they can get what they need to stay in those positions, providing important continuity to their Firms and their teams. That usually calls for more than a book.
“If buyers wrote good RFPs, they’d receive good proposals in return. In the meantime, they should stop complaining!” Discuss.
“If frogs had wings, they wouldn’t bump their fannies.” It’s not my place to complain or lament that RFPs aren’t better, they are what they are. Lots of time they’re vague and redundant, but that’s why my team is valued – we can cut through the vagueness and the redundancy using the tools we have available from our experience. Regardless, it is the client’s game with their rules – period. It’s my job to make sure that we know those rules and if we don’t it’s my team’s responsibility to ask the necessary questions to position my Firm for a win.
Posted by BJ under Interviews and the Panel |
“Getting Graphic”
Please describe your current role?
I am a partner at 24 Hour Company, a firm that specializes in graphics for proposals. These days my primary role is the development of workshops and tools to share my best practices and secrets with proposal professionals. Previously I designed graphics and presentations for proposals, something I still do on occasion. I am committed to helping the proposal industry evolve and I recently released the third book in a series on graphics, Do-It-Yourself Billion Dollar Business Graphics.
How did you first get involved in proposals?
Reluctantly. Nine years ago I had a choice to make: a) become a partner at a multimedia firm or b) become a partner at a proposal graphics firm (24 Hour Company). “What’s a proposal?” was my first reaction. However, as I learned more about the proposal industry, I soon saw it as an underserved market. I knew it would continue to grow and mature, and I wanted to be a part of its growth. Part of my continuing to enjoy working on proposals is the adrenaline rush that comes with the pressure of working to a deadline, having to produce the highest-quality documents possible and competing.
What characteristics do you feel make for a first-class proposal?
Interdependence. The proposal team must work together and communicate properly. They must have a schedule and a plan and stick to it. I want everyone to be on the same page. For example, I want the Capture Manager, sales lead, or person closest to the future client to share what s/he knows with the proposal team (everyone on the team… not just key personnel).
Play to the individual’s strengths: A subject matter expert should not spend hours designing a graphic if they have a designer on their team. It would be a waste of the team’s time and money for a subject matter expert to make graphics when they could be focused on developing the solution or writing.
Compete to win, not just “let’s-just-go-for-it”. The work should start before the RFP is released with a rough sketch of the solution at a very high level that slowly gets down into the weeds (linking back to the high-level view of the solution) If the team can picture the solution, they will have a much better chance of effectively explaining it in writing. I have seen hundreds of times where once the team can visualize the solution, the writing comes easy and they tell a story that solves the future client’s problem.
Link features to benefits and discriminators. The proposal must be audience focused. It also needs to look like a first-class proposal-aesthetically appealing, no clip art, well formatted, consistent, and well edited.
In addition, a first-class proposal needs to be easy to evaluate and score and it needs to follow the RFP.
If you were given responsibility for a proposal center, what would you do first?
Talk to the team. I would have and schedule time for a free flowing conversation addressing specific areas and questions with the team to understand their wants, needs, challenges, strengths, and weaknesses. I would review their processes and systems, as well as the company’s products, services and offerings. Lastly, I would evaluate old proposals and find out what worked and what did not and why.
I would then develop a plan for developing and streamlining proposal development. I would get the team involved so everyone had ownership of our new process/system. I would also involve senior management in the process and get their input and support to help make changes as needed and get funding approved.
How do you respond to those who claim, “It’s all about price”?
Hockey Puck! If this were true the lowest cost solution provider would always win. RFPs from any U.S. government agency state that the proposal will be awarded to the company showing they can provide the “best value” not “lowest cost.”
Many proposals win because the sales representative or capture manager did a fantastic job developing rapport with the future client and learning their hot buttons and key issues (often not stated in the RFP), giving the team give an edge over the competition.
I’ve even heard stories of proposals winning because of the cover! One such story is of a military agency that needed a product built. Only one company had the product ready-to-go, and they put a picture of it on their proposal cover. Ironically, they almost lost because the proposal was so poorly written; however, they showed the product working on the cover so they won. In addition, their proposal had the highest cost.
What’s the worst (or funniest) proofreading error you’ve ever seen in a proposal?
“Jerminal Arena Destruct Limes.” It should have read: “Terminal Area Destruct Lines”
If you were to recommend one book to proposal managers, what would it be? (It doesn’t have to be specifically about proposals!)
I’d have to say, “Do-It-Yourself Billion Dollar Business Graphics: 3 Fast and Easy Steps to Turn Your Text and Ideas into Graphics That Sell.”
We asked over 400 proposal professionals what their biggest proposal challenges were and one of the top challenges listed was translating words and ideas into graphics. (I’m sure it sounds self-serving to recommend a book I’ve written but I know the value of the best practices and “secrets” in this book.)
I can’t stress enough the power of visual communication. Too many proposals are lost because the winning solution gets lost in a sea of words or is missed because the graphic is indecipherable. Visuals (even rough sketches) get everyone on the same page fast! Good graphics are proven to increase success rates by 43%. The book shows proposal professionals how to translate their winning solutions into a memorable, compelling graphics.
Posted by Jon under Interviews and the Panel |
To finish our week of proposal war stories from our panel, perhaps my favourite of an excellent bunch, from Lesa:
The one I will never forget was a long time ago for a large government bid. I had worked late several nights in a row, in our office that was under construction at the time. So amidst sawing, hammering and open ceiling tiles, there I was licking construction dust off my lips at 11 p.m. working on this enormous bid thinking, “This sucks!”
Of course we came down to the deadline and the V.P. was still making changes, literally standing over my shoulder saying, “Type faster!” as I was scrambling to make the changes (I was so young and naive!).
Of course we knew were going to miss the FedEx cutoff so the account executive was going to drive the proposals (10 big binders) to deliver them to the client (one state and a three hour drive away). The drive included trekking through the Sierra mountains during winter.
Of course an hour after he left, we were told that we needed to make yet another critical change to the pricing of all things! Somehow we were able to get ahold of him via cell phone (although cell service was terrible where he was in the mountains). Did I mention this was before email was widely available? So out in the boonies (we’re talking Tahoe National Forest area) he somehow managed to find a “mom & pop” store that had a fax machine, so we faxed the new rate sheets to him.
Fortunately his wife was travelling with him so she was able to rip the old rate sheets out of the binder and put the new ones in while he continued driving in blizzard-like conditions! The proposals were due at noon and he delivered them at 11:52 a.m. To add insult to injury, we did not win the business. Go figure. : )
Of course I am now (much) older and wiser. The silver lining to this story is that we now have solid processes in place to prevent working late hours on a regular basis and we involve everyone in the process from the beginning to minimize last minute changes. It usually works. : )
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Other posts in this series:
War Story 1
War Story 2
War Story 3
War Story 4
Posted by Jon under Interviews and the Panel |
Barbara’s next up in this week’s cycle of tales from the Proposal Guys panel:
In the 1980s I worked on an RFP for a DoD (Department of Defense) contract for a state-of-the-art technical support center for the B-1 Bomber worth millions of dollars. I worked for a very large defense contractor and the different departments pursued their own contracts. We did the research, wrote an internal proposal for funds to pursue the RFP/contract, including labor to work on the RFP. It was customary to use corporate computers for your RFP and then buy all new government equipment when you won the award. Corporate computers were those little all-in-one Macintosh units. This was when the latest and greatest PC was the 80286 (cost, approx $10,000).
We won the contact with our huge set of 12, four-inch binders full of engineering reports, diagram, graphics, and beautiful page layouts using Frame Maker and Adobe Illustrator. When we won they requested we deliver all of our material in WordPerfect and AutoCAD formats. At that time there was no compatibility between Apple and PC formats. Of course our VP handed it to me and said “just do it.”
It was the most horrible experience of my life. They cleared out a conference room, filled it full of equipment, books, and a couch I could sleep on. I had eight weeks to figure out how to convert material from the Macintosh to the PC, make sure it was editable, and looked the same. For eight weeks I lived in that room with meals delivered from the cafeteria. I showered in the company gym and the drycleaner delivered my laundry.
Years later when the contract came up for re-bid one of our competitors promised a system using a brand new Microsoft Windows interface. We did not have any Windows programmers (no one did). We did not have Windows. While our programmers scrambled to learn Windows programming and figure out how the heck to move a huge Unix based system to Windows, I learned how to make a pretty Windows GUI with all the associated military logos and buttons that didn’t do anything but look pretty. We won the re-bid. I still have a framed B1B Technical Support Center logo as a reminder.
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Other posts in this series:
War Story 1
War Story 2
War Story 3
Posted by Jon under Interviews and the Panel |
Enjoying our week of proposal war stories? Here’s our next contributor, Dave:
The following story proves one of the following depending upon your level of cynicism:
a) price is not the be-all and end-all
b) the odds are stacked against you if you don’t have a strong client relationship or
c) it isn’t always a level-playing field.
In 2006 the company I worked for at the time discovered that a division of one of its largest European clients had issued an RFP for an HR solution in the UK.
Unfortunately my company hadn’t been invited to bid as no-one was aware we were an incumbent supplier. In short, we had no relationship in the UK.
Strings were pulled at group level and we were allowed to tender even though we only had 2 of the 4 weeks response time remaining. The string-pulling didn’t win us any allies!
However, our response showed that we had a good functional fit, a good existing European relationship and a significant cost advantage (estimated at 50% less than the other bidders). Indeed the RFP made a big play of the importance of cost, and the price was the highest weighted scoring element. To further emphasise this point the short-listed vendors would have to ‘duke it out’ in a reverse on-line auction.
We were short-listed and when the reverse auction started, we were in 1st place across the board on costs (i.e. lowest bidder). When the auction completed, we remained in 1st place without having had to bid once. High-fives around the office!
A few days later we found out we had not been selected. In the debrief we were told that “If you took out the cost-weighting factor, you came second in functional fit and your refusal to bid a lower price during the auction was seen as a lack of good will”.
Some deals just can’t be won!
Interestingly, another bid team recently shared a similar story with me – an e-auction in which they came cheapest in each of the three auction categories yet still didn’t win the deal.
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Other posts in this series:
War Story 1
War Story 2
Posted by Jon under Interviews and the Panel |
Next up in our collection of war stories from our panellistas is Robin:
Favorite war story? Do I have to pick just one? Actually, I’m finding it challenging to recall as I often suppress such horrifying events – how else could I move forward with such a positive attitude and still come to work everyday? If forced to choose just one, this is my favorite… only because we WON.
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“I thought tomorrow we would…..”
This story falls into the “There is no such thing as a perfect proposal” category. I was working with a new sales person on a big proposal (potential of $40 mil in annual revenue) for a major health plan that we had been courting for several years. We had 30 days to respond! Normally this is a good thing. However, what it meant was non-stop work on the project for all 30 days – including weekends.
We had a good strategy that only changed 3 times throughout the process; a very dedicated sales person; we were selling programs that we actually already have built; and we were competitively priced. My challenges, however, were educating the sales person on the process, earning his trust and getting him to adhere to the established timelines. Despite these challenges, he is a great person to work with because of his dedication, attention to detail and appreciation. So, I carved out the 30 days, put my head down and worked full steam ahead, counting down the days until I could resume normal life.
The proposal was due on a Monday. The sales person decided he was going to hand deliver it and would fly out on Sunday afternoon with the precious package. According to plan, we would complete the final touches and production on Saturday. Therefore, I planned to unwind with a bottle of wine on Saturday night and do NOTHING on Sunday but watch football and eat chicken wings.
At 2 pm on Saturday, as the sales person lay across my desk and we were combing through the document making final edits, he had the audacity to say, “I thought that tomorrow we would……blah blah blah” – I totally lost him when he said those first 6 words. I felt my face get red and tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at him in total shock and shouted in a panicky voice:
“TOMORROW? TOMORROW? I AM NOT COMING IN HERE TOMORROW! I’VE BEEN WORKING WITH YOU FOR 30 DAYS STRAIGHT AND THIS MARRIAGE COMES TO AN END TODAY. IF YOU WANT TO WORK ON THIS TOMORROW, YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN. YOU COULDN’T BUY ME ENOUGH FOOD OR STARBUCKS FOR ME TO COME IN HERE TOMORROW. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT PROPOSAL – REMEMBER?? THIS IS IT, BUDDY!”
As the tears rolled down my face and my entire body shuddered from my emotional breakdown, the fear in his eyes was unmistakable. He wasn’t sure what to do next. Being the wise man that he is, he back away slowly and said, “You’re right, we’re just about done here. No need to come in tomorrow.”
That is the first and hopefully the last project that will bring me to tears. The work we did for those 30 days resulted in a HUGE win for the company. When the sales person received his first commission check almost a year later, he gave me a generous portion of it in ten dollar bills rolled up inside two Tiffany wine glasses. This was the first time a sales person had EVER given me a portion of his commissions.
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Other posts in this series:
War Story 1
Posted by Jon under Interviews and the Panel |
Our latest panel topic asked our collection of proposal professionals from around the world to tell us their “favourite proposal ‘war story’, from personal experience”. Their replies were so enjoyable that, rather than edit them down into one post, we’ll post one story a day throughout this week. Hope you enjoy them!
Roisin leads the way…
Having spent my formative years in an organisation struggling with the value of Bid Management as a function, I struggled to decide upon a war story – not one that would make good reading, but one that I could bring myself to revisit.
I eventually decided that I would be brave – and relive the story that will haunt me, perhaps, to the end of my career.
It begins with two large bids for two separate sectors being run with submission dates four days apart. (Friday and Tuesday – for posterity). We shall call them Bid A and Bid B. Bid A was being run solely by myself in Location 1. Bid B was being run in Location 2 (without my consultation) by someone who knew a bit about Bid Management, but tended to ‘talk the talk’ more than ‘walk the walk’. Let’s call them Person X. Everyone with me so far?
Bid A went swimmingly – but due to its nature and complexity I was committed to it until the Friday – when the client changed the delivery requirements somewhat. No matter, it was handled; pats on the back all round, and off I trundled to Location 2.
Location 2 was my official base location, although I worked from home a lot (anyone who knows me knows it is a long commute), and having had several conversations with Person X, it was decided during the week that, having completed my contributions two weeks previously, I would come for the last four days ‘just in case I was needed’. Having made several phone calls on the train journey, I began to get an uneasy feeling that all was not exactly as it seemed. I arranged to meet the team the next morning (Saturday) in the office.
Having established that Person X would ‘not be working the weekend due to family commitments’, and had left no handover, just the understanding that I would be taking over, I quickly realized that the buck had been well and truly passed. Emergency discussions ensued, establishing that little was finalised, nothing was reviewed – and it had to be with the client in 72 hours.
How we got through that weekend is not important, but suffice to say it was long, arduous, and frankly, painful, but between us when it came to Monday morning (4 a.m.-ish) we had a draft fit for review. And off it went.
Person X came in at 1030am, wanting ‘to know what he could do’. I bit my tongue. At this point I should introduce person Y, who sits above Person X in the organisational hierarchy, and well, that’s about the sum total of their contribution, really. Person Y was present along with highbrow Management Consultants Z1 and Z2, brought in from Location 1 to help review. In case you haven’t worked it out already, this was a huge bid worth many million pounds. Z1 and Z2 were charm personified, very focused and obliging. X and Y did a lot of ‘networking’ that day, whilst I silently calculated the minutes until it was all over.
At 6pm the first reviews were completed and I began the task of updating the master document whilst the second reviews went on. X retired to the conference room on the phone whilst Y disappeared. Home, presumably. Z1 and Z2 were still present, as Person X had decided that since Location 1 was were they were to return to, and the client was within a fifty mile radius, that they, yes, oh yes, they – would deliver it, in order that we would not be working to the courier’s deadline. I expressed abject horror but was swiftly overruled.
By 11pm I had closed the document for further contributions and all that was left was a final read-through for continuity, spelling, grammar, and readability. Any bid manager knows that this is no small task – the document was, incidentally, pushing 300 pages (plus appendices). Half an hour later, there was a commotion at the front door as Person Y entered, heartily back-slapping and pumping the hand of Person X, congratulating them for completion of the document.
Y then produced several bags, which he announced were the ‘team’s reward for their hard work’. Fine, you think, thoughtful, you think. Except that the document wasn’t finished. So there I was, sat at my desk blazing through this document, while the rest of the office put their feet on the desks and cracked into kebabs and beer. Yes, you read that right.
I can honestly say that that was the lowest moment of my entire career to date. Part of me wondered if I was hallucinating. It was so surreal. There I was, tired, frustrated, and working against the clock, at my desk, trying to pull this bid together whilst there was a party going on around me. An actual party. I put my earphones in and silently begged for strength.
That’s about the end of the story, really. The party continued whilst I worked, then when they had eaten and drunk their fill Person X stood over me, chiding me for taking so long and telling me I was being too ‘picky’. If I was a less stubborn person, I’d have cried.
Z1 (who was driving) went to their car to sleep. Everyone else refused to go home, simply sat and waited whilst I worked, asking me at fifteen minute intervals if I was finished yet. At 2am we went to print, (credit to the team it was all hands on deck) and by 4.30am there were five boxes (the client wanted an obscene number of copies) packed and waved off. Person X announced loudly that they were ‘exhausted with all the effort ‘, and Y concurred, saying no-one should expect to see X for a few days.
We won the deal, incidentally. And when we got the news, full credit (and much more back slapping and man hugging) was given to X for doing such a fantastic job managing the bid.
I resigned not long after.
