Posted by Proposal Panda on 11 February, 2010 under Proposal Panda | 
As a music lover, I was so excited when I arrived in Nashville “Music City U.S.A.”, Tennessee to visit Jeff Elkins and Robin Davis, both independent proposal consultants. I arrived just before Christmas and it was very cold so my first stop was the Goodwill store to pick up this toasty little sweater. 
The city was alive with the sights and sounds of the season – quite literally. Leaving the Goodwill store, I ran into my first celebrity. Well, celebrity-in-the-making, perhaps. Jim was volunteering as a Salvation Army bell ringer but is also a singer/songwriter. Of course he is – Nashville is filled with a bazillion musicians, including my hosts who used to play together in a band called Strat 5. Anyway, Jim was kind enough to let me sit in with him while he played “Silent Night.” In return, I generously donated to the red bucket. I hope Jim makes it big someday.
Hangin’ out on the Bench
I first spent time with Jeff in Hendersonville, TN (home of Grammy winning country/pop star Taylor Swift). Almost before I was unpacked, Jeff requested I review Jeff’s notes on a current project and help him craft an executive summary. Once I started working I realized I could help Jeff by recommending some changes to the layout of his home office that would make things more efficient.
Jeff had a meeting that afternoon with one of his clients and he suggested I come along. Once there we reviewed the strategy on a multi-million dollar proposal for a large government municipality; my global expertise came in VERY handy, and my previous experience with IT companies really helped me translate the key messages from “tech speak.”
The next day Jeff had an orientation meeting with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT), which supports a wide range of needs in Tennessee. Jeff loaned me a Netbook for that meeting and I loved it —it was just my size!
On my last evening there, Jeff and I kicked back and played a little bluegrass, which is one of his other passions. I really enjoyed picking his mandolin on some of those old-time country tunes – we even tried our hand at “I May BE a Panda But I Won’t Panda To You.” It was a great way to wrap up the first week in Nashville.
Rockin’ Robin, tweet, tweedle-lee-dee
Next, I headed on over to visit with a good friend of Jon and BJ, Robin Davis. On the day I arrived, Robin was documenting the proposal process she designed for a client. Since I’ve been around so many different shops, she asked me to help ensure she was following best practices. I offered some advice on ways to make the process more efficient and then got busy making a flowchart for the client’s team to review. Robin then asked me to help create the proposal process training presentation for the client’s sales team. A perfect task for me since I’m a master presenter! I quickly whipped up a compelling and fun presentation and coached Robin on how to deliver it in the most effective way.
After a quick trip to Starbucks for a hot non-fat Chai tea latte (I asked if they might have a bamboo shoot to put in it but, as seems to be the case at most coffee shops I’ve visited, they didn’t have any.) While Robin was on a call with a prospective client, I monitored her Twitter account for her. That was pretty cool. There’s SO much information out there – some useful, some pretty strange - it was a blast!
Time for some fun
After a fair amount of working time, I was in need of some serious downtime. So, Robin and Jeff took me around to see the sights of the city. I can’t do that on an empty belly so our first stop was the Hard Rock Café on the banks of the Cumberland River. There was great music, fun memorabilia to look at, and an overpriced, but tasty, cheeseburger. Proposal Panda cannot live on Bamboo alone.
Nashville is the official “Home of Country Music” so we headed over to the mother church of country music, the Ryman Auditorium. The Ryman was the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943-1974, and today, still hosts some of the hottest acts around. My hosts tell me this place has the best acoustics in town, even though you have to sit on hard wooden church benches.
Next on our list was the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The building is designed to look like a piano keyboard! 
The Museum, established in 1961, includes a vast collection of items that tells the story of country music history. The Museum hosts regular live performances and public programs, and also includes a Museum Store and on-site dining. I had great time learning about the dramatic history of country music and I have a new-found respect for it.
But, this is music city so it’s not just about country music. Around the corner from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, home of the Nashville Symphony. 
Built in 2006, the building takes up a full city block and was inspired by many of the world’s greatest symphony halls built in Europe in the 19th century. The hall features a custom-built concert organ and a convertible seating system that is designed to give the hall unique versatility. My hosts had the privilege of playing on the Schermerhorn stage and can attest to the hall’s acoustic clarity and warmth
After the Schermerhorn, we walked a block to Lower Broadway – host to a multitude of honky tonks and shops. We visited a fun little shop that offers tourists their fill of Nashville-themed trinkets. I resisted getting the giant blue foam cowboy hat that caught my eye – Robin and Jeff said it wouldn’t fit in my box. ☹ Right outside of the store I ran into Elvis. That’s right, ELVIS!! Ok, not the real one, but a cool statue of him, nonetheless. I rested on his guitar neck while the three of us belted out Blue Suede Shoes. Here I was in Music City U.S.A., singing on the street, just like many other struggling musicians. For just a moment, I got to experience what it must be like to chase your musical dreams.
Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?
Well, it’s that time again and I must move on to visit new people and experience new places. Nashville was a blast and I enjoyed spending time with Jeff and Robin. I’m looking forward to seeing them again when we all attend the APMP National conference in June.
Proposal Panda travels the world visiting proposal professionals. Click here for more details. If you’d like Panda to visit you, just email us at panda@theproposalguys.com
Posted by Jon on 9 February, 2010 under Purchasing insights |
What do evaluators really think of the proposals they receive from bidders? Prior to presenting to a recent UKAPMP chapter meeting alongside Steve Mullins (Chairman of Strategic Proposals), we conducted a survey to canvass the views of senior figures in the world of procurement. We posed three questions to them:
- how important are proposals
- how good are the proposals that you receive
- what advice would you offer to proposal teams.
The results were quite fascinating: in essence, proposals are clearly a vital part of customers’ decision-making processes, yet few vendors submit truly excellent documents. (Since we were presenting to the UK chapter of APMP, those who participated in the study were in the UK and continental Europe, but I have no doubt that similar conclusions would be reached from a similar survey in other geographies).
Here are my ten favourite quotes:
- “A good written proposal, in itself, might not win you business but a badly conceived and written one may put you out of the race.”
- “It is never enough to say “I’m qualified.” So is everyone else. The point is “Pick me because I’m different.”"
- “The easier the seller makes it for us the better for them.”
- “Some are articulate, really have got under my skin, are really convincing – whereas others look mechanical, dull, pre-written and could have been meant for anyone.”
- “They vary from excellent (rare) to awful (quite common), but most of them are mediocre.”
- “Your ability to do what is required of you at proposal stage reflects upon your ability to perform once in contract!”
- “Buyers are not idiots. They read good proposals thoroughly and they are not amused at fluff, being patronised, inconsistency, arrogance or shabby editing.”
- “They are seeking a reasonable deal with low risk to themselves (oh yes, and their employer).”
- “Clearly understand the problem to be solved. Then and only then can you provide the appropriate solution.”
- “If the customer wants the responses written in quill, printed on papyrus with a bow around it, please conform. Comparing proposals that don’t follow the templates requested is often a long and difficult task… and does lower the tolerance levels of those marking.”
We’ve put together a white paper containing all of the responses that we received; click here if you’d like to download a free copy (and here if you’d like to see a copy of the presentation we gave to UKAPMP). Feel free to share the white paper with colleagues – this is precisely the sort of stuff that your VP Sales needs to read to understand the importance of strong proposal management. And, as ever, we’d be fascinated to hear your comments.
Posted by BJ on 5 February, 2010 under Musings |
Between some down time over the holidays and a fair amount of traveling since the New Year began, I’ve had a good deal of time for reading. That means I have a few recommendations for our faithful readers.
As a previous post stated, I read Tried by War: Lincoln as Commander in Chief (McPherson, Penguin). This is a documentary that looks at Lincoln’s handling of the Civil War. It was very well written and provides valuable insights into Lincoln’s decision making and leadership style. (This book contains many insights – what to look for in individuals, when to change Generals, how to effectively persuade others, etc., – that are applicable to managing proposal efforts. Another book along this line that I highly recommend is Lincoln on Leadership.)
Another book I read and would recommend is, The Lacuna (Kingsolver, Harper). Kingsolver is the author of The Poisonwood Bible, a favorite book of mine and one I highly recommend, and I was expecting this book to be very well written and engaging. I was not disappointed. The book is set in, for the most part, Mexico and follows the life of a man from childhood through his death. The story is related to the reader through his journals.
Somewhat similarly presented, this time through a series of letters passed between various individuals, the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (How can anyone resist a title like that?) (Shaffer/Barrows, Dial Press). This book presents a remarkable and delightfully quirky group of people on the Island of Guernsey during the German occupation. I highly recommend this book for those who enjoy a book about human relationships.
On the business side I read, What the Dog Saw (Malcolm, Little Brown). This is the latest from the prolific Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and Outliers. This is a set of about 20 or so articles written by Gladwell over the years. It includes pieces on such notables as Ron Popeil and the famous “Chop-o-Matic”, ketchup and mustard, Cesar Milan (the piece on which the title is based) and Pit Bulls (the concluding chapter and a favorite [but then I admit to a bias here as an owner of an American Staffordshire Terrier – aka a pit bull.)
I’m always looking for recommendations for a good read (and attempting to not read a book which is not worth reading) so please do let me know what you’ve read lately and what you thought of it.
Posted by Jon on 3 February, 2010 under Musings |
I found myself standing in the middle of a hotel corridor recently, ironing a shirt for the following day’s meeting. “We can’t send an iron to your room, sir. Health and safety,” the reception staff had explained.
Clearly, the real reason was different, but “We didn’t want to spend the money on buying irons and ironing boards / can’t be bothered with the hassle of delivering and collecting them / would rather you paid to use our laundry’s pressing service” all sound a little less customer-friendly. (This hotel wouldn’t budge on its policy, either, unlike the resort I visited in the summer who were persuaded by my promise that, “I spend a couple of hundred nights a year in hotels and haven’t burnt one down yet”!).
It struck me that lying to customers seems institutionalised in the hotel trade. Aside from the iron issue, there’s “Check in time is 3pm, and rooms aren’t ready before then”. (One pictures their housekeeping staff sitting around all day, then working like crazy from 2.50pm to 2.59pm to clean all the rooms vacated the night before). Or there’s “Help save the planet – re-use your towels and laundry” – a.k.a. “Help increase our profits…”
So I wondered whether we proposal folks do the same. Covering letters assure the customer of your company’s enthusiasm for their exciting project – “we want your money” is so unsubtle. They’re signed by your CEO – who’s been “personally involved in preparing our proposal”. Well, if signing the covering letter isn’t personal involvement, what is?
Proposals show that the team have “studied your specification in detail and crafted a tailored solution designed to meet your needs” – rather than “we’ve read through the RFP, and here’s the standard service offering”. For tricky requirements, “we’ll run a workshop as part of the project initiation phase to finalise our approach” (so much better than “your requirements are far too ill-defined” / “we don’t have a clue how to do this”).
Your “very best” team will be allocated to work on the project. (Funny how they’ll be working on so many other projects as well at the same time). And the pricing? The “maximum discount” you can offer, truly “best in class” – just as best in class, in fact, as the price in the proposal you sent in to the last customer a couple of days ago…
Other suggestions welcomed – just click the comments button and leave your thoughts!
Posted by BJ on 1 February, 2010 under Musings, Processes & best practice |
I recently read the book “Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief”. (McPherson, Penguin, © 2008), a documentary on, as the title suggests, Lincoln as the Commander in Chief for the United States during his presidency and the Civil War (the war having begun for all intent and purposes simultaneously with him being elected President.)
One of the great many eloquent statements made by Lincoln regarding the war is,
“The political objective (in this case, keeping the United States intact and not allowing States to secede from the Union) is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purpose. Therefore, it is clear that war should never be thought of as something autonomous but always as an instrument of policy.”
This statement is equally true for proposals as they relate to the overall sales process. Written for proposals, this statement would be,
“The objective is winning the opportunity*, the proposal is a key component of achieving this objective. A proposal can never be considered in isolation from the overall sales process. Therefore, the proposal should never be thought of as something autonomous but always as an instrument of the sale.”
* Winning defined as award of contract, next stage, influence, etc. – as defined by sales.
As those of us who have been, “Tried by Proposals” know well, too often a proposal is looked at as separate and unrelated to the other components of a sale – the customer’s perception of the responder, previous interactions with the client, the client’s view of the competition, presentations (final and others), etc. It is critical that proposals always be tightly connected to the sales process. Anything less will reduce the impact and quality of the proposal. Failing to do this, you might get lucky and “win a battle”, but you’re sure to “lose the war.”
Posted by Jon on 28 January, 2010 under Musings |
Graham Ablett, one of our UK consulting directors, spotted the following photo in the Daily Mail last month:
It’s interesting to read the accompanying story: there’s little or no discussion of the benefits that the £116m scheme will bring to public transport users in the area, but plenty of opportunity for those opposed to the scheme to make cheap, humorous jibes at its expense.
I guess that’s paralleled by apparently minor errors in a sales proposal: they distract the audience from the real story, and give your enemies on the evaluation panel a free pass to criticise your bid. Worst case, you’ll become the butt of their jokes. We may have said it before, but those detailed final checks before you issue a document really are hugely important, no matter how time-constrained you are. (Some in the proposal world talk about ‘white glove’ reviews; we prefer to just talk about checking the document carefully).
And if you simply don’t have the people or skills to do the checking? Then it’s time to go and shout at people until they understand the impact that under-resourcing your proposal team is having on your documents – and hence your win rates.
Posted by BJ on 26 January, 2010 under APMP & accreditation |
Strategic Proposals offers APMP Foundation Level Accreditation Exam Preparation Workshops (dare we refer to these as APMPFLAEPW?) on both sides of the Atlantic. Last year alone Jon and I have delivered 17 workshops, with a total of 142 participants*.
The exam is a pass/fail and scores aren’t revealed. That said, after each course, both Jon and I review the scores, calculate the average score for the group, etc.
An interesting aspect to the scores is that, very consistently, the person with the least amount of experience receives one of the lower scores and the person with the most experience tends to have one of the highest scores. Average scores tend to range from 55-65 (candidates must answer 42 out of the 75 questions correctly to pass.). The passing rate for those attending the workshop is very high (98% in the US) and those who have not passed the exam, from my perspective as the facilitator clearly did not have the understanding of proposals required to answer the questions.
I know this seems like common sense and I guess it is. I point this out to demonstrate that the exam does do a good job of testing a candidates understanding of the basic knowledge of proposal that someone with over a year of experience would have.
*Did you know that the number of people who achieved APMP Foundation Level accreditation this year is 54% higher than last year? Did you know that, to date, more than 1350 people are APMP accredited? At this rate, by the next annual conference (June, 2010, a majority of the members of APMP will have some level of accreditation. Will you be one of them or will you be playing catch up?
