Posted by Jon under Word play & writing | 
An interesting article on the BBC News site the other day discussed the impact of spelling mistakes on online sales.
An entrepreneur, Charles Duncombe, noted that “sales figures suggest misspellings put off consumers who could have concerns about a website’s credibility” – especially when one only gets “about six seconds” to capture the viewer’s attention on a website. He quotes a proof point: after a spelling error was corrected on one of his company’s websites, revenue doubled.
The article added:
William Dutton, director of the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, says that in some informal parts of the internet, such as Facebook, there is greater tolerance towards spelling and grammar. “However, there are other aspects, such as a home page or commercial offering that are not among friends and which raise concerns over trust and credibility,” said Professor Dutton.
Now, doubtless you’ll find proofreading errors here on our blog. BJ and I write this for fun in our respective spare time; we love sharing ideas and good practices. It’s not a commercial exercise; readers (we hope) understand that. But when it comes to proposals? We’re acutely conscious that the reader draws conclusions about the likely professionalism of your company and solution should they award you the contract from the professionalism of your written proposal.
So where’s the acceptable limit: one proofreading error in the document? Ten? One hundred? A thousand? At what point does a reader’s tolerance for “the occasional mistake being inevitable” and “nobody’s perfect” compromise your credibility – and are you prepared to take the risk?
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.”
Posted by Jon under APMP & accreditation, Musings, Processes & best practice |
Next week sees the 22nd APMP annual conference, taking place in Denver. I’m particularly looking forward to the event, as it marks the tenth consecutive year at which I’ll have presented at the conference – a record for a presenter based outside the US, I would strongly suspect.
This year’s theme, “The Art of Winning”, takes its inspiration from Sun Tzu’s famous book on military tactics, “The Art of War”, written some 2,500 years or so ago. Much as Machiavelli is my preferred evil source of reference for running proposals, it’s been great fun returning to Sun Tzu’s book having not read it for many years. I thought you might enjoy a few selected quotes, which seem particularly pertinent to those of us who write proposals.
1. “Do not make war unless victory may be gained thereby; if there be prospect of victory, move; if there be no prospect, do not move.” (Qualify, folks!)
2. “To be late, and hurrying to advance to meet the foe, is exhausting.” (Pre-proposal planning matters: let’s plan for success rather than merely responding to RFPs)
3. “These things must be known by the leader: to know them is to conquer; to know them not is to be defeated.” (How clear are you with your sales teams on the information they need to dig out before you start work on a proposal?)
4. “The army that conquers makes certain of victory, and then seeks battle. The army destined to defeat, fights trusting that chance may bring success to its arms.” (What a fabulous endorsement of the need to work out your proposal strategy before you start to write)
5. “If a victory be gained by a certain stratagem, do not repeat it. Vary the stratagem according to the circumstances.” (We need a specific strategy for every opportunity – and simply cutting and pasting the Exec Summary from the last deal isn’t good enough!)
6. “The wise man considers well both advantage and disadvantage. He sees a way out of adversity.” (That’s why the APMP accreditation syllabus puts so much emphasis on the Bidders’ Comparison Matrix)
7. “In general, the procedure of war is: the Leader, having received orders from his lord, assembles the armies.” (Hey, we’re working for the sales organisation, right - supporting them as they seek to win business. To an extent, we need to know our place).
8. “As a rule, the soldiers prefer high ground to low. They prefer sunny places to those the sun does not reach.” (Yep, motivating the team’s pretty important)
9. “Universal courage and unity depend on good management.” (Ever seen a dysfunctional proposal team, with everyone pulling in opposite directions…?!)
10. “We create a situation which promises victory; but as the moment and method cannot be fixed beforehand, the plan must be modified according to the circumstances.” (How relevant to the ever-changing world of managing proposals)
11. “If victory be certain from the military standpoint, fight, even if the lord forbid. If defeat be certain from the military standpoint, do not fight, even though the lord commands it.” (A controversial one, this – does it encourage rogue bidding? Not necessarily one I’d want to share with salespeople, but an interesting insight into their mindset!)
12. “As has been said: “Know thyself; know the enemy; fear not for victory.” (That’s proposal strategy in a nutshell!)
13. “To fight and conquer one hundred times is not the perfection of attainment, for the supreme art is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” (Hey, if we can avoid getting into a competitive tendering process in the first place – writing pro-active proposals, especially seeking to renew existing contracts, then so much the better)
14. “He who does not employ a guide, cannot gain advantage from the ground.” (Training for all participants; coaching; mentoring – all key to success)
It promises to be a great conference: if you’re lucky enough to be attending, do come and say hi!
Posted by Jon under Musings |
The strangest of dining experiences recently just cried out to be blogged…
A very dear friend was about to relocate from Dublin to London. To celebrate, we headed out for dinner to a restaurant regarded as the best in Ireland, being the only such in the country to hold two Michelin stars.
The maitre d’ greeted us warmly on arrival, and showed us to a comfortable seat. Champagne arrived, as he announced: “I understand this is a special occasion, so we’ll be offering you a tasting menu. Entrust us with the selection of the dishes; let us surprise you. But might I just check – is there anything you don’t like to eat?”
Now, I’ve worked my way through a fair few tasting menus in my time – and often find they’re a good way to enjoy some of the chef’s signature dishes. So we smiled, agreed to his suggestion, ruled out avocado or oysters, and waited to be shown to our table. And a final meal out before moving countries? Yes, I guess that’s a ’special occasion’ – and it was the sort of place one would, frankly, only eat in if there was something to mark or celebrate.
During our wait, other guests started to drift in. They too were greeted warmly and shown to their sofas – before being handed menus. Why, we wondered, hadn’t we been offered the same option?
Equally bizarrely, the sommelier appeared with a voluminous wine list for our perusal. Yet, of course, we had no idea whatsoever would appear on our plates – so how were we supposed to choose appropriate wines? Much as the list looked excellent, we had to simply ask him to choose glasses that would match whatever we were being fed.
And then, of course, it struck us that we had no idea whatsoever what said tasting menu would actually cost.
The food, as it turned out, was very good – although not, in my opinion, worthy of the second of its stars. A lovely evening was had by all; the total cost turned out to be not unreasonable. And when we finally asked the maitre d’ why we’d not been shown the a la carte menu, he was profuse in his apologies.
As ever, I look for parallels in the world of proposals from other interesting experiences in my life. I liken this rather to a salesperson needing support on a deal. Each opportunity is unique – yet the key processes involved in developing a winning proposal are broadly the same. The skill of the good proposal centre is to make the account manager feel in safe hands (”we have a wonderful menu, which you’ll love”), whilst making them feel that the approach will be tailored to their bid (”…or there’s the a la carte”?), whilst being clear on the effort that they’ll be required to invest (”…and it’s priced at…”!). Making them feel surprised and steamrollered probably aren’t secrets of success.
