Proposals are a fact of life. To get public-sector business, you must submit proposals. In fact, most public agencies are unable to award contracts above some limit, such as $100,000, without a competitive procurement process.

Therefore, it doesn’t matter how good your products are, or how many similar projects you’ve completed on time and within budget. It doesn’t matter that you have a local office or provide a total integration service. None of this will get your firm the contract unless you can write an acceptable proposal. It need not be a great work of literature � but it must satisfy the buying organization’s requirements.

Submitting a proposal may be difficult for a firm with limited resources and many competing demands on its sales and marketing staff. Not only must the proposal be done on time, it also must be compliant. It need to contain all the information deemed essential in the RFP and provide the required assurances related to mandatory requirements.

But even if your proposal is compliant, it may not win. There are many reasons for coming second or third or even worse. Firms with excellent products, services and people often lose because their proposal was incomplete, difficult to read, poorly written or failed to demonstrate an insightful understanding of the buyer’s needs.

The Hard Way

Many companies only win in competitive situations because of the dedication, perseverance and skills of the sales person who wrote the proposal almost single-handedly. They win in spite of their ad hoc approach to developing proposals, invariably completing the task at the eleventh hour.

Companies failing to make the production of a proposal simple and relatively painless lose sales. RFPs sit unanswered on a manager’s desk not because the opportunity didn’t fit but because no one was available to do the work, or no one wanted to do it. In these companies, there is little support for proposal writing; therefore, the task invariably depends on individual efforts.

In reviewing the proposal-writing processes of a number of companies, I’ve concluded that there are really two types of firms. Let’s call them Type A and Type B.

Type A firms make no investment in proposal writing. It is not recognized as an important sales tool. Proposals result from individual effort with little training, support or help. In these companies, proposal writing is expensive, inefficient, frustrating and difficult. It is done in a environment without access to resources and with little encouragement. And, because proposal writing in Type A firms relies on individual experience, it only can be done by senior people.

Indeed, the Type A approach introduces a costly level of chaos throughout the organization. First, because ad hoc proposal writing generally consumes all available time, a valuable senior sales or marketing person spends five to 10 days on the task. During this time, no sales or marketing is being done, and if this senior person usually sells $100,000 per month, then the opportunity cost for half a month is $50,000!

Second, the senior person needs help in developing the proposal, but there is no formal process for getting any. So informal demands are made on others throughout the organization, forcing people to interrupt their usual work to respond immediately to the critical deadline. For instance, there are demands made on engineering staff for product information; on legal staff for review and approval of terms; and on administration and sales for references, case histories and assistance in producing the document itself.

A Better Approach

On the other hand, Type B firms regard proposal writing as an important corporate skill. In these firms, production of a proposal is cost-effective, disciplined and well-managed. It is done in an environment that provides access to senior people and to adequate resources.

In reviewing the proposal-writing process, I have found that Type B companies invariably answer yes to the following questions:

• Do we have a checklist for reviewing each RFP we receive to determine whether or not to bid?
• Do we regard the production of a proposal as a project?
• Do we provide training in proposal writing?
• Do we have an up-to-date database of corporate and product information?
• Do we have a proposal resource center which includes guidelines, sample proposals, books, case histories and references?
• Do we use proposal teams rather than relying on individual efforts? o Do we analyze our competition and know their strengths and weaknesses?
• Is there a process for providing the proposal team with access to technical and legal resources in a timely manner?

There are many other questions which could be asked and are asked in conducting a review of the proposal-writing process. However, the provision of a complete checklist is beyond the scope of this article.

A Simple Transition

The bottom line: Moving from a Type A firm to Type B firm is neither expensive nor complex. Your organization simply needs to providing some direction and resources. It needs to provide training, data and tools. It needs to standardize the process.

The first step occurs when senior management recognizes proposal writing as an important task and focuses its attention on this area. This is often followed by a review or operational audit of the existing practices. This review doesn’t require a lot of effort. Typically, it involves an outside facilitator interviewing senior management and sales and marketing staff, and a brief review of some typical proposals.

After spending not more than 20 hours or so, a reasonably clear understanding of the organization’s environment, current practices and needs emerges. Following this, an action plan can be developed to improve the proposal-writing process. A small investment in this area providing some coordination and leadership, a little training and some standardized material can increase the number of wins dramatically.

The multipliers can be quite staggering. Imagine the impact of winning six more contracts on your bottom line! Suppose you could do this for under $50,000. Would this be a good investment? Many of the most successful firms in the government information technology market think so.