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Creating the Winning ProposalDavid Warley PPM.APMP

Learning from Experience

Choosing the right opportunities Establishing Requirements Developing Strategy

Managing Time, Cost and Quality

Communicating your PlanPlanning the Proposal Phase

Proposal Strategy DevelopmentTeaming Identification

Winning Price Development

Our previous webinar topic:

How are we going to win?

Creating the winning strategy:

Solution Strategy

Teaming Strategy

Proposal Strategy

Price Strategy

Customer Analysis

Competitive Analysis

Our Weaknesses

STRATEGY STRATEGYSweet Spot

• Mitigate Our Weaknesses

• Highlight Our Strengths

• Neutralize Their Strengths

• Ghost Their Weaknesses

Their Strengths

Our Strengths

Their Weaknesses

Customer’s NeedsSTRATEGY STRATEGY

Sour Spot

Base your strategy on discriminators:the differences that matter to the Customer.

SMART Actions, memorable themes:

Win Strategy

(What and How

sentences)

• Ghost competitor 1’s weakness in space usage.Show that our solution needs 30% less spaceStress extra cost and delivery risk with larger kit

• Experience: Show compliance, provide references show experience of team

• TCO: Neutralise Competitor 2 strength on price by stressing early benefits and savings over the full cycle

• Ghost Competitor 2’s delivery performance by showing that our systems are shipping and in service now

Win Themes

(Key messages)

Major:• Compact cost effective solution• Early delivery, early benefits• Savings available this yearMinor:• Proven resilient solution• Experienced team

Getting the strategy into the proposal:

The Foundation Exam

Outline Development Requirements Identification

Compliance Checklist Development Storyboard Development

Executive Summary Development

Planning the Proposal Phase

Learning from Experience

Choosing the right opportunities Establishing Requirements Developing Strategy

Communicating your Plan Managing Time, Cost and Quality

Learning objectives: In this unit we are going to look at:

Creating a customer focused Outline

Mapping your win themes to the Outline

Planning winning content for the writing team

Developing and using Theme Statements

Proposal Guide 251

Creating and using an Outline

Simple three step process

• Follow RFQ instructions

• Create top level headings and numbers

Develop Top Level Outline

• Weight by customer priority

• Develop informative headings

Add detailed structure

• Allocate Win Themes to sections

• Guidance for writers

Annotate your Outline

The top-level, topical outline might start like this

Proposal Guide 125

1 Table of Contents2 Executive Summary3 Technical Responses4 Pricing5 Delivery Schedule6 Terms and Conditions7 Compliance Matrix8 References and Testimonials

Section Typical Contents

1 Table of Contents

2 Executive Summary

3 Technical Response

3.1 System Architecture

3.2 Performance Analysis

3.3 Availability

3.3.1 Reliability

3.3.2 Reparability

And develop like this…

Assign or allocate all other response requirements within the topical outline.

Try to maintain a balance when extending the topical outline.

That is, for all requirements that weren’t dealt with in the top-level topical outline, consider how they can be incorporated.

When adding structure:• Confirm compliance with the customer’s instructions• Do not interfere with the “core” numbering system and/or naming conventions• Announce organisation; then follow it• Order points in decreasing order of importance• Group similar ideas

Allocate pages and additional structure according to the relative importance of the topic to the prospect.

Determine relative importance, based on:

Evaluation criteria

Discussion with the prospect

Judgement

Add more detail (and pages) for higher priority topics

Technical Evaluation Criteria Priority Pages

Heat Output 6 0.5

Performance 1 2

Physical Footprint 5 0.5

Power Consumption 4 1

Reliability 3 1.5

Reparability 2 1.5

Proposal Guide 128

Map your Win Themes to the Outline

Win Themes• Compact cost effective solution• Early delivery, early benefits• Savings available this year• Proven resilient solution• Experienced team

Section Heading

3 Technical Response

3.1 System Architecture

3.2 Performance Analysis

3.3 Availability

3.4.1 Reliability

3.4.2 Reparability

4 Pricing

4.1 Investment Analysis

4.2 Price Schedule & Terms

5 Delivery & Implementation

5.1 Project Organisation

5.2 Implementation Schedule

Tip:Think about getting your Themes into Informative Headings

To assist evaluators in finding information quickly, use telegraphic headings for top level sections.

Use informative headings at section levels below those specified by the prospect.

Telegraphic Headings Informative Headings

Informative headings can impart a positive message.

Project Team Structure Proven Team Structure Reduces Risk

Fire Protection Plan Proactive Fire Risk Management Cuts Losses

Seismic Protection Plan Earthquake Readiness is a Priority

EXAMPLES

Use storyboards to share your strategy

• Create a template• Provide a sample

completed example• Develop initial

storyboards before the kickoff

• Review and revise storyboards as a team BEFORE you start writing

Review storyboards as a team

Horizontal Review:

Vertical Review:

Turn Themes into Theme Statements

© LORE Systems International

Speed of implementation

Fast deployment approach

Payback this year

Early OPEX reduction. Reduced project costs

XYZCo case study

Develop the theme:

© LORE Systems International

50% TCO reduction

Cost of space and power

Small footprint and low power consumption

Only 30% of space needed and 50% of power

Gartner benchmark report

High support charges

Lifetime warranty

No ‘break fix’ maintenance charges. (-15%)

Financial projection vs competition

Theme statements link discriminating features to Customer benefits:

“You will be able to realise financial payback this year(GOAL), overcoming the problem of implementation speed (ISSUE) because of our rapid deployment approach(FEATURE). This will give you early OPEX savings and release space equivalent to twice the purchase cost. Your internal project costs will also be half what you could expect with a typical alternative (BENEFITS).

After a similar project XYZCo’s Managing Director said “ABC really delivered for us. The system was installed in half the time and paid for itself in 6 months”. (PROOF)”.

A Theme Statement can also be a GRAPHIC

© LORE Systems International

Organising section content

Put the most important information first

Introduce a structure• Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em

Follow the structure introduced• Tell it to ‘em

Add a conclusion• Tell ‘em what you just told ‘em

Highlight your key content

1. Telegraph HeadingsDirect the reader to main sections.

2. Informative HeadingsTell the reader why they should read.

Page layout should make it easy for the evaluator to find key information. Use a consistent way to highlight your theme statements and section summaries.

Today

Tomorrow

Forever

Graphics. Will always have greater impact than just plain text.

Tip:Create a page layout

template and insist that your authors use it.

You’re ready to start writing!

Clear strategy => focus

Outline => compliance & easy evaluation

Themes => responsive and focused

Storyboard => team direction

Page layout => easy evaluation

Quick Quiz Question: Which of these statements best describes a theme statement?

Please click on your selection

Sorry! Try again.“Theme statements link strategy and solution” is not the best description because themes should tell prospects why they should select you. Strategy and solution say more about the seller than the prospect.

“Theme statements link the advantages and benefit ” is not the best description because whilst important, these are saying more about the prospect than they say about why the prospect should buy from you.

“Theme statements establish sales objectives” is not the best description because it says what the seller want to achieve for themselves.

The best themes contain your unique discriminators. That is, something the prospect wants which only you can offer.

Congratulations!

A theme statement links a prospect benefit to the discriminating features of your offer.

In this session we have:

Learned what’s meant by a ‘customer focused’ Outline

Learned how allocate Themes to the Outline

Learned how to share the strategy with the team

Learned how to develop and use Theme Statements

Proposal Guide 251

Thank you for listening!

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