Most people, regardless of their years in the business, confuse marketing with selling. In the competitive proposal arena, marketing is every activity that leads up to the release of a proposal solicitation. The proposal preparation is where selling happens. To win, a proposal must sell both in content and format. In many cases form and format can be equally or more important than content.

Putting together a compliant technical proposal — one that meets all procurement requirements — is a minimal starting point for winning. It just levels the playing field. Proposed innovative solutions, as part of meeting the requirements, are also a prerequisite to being a contender, but not sufficient. To win, your proposal must sell your message.

A winning proposal must answer these questions: Of what benefit is your innovative solution to the procuring agency? How does it meet the requirements? And why is it better than a competitor’s solution?

A winning proposal begins with the cover and extends all the way to the last appendix. As soon as the document is picked up, your executive summary must grab the evaluator and maintain that hold until the reading is completed.

We sometimes forget that evaluators are people just like you and I. They want to quickly get through the proposal and feel confident about their appraisal. Making a proposal an easy read goes a long way to winning. This includes a detailed table of contents and a complete compliance matrix. In addition, sentences and paragraphs should be concise, as short as possible, flow logically, and be augmented by graphics such as pictures, flow charts and diagrams.

Besides an overall executive summary, each major section should also have its own executive summary, complete with a major theme, graphics and captions, integrated with content that together encapsulates and sells the more detailed content to follow. It should boldly draw in your evaluator, motivating him or her to continue reading.

Extensive use of references and pointers are powerful ways to minimize redundancy and pull into the proposal text, appendix details, previously presented graphics, related details in other sections and plans, not required, not submitted and available for review.

These are just a few technical proposal tips for winning. Future articles will address other proposal form and format tips, including how to make your cost/price proposal a winning document.

Joe Nocerino can be reached at: info@senecacreekconsulting.com.