Welcome to Today’s Webinar!

The Seven Deadly Sins of Proposal Writing

with Dr. Tom Sant

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Today’s Speaker

Dr. Tom Sant

Best-Selling Author

Time to confess…

Are Your Proposal Efforts Sinful?

The symptoms of sin:

1. Low win rates

2. Long, drawn out sales cycles

3. Heavy use of generic content

4. Text that doesn’t work

The Seven Deadly Sins

1. Failing to qualify the deal

2. Not focusing on what the client cares about

3. No persuasive structure

4. No clear differentiation

5. Failure to offer a compelling value proposition

6. Not making it easy to understand and easy to use

7. Credibility killers -- misspellings, grammar errors, wrong

client name, inconsistent formats, etc.

Why do good people

commit these sins?

Successful sales are a matter of charisma or process.

The proposal doesn’t matter.

Reason #1: Sales Mythology

Reason # 2: Sales People Hate Doing Them

Sales people avoid writing proposals because

they do not feel confident in their abilities.

Reason # 3: No Process, No Tools, No Teeth

No formal process for handling RFPs or proposals, no tools or

reusable content, and no consistency in enforcing policies.

Avoiding the

Seven Deadly Sins

Proposal Success

1

Qualify the Deal

2

Focus on the Client

3

Use Persuasive Structure

4

Differentiate Yourself

5

Show Compelling

Value

6

Make It Easy to Read

7

Defuse the Credibility

Bombs

Drive Out

the Waste

Deal or No Deal?

1. Do we know enough?

2. Is this a real deal?

3. Can we be competitive?

4. Can we win?

Qualification

Real deal? Can we

compete?

Can we

win?

Do they have a compelling need?

Do they have budget?

Do we have a relationship?

Do we match their key requirements?

- Technically?

- Management plan?

- Resource capabilities?

Do we have meaningful differentiators?

Are we at the right level, speaking to the right people?

Can we offer a compelling value proposition?

Is there a strong bias in our favor?

Can we influence the decision criteria?

A three-phase process….

Focus on

What Matters

Create the Right First Impression:

Minimize Cognitive Dissonance

What Kind of First Impression Are You Making?

• Title— “Proposal”

• Initial focus?

• Your name or the client’s?

• Are you pushing a product or proposing a solution?

“Don’t waste my time with

a bunch of boilerplate!”

Seven Client-Centered Questions

1. Client’s problem, issues?

2. Why is it a problem?

3. Desired outcomes?

4. Most important?

5. Potential solutions?

6. Probable results?

7. Why are we the right

choice?

Use Persuasive

Structure

Persuasion is a matter of delivering

the right message

the right way.

The Persuasive Paradigm

The Structure of Persuasion

• Needs: The customer’s key business needs, problems, issues,

pains, or opportunities: the drivers behind the deal.

• Outcomes: The positive impact that will come from meeting

those needs: the motivation to move forward.

• Solution: A recommendation for a product or service that will

solve the problem and deliver the outcomes

• Evidence: Proof you can do the job on time and on budget: your

differentiators.

N

O

S

E

Differentiate

Yourself

Self-Serving Differentiators

Differentiators That Matter in Selling Services

Methodology

Project Management

People

Resources / Facilities / Tools

Establish

Compelling

Value

Smart Buyers Look for Positive Impact

• Revenue generation

• Operational efficiency

• Reliability of mission-critical operations

• Quality

• Worker productivity

• Customer satisfaction

• Regulatory compliance

• And other key performance indicators

The Value Proposition

(Values - Costs) > (Valuea - Costa)

where:

Values = the value of your offering

Costs = the cost of your offering

Valuea = the value of the next best alternative

Costa = the cost of the next best alternative

Four Areas of Value

Personal goals

Business / FinancialBudgetary compliance

Profit improvementDownsizing

Technical / infrastructure goals Automating a labor-

intensive process Adding flexibility Improving QC

Social goals Internal

-Morale-Absenteeism-Turnover

External-Public support-Approval-Recognition

Look at the client’s key goal areas and seek a solution where they overlap.

Four Principles of Effective Value

1. Make sure the client cares

2. Measure it

3. Picture it

4. Link it to your differentiators

Make It Easy

to Read

KISS: Keep It Short and Simple

The first principle of persuasive writing:

Be clear.

Live by the “first time right” rule.

Four Pseudo-Languages that Don’t Work

1. Fluff

2. Guff

3. Geek

4. Weasel

Fluff:

• Grandiose claims

• Vague generalities

• Clichés

• No proof

Forget the Fluff!

Here are a few examples….

Anything look familiar?

World class

Best of breed

Leading edge

State of the art

Quality focused

Uniquely qualified

Innovative

High performance

Synergy

User friendly

Integrated

Partnership

Seamless

Robust

Guff.

Guff.

Guff:

• Long sentences

• Too many big words

• Too much passive voice

The dimensionality of expected project

problems coupled with the limited time

available for preparation means that

choices will have to be made to assure

viability of the most critical analytical

processes.

The dimensionality of expected project

problems coupled with the limited time

available for preparation means that

choices will have to be made to assure

viability of the most critical analytical

processes.

Average sentence length: 32 words

The dimensionality of expected project

problems coupled with the limited time

available for preparation means that

choices will have to be made to assure

viability of the most critical analytical

processes.

Average sentence length: 32 words

Words with three syllables or more: 18

The dimensionality of expected project

problems coupled with the limited time

available for preparation means that

choices will have to be made to assure

viability of the most critical analytical

processes. Average sentence length: 32 words

Words with three syllables or more: 18

Passive voice: both sentences

Geek:

• Disregard for the audience

• Overuse of jargon and acronyms

• A focus on technical details instead

of business fit or impact

We propose using an aggregate computation time ceiling method imposed over a series of

fitness cases, thus enabling evolved programs to dynamically choose when to stop processing

each fitness case with minimal damage to domain performance.

Avoid the Weasel!

Weasel

• Unnecessary use of weasel words

• Hyperqualification of every statement

• Passive voice

• Subjunctive constructions

Weasel Words“can be”

“might”

“helps”

“could”

“may be”

“enable”

“allow”

“up to”

“like”

“virtually”

“significantly”

Exterminate the Weasel

“In summary, we believe that we have proposed an effective solution, based on the information we have at this time. We look forward to exploring details of the project at greater depth in the future, but for now we hope that this initial proposal will suggest that there is a compelling case for considering us to receive this contract.”

Exterminate the Weasel

“In summary, we believe that we have proposed an effective solution, based on the information we have at this time. We look forward to exploring details of the project at greater depth in the future, but for now we hope that this initial proposal will suggestthat there is a compelling case for considering us to receive this contract.”

Exterminate the Weasel

“In summary, we believe that we have proposed an effective solution, based on the information we have at this time. We look forward to exploring details of the project at greater depth in the future, but for now we hope that this initial proposal will suggestthat there is a compelling case for considering us to receive this contract.”

Defuse the

Credibility Bombs

Clean Up the Obvious Mistakes

The goal is

perfection.

Editing Tips:

1. Check the client name

2. Always run your spell checker

3. Use the grammar checker

4. Use the readability calculator

Correctness

Clarity

Next Steps

You may be feeling a bit overwhelmed.

You might even feel that your way of writing

proposals has been flattened.

Don’t despair…

1. Take what you like and leave the rest.

2. Identify the most important points for your

proposal success.

3. Plan specific steps to incorporate those

points into your business practice.

4. Qvidian Proposal Automation

RFP Responses

Proactive Proposals

Presentations

Qvidian Proposal Automation

View a demo at http://www.qvidian.com

Additional Resources

To learn more and/or schedule a customized demo of

Qvidian’s Proposal Automation, contact us:

USA: 800-272-0047

UK: +44 (0)870-734-7778

Email: info@qvidian.com

Download your complimentary copy of the

new whitepaper, The Seven Deadly Sins

of Proposal Writing by Tom Sant at

www.qvidian.com/resources

Thank You for Attending!

www.Qvidian.com

USA: 800-272-0047

UK: +44 (0)870-734-7778

Email: info@qvidian.com