Laura’s Winning Ideas

Welcome to the February 27, 2007 edition of business proposal carnival.

What is a Business Proposal Carnival?
Glad you ask!
This is a collection of on-line articles, volunteered by authors around the web, which may help you win proposals. Have fun looking around, and enjoy the Carnival!

Just don’t eat too much cotton candy or funnel cake!

I’ll do this again next month.
–Laura

David Maister presents A Generic Consulting Proposal posted at Passion, People and Principles.

James Archer presents Attention Mapping: The 10-Point Exercise posted at Forty Media.

Charles H. Green presents Trust Tip 72: Write Your Next Proposal with the Client posted at Trust Matters.

The strategy for your proposal may be brilliant, but does it get lost in the proposal? Why does one proposal excite the client, but another bores, while both recommend similar or identical solutions?

The way you communicate your strategy is key.The authors of “Made To Stick,” Chip Heath and Dan Heath, describe three barriers that prevent strategic plans from being adopted and used to power an organization forward. These same barriers apply to your proposal strategy.

In a manifesto based on their book, three barriers to strategy adoption are described:

1. The Curse of Knowledge — You know how the song goes, but your client hasn’t heard it yet and doesn’t recognize the tune.
2. Decision Paralysis — The more choices, the less likely action will be taken.
3. Lack of a Common Language — In proposals, this most often shows up when exec-speak is substituted for techno-speak, or vice versa.

The principles they use to solve this are:

1. Be Concrete. Abstract multi-syllabic words show off, but don’t get the message across in a memorable way. Read about “Unemployed College Professor” in the manifesto for a great example.
2. Say something unexpected. Don’t repeat common sense or the reader tunes out.
3. Tell Stories. Don’t use storytelling as a garnish. Use it INSTEAD of an abstract strategy statement.

Download the free manifesto, Talking Strategy by clicking here.
Buy the book, Made To Stick, By Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

The blogosphere is a great resource, and I found this manifesto at The Innovative Marketer.

Proposal production guidelines:

• Allow 4 hours per graphic (includes edits)
• Allow 8 pages per hour for page layout
• Plan on one graphic per page or slide
• Allow one page per minute for color printing (allows for printing “challenges” )

These came from 24 Hour Company, a firm specializing in proposal graphics and as speedy as your best team might be.