Laura’s Winning Ideas

GBC is best known to proposal teams as the comb-binding folks. Their binding equipment is ubiquitous in most proposal centers. As well it should be, they are the world leader in Bindery.

I had the chance to interview Greg Koperna of GBC last week and catch up on the latest ways they have to make a good impression.

As sponsors of the SMPS  Chapter meeting in Detroit, they displayed all their latest promotional materials for branding campaigns. Some of them were sexy attention-getters. Lots of attractive packaging for brochures, CD and DVD holders, and complete branding campaigns for firms. Of course, branding campaigns are focused on the firm, and getting the image perfect, means getting a luxurious schedule.

However, GBC knows proposals have different requirements than branding campaigns:

• Speed of binding (since we often are binding after hours and within minutes of the last overnight delivery drop),
• Ease of last minute changes,
• Ease of reading (i.e. needs to lay flat) 

We still need the same professional treatment, and want to make a great impression, but we are under the gun to produce a large document that meets the client’s specifications.

I asked Greg what they had for proposal professionals that was new.

In addition to plastic comb binding, GBC supplies wire spiral binding (I use this on some of my own proposals) and their latest product is called Pro-click.

Pro-click has a look similar to spiral wire binding, but the ease of last minute substitutions so common when finishing a proposal, and it lays flat for easy reading.

For documents requiring good security, Vela binding is a good secure binding that prevents page substitution. This is good for legal documents. Sometimes I use Vela binding for addenda that are legal backup we don’t want to take a chance on binding in a three ring binder or comb binding.

These folks work throughout the US and Canada.

Greg and I talked about the SMPS meetings he has been attending and he always comes away with a nugget. His last meeting included a speaker who is a procurement officer and they reminded everyone that they want to hear plenty about the team of folks who will actually do the work, and not so much about the bigger picture of the firm.

In BtoB Magazine this month, they say that in 2007, the average tenure for Chief Marketing Officers is up to 26.8 months from 23.3 months in 2006. The pressure on these executives is attributed to a lack of proof of contribution to the bottom line.

If proposals are part of an executive’s responsibility, there is no reason to fail to prove value.

In many organizations, I see CMOs focusing on the advertising and branding, and shuttling off the proposal team to a corner, or even capitulating and assigning them to Sales. I always thought this was a mistake, but figured they knew something I didn’t.

Everyone working on proposals should track their performance. You should know your hit rate, the hit rate of your team, and the corporate hit rate. If you don’t know these critical measurements, you need to start tracking them.

Otherwise, you can’t prove any contribution to the corporate effort.

I harp on this a good deal, but it is critically important to your career. Being able to bring your hit rate, improvements thereon and comparisons with the corporate/division hit rate quantifies the value of your contribution.

And when you are tempted to “promote” yourself above the fray and work exclusively on branding and advertising, consider how long a tenure you plan.

After all, in your next job interview, who will get the job?

• I have a portfolio of attractive and expensive brochures and collateral material designed under my supervision.
• My hit rate is 84% and I raised the hit rate of our team from 71 to 84% over a three year period. We won $751 million for our firm.

Humm?

Make it a New Year’s Resolution to track hit rates!

Some of you create and execute your firm’s marketing campaigns as well as write proposals. Or, you may provide input on marketing messages and branding campaigns.

A signature file required on all company email correspondence is more of a branding campaign than any logo design. However, some folks don’t see it this way, and one is now getting national attention with their signature file. If you want folks to think you are paranoid, engaged in nefarious activities or foolhardy, this image campaign should do the trick. (Read on ...)

This marketing stuff can be confusing. Sometimes I hear marketing and advertising departments suggest that proposal teams deliver proposals in beautiful bindings with the branded company logo. Oh, boy. Sometimes I hear proposal teams lamenting that the marketing department refuses to “approve” proposal themes in time for implementation on their tight proposal schedule. Yikes!

Themes and Branding are very different and any confusion between them will dilute the impact of both.

Here are the Top 10 differences between Branding and Themes:

1. “All About You” VS. “All About the Customer”

Branding is “All About You,” and Themes are “All About Your Customer.” The aim is completely different.

When you are trying to attract attention, branding makes a statement about you and helps you stand out. When you are writing a proposal, you keep a laser focus on the customer.

2. Retention VS. Win

Both Branding and Themes need measurable criteria to evaluate the process and determine how to improve. However, the measurements are different. (Read on ...)