Themes Win Proposals
Last week I spent time with a group of folks, working on Themes for proposals.
I use Themes to accomplish several things:
- Connect with the customer
- Get my proposal picked up first
- Help Reviewers remember more from my proposal by encapsulating my message
- Win contracts
We broke the group into 6 teams and each returned to present their proposal orally to the group. For most, it was the first time they’d tried to use Themes, and we formed teams randomly, so they were dealing with strangers on their teams in many cases.
The results are typical of teams trying out Themes and offer some good lessons.
The team that stood out for me was one that used the Theme lavishly. Their theme was The Jetson’s of cartoon fame. Each of the issues were adopted by at least one character, making it easy to remember that the object being sold felt good in the hand because George Jetson liked the way it felt in his hand, the object was easy to clean because Rosey the robotic maid found it so, and the object was fashionable because the teenage daughter, Judy Jetson declared it so, and the materials used were space-age because the genius young son, Elroy Jetson described it so.
Another team selected a good Theme (Cheers, the television show) but sprinkled the Theme too lightly. They referred the issues back to the theme, but subtly and too lightly to make an impression.
One team forfeited when they could not come together on how to proceed in time to finish their proposal.
One team entertained us, with an excellent German Engineer and Translator skit, but didn’t connect the issues to the theme in a way that helped me remember each specific issue. I remember the German Engineer, but not the reasons to select their firm. This trap is common in the advertising industry, when commercials are entertaining, but you can’t remember the brand nor the product afterwards.
And another team had an excellent presenter. The lead presenter was calm, polished and charming. Don’t recall much of what was said, but whatever they were selling was nicely represented. This team would win in a consultative sales situation. However, in a Complex Sale, where the selection panel will hear multiple teams over a few days and then convene the next week to discuss the presentations, I think this team would fail.
Everyone had a good time watching the presentations. Four minutes of frenzy for your team to convince the group you should be THE ONE. Just like real life proposals.
Are you having fun convincing your clients that you should be THE ONE?
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