| Trading On Goblin Tales |
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A Goblin Tale lists and/or describes the reasonable approaches, including those you're sure your competition will use, and contrasts them to your approach. The Tale always proves that yours is the only rational approach and, if written properly, highlights the drawbacks to your competitor's methodology. In a Goblin Tale, you must show the advantages and disadvantages to each method. If you show disadvantages to your approach, you must be able to explain how you're going to deal with them. And the disadvantages of the competition must be far more damaging than yours. Here's an example. Let's say that you're putting together a research proposal to the Federal Government to determine the effectiveness of a new type of adhesive. You know that there are a variety of ways to conduct the testing and you also know that your competition has a particularly expensive piece of magnetic resonance equipment and suspect that they are likely to use it for this kind of research. You conclude that they will either budget for the use of that equipment in their study, or they will hide its cost somewhere in the budget without specifically calling it out as a line item. See how this is effectively conveyed in the following example.
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The Best Method for the Best Results
Your Request for Proposal requires that the adhesive be tested under various conditions and with a variety of materials commonly found in the field. There are three generally accepted methods for doing this kind of study. First, we could collect the samples, subject them to the pressures indicated in the RFP, and use a magnetic resonance device to determine the effects. The accuracy of this approach cannot be disputed. But neither can the cost. The magnetic resonance device is costly to operate and maintain, and its price will have to be passed along to you either directly or indirectly in the total cost of the study. And, of course, it doesn't replace the work of collecting samples and testing them. A second approach involves the use of x-rays. The equipment needed for this is common and has been around for a while, but it includes a processing cost which is usually "rolled into" the cost of the analysis. Furthermore, x-rays have a lower level of reliability than other methods. Their rate of accuracy is only 70% for the first round, so a second round of "pictures" is usually required to raise the reliability level. The end result is costly and, in the long run, even more timely and personnel-intensive than the magnetic resonance method. Third, we can collect the samples, subject them to the pressures indicated, and then use standardized bench tests to determine the effects. This approach is just as accurate as the first two, but it has the added advantage of being a great deal less expensive. And, since turnaround time is not a factor, it obviates the need for expensive equipment. In fact, the actual time to produce the results would be about the same as the x-ray method when cost of a second round of pictures is added in. Furthermore, the bench tests and standards we would be using are tried and true, with an error rate of .017 per 1000. Therefore this is the method we have chosen for the job. It's economical and it provides sufficient accuracy for the work. |
Ricci Legacy
The Ricci family has been consulting and supporting success for hundreds of years.