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Forward-looking business development leaders and Swiss-army-knife proposal professionals know that generative AI is the new gamechanger like Cloud collaboration was and even word processing software before that. If you want to not only become your proposal center’s AI wizard but also know how to lead your organization to realize the astounding advantages of AI adoption, then the BD.ai 1-day online workshop is for you.

Bidding on large contract vehicles, including multiple-award IDIQs (for instance Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts [GWACs]) can be challenging and time-consuming for any organization...

Are you ready for another deep dive into AI to take your business to the next level?We at Shipley believe that AI can streamline business development processes. You can learn more about the benefits of AI in business development in the Shipley BD.ai...

Selecting and implementing the right software solution is a key strategic step towards leveraging AI’s power to enhance BD.

Throughout 2023, we saw remarkable advancements in generative AI tools and their underlying language models. Some proposal professionals took to these like ducks to water and developed amazing techniques to do their jobs better and faster.

Pricing to Win (PTW) is a process for achieving a combination of capability and price that produces the desired win probability.Some people believe that “pricing to win” equates to being low price. In today’s marketplace, lowest cost is not necessarily the winning price. Lowest price only works in Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) competitions.

When some people hear “price to win” they immediately think “lowest cost.” Would you be surprised to hear that the lowest offered price can still lose? Calculating an accurate price to win influences your solution or offering and can affect many aspects of your proposal—helping you increase your chances of winning...

Most of us understand that hope is not a good strategy, but don’t know how to put good practices in place...

Most of us think of a blueprint as a technical drawing or detailed plan necessary to help us build something—often according to codes or regulations. Another way of thinking about a blueprint is in the sports world – a game plan, a strategy, an approach to winning based on the competition.So, what is a blueprint to winning in business development?

Our fast-moving, deadline-driven profession values good managers, but needs great leaders. Often, we rise through the ranks by being great at our jobs. Because we’ve succeeded so far by doing great work, it can feel easier and more natural to focus on managing how the work gets done than on inspiring, guiding, and lifting up our teams.

What single meeting sets the stage for an entire proposal? The kickoff meeting. This meeting is quintessential for proposal managers to give their team the information and tools they need to write a winning proposal. It is also the perfect opportunity to set expectations for the entire proposal development stage...

Readability is a measure of how easy it is for your reader (customer) to both follow and understand your solutions, ideas, arguments, and recommendations...

Customers assume a proposal represents your best effort. If they find errors, they may doubt the accuracy of the rest of the proposal.Proposals go through several iterations and reviews before final submission to the customer. Each iteration ensures your document is clear, concise, and correct. Don’t underestimate the editing process. Build time into your schedule to ensure all reviews can be performed, that proofreading and revising are given enough space to be thorough.

Can I learn something worthwhile through on-demand, self-paced training?Yep – You can, with certain conditions:

• The content is current and instructionally sound with clear learning objectives and outcomes.
• You commit to learning and not just “finishing” the course.
• There are follow-up opportunities—refresher modules, documents, guidebooks to support your continuous learning

Everyone undergoes some form of training in their career. Most often, people receive training when they first start a new job. At the beginning of your career, you likely had weeks of training to help you learn the ropes. Once this grueling training period is over, you probably breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door on that chapter. But training is not just for beginners.

Capture managers do a lot of work before an RFP date is even thought about. Why? To better position their company to win the contract. When an archer is aiming at a stationary target, they must also do a lot of work before taking the shot...

Most sales and marketing veterans agree that 40-60 percent of the time, customers decide whom they would prefer to buy from before proposals are submitted...

As a writer, I often get the urge to sit at my keyboard and get to the good stuff—the writing. Most of the time, I’d like to just dive in and forget about all that tedious planning that always seems to take so much precious time when I could actually just do the writing...

Writing correctly means different things to different people. Some may interpret it as fact checking what you write. Others may see it as using correct grammar. For our purposes in this article, we will narrow this down into specifically choosing correct words.

Do you have traumatic memories of buying a new car? Most people do. Not only do we have to contend with the hungry sales reps stalking us around the car lot until we take a test drive, cars have also become advanced computers! We have to compare technology features like cameras, parking sensors, and lane detectors.Choosing an RFP Management System can feel the same way, especially if it’s your first time choosing one. Even if you have a system in place, the market has rapidly evolved over the past ten—and even five—years. Here’s how to get started.

Your probability of winning (Pwin) has very little to do with fate or chance. Hope is a poor strategy for your must-win opportunities. Instead, develop a plan using proven tactics to help you win. Show the customer you understand their needs and demonstrate that you have a clear solution to their problem.

One of the greatest changes in the modern workforce is remote work options. There are many personal benefits to working remotely like less travel or commute time, more time available for yourself and your family, and better mental health. There are also benefits to leading a remote proposal team like the ability to rapidly form, execute, and disband teams; reduced costs; and less time wasted waiting for resources. Forming a virtual team also allows you to select the best talent available—no matter their location.Although remote work allows all these advantages, you must carefully navigate the potential negatives to have successful outcomes.

The global economy encourages international competitive bidding and often a more structured evaluation and decision-making process.Every country has different acquisition systems. International proposals take on many forms and variations. Bidders must be acutely tuned to specific business practices, customs, standards, and laws.Political considerations, socioeconomic arrangements and investments, protectionism, and teaming with local organizations all play larger roles when acquisition rules are not tightly defined.

When it comes to managing proposal content and thrift shopping, there are some surprising similarities. Both activities require a keen eye for detail, the ability to differentiate between what is valuable and what is junk, and the discipline to maintain a well-organized system. The old adage, "garbage in, garbage out" applies to both, as the quality of the end result is directly related to the effort put into the process.