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Planning before writing saves more time than it takes. In parallel with ongoing capture planning activities, plan and validate your proposal plan before you begin writing new material or tailoring reuse material.

A cycle is a progression through a series of stages leading to a desired result. In business development, the lifecycle is about winning business. You’re not winning just any business, but business that is sustainable and profitable that helps the organization meet its objectives.

When measuring business development success, it’s not about the process—it’s about winning. Winning means outscoring your opponent. How you get there is less important than getting there.

The quality and competitiveness of a proposal depend on a number of criteria. How well did you comply with the customer’s bid instructions? How did you respond to the requirements and issues that drove the procurement? ...

How you propose your solutions to the customer can give your company a competitive edge.

Graphics are one of the most effective ways to persuade the customer to select your solution. Graphics convey both facts and emotion, equally important aspects of effective persuasion. Effective graphics improve evaluator retention and understanding.

Value propositions establish customer value based on the business relationship. They describe how the seller’s solutions will improve the customer’s business and how that improvement with be measured. Value propositions are opportunity and customer specific and are developed collaboratively with the customer throughout the pursuit cycle...

One of the best parts of seeing a massage therapist is having all the knots worked out of a particularly sore spot. However, if you have an appointment and the massage therapist spends the entire time rubbing ...

The Proposal Management Plan (PMP) documents the roles, responsibilities, tasks, schedules, and deadlines before contributors start developing proposal sections, volumes, and ultimately the complete proposal. The plan becomes the “evergreen” guide to keep the team on track and accountable.

In the current work climate, telecommuting is increasingly more common, and virtual proposal teams are on the rise. Having team meetings and completing tasks via electronic interactions does not change your goal of preparing a winning proposal. It simply changes the mode of communication and increases the need for clarity.

Are you wasting money on proposals? Did you know you may be wasting money on proposals? Many things can be draining your proposals of value and earnings.

Few things damage a proposal faster than poor writing. This doesn’t just mean just watching out for misspelled words and improper grammar. There are other things to consider when crafting your proposals.

To write proposals effectively, writers need a lot of information. They must know the customer, including their hot buttons, and they must know your bid strategy...this information is not always given to proposal writers, which makes the proposal development slow and confusing. Giving writers the necessary information and advising them what to do with it creates more winning proposals.

Capture Planning is the process of identifying the opportunities, assessing the environment, and devising and implementing winning strategies oriented toward capturing a specific business opportunity. Consistently successful capture planning requires a written, action-oriented capture plan.

Kickoff meetings are critical milestones that require careful core team planning followed by flawless execution. Good kickoff meetings inspire a team, poor ones can demoralize a team.

Writer’s block is a LIE.This is a lie we tell ourselves to feel better about our current circumstances. Giving the condition a diagnosis seems to calm us down or give us a reason for our fears, our inferiorities. Sure, this sounds real and the words feel blocked in our head, and they’re clearly not coming out onto the page. So what else could it be?

Compliance and responsiveness are often confused, so let’s discuss the definition of each. Proposals can be responsive but not compliant, or compliant but non-responsive.

From tailored workshops to experienced Shipley consultants, the ways for Shipley to help you win business are endless.

Many proposal efficiencies happen before the writing. These few steps can mean the difference between a rewarding win or a costly loss.

A winning proposal begins with a solid capture strategy—the primary goal being to increase the Probability of Win (P-Win) to justify investing resources in a sales pursuit. All organizations have limited resources (people, time, and money) and must carefully identify which opportunities offer the best chance of becoming new business.

Would You Like That with or without Buttons?

In the world of proposal writing, the customer is always right. Their preferences and the instructions in the RFP shape what you write. It is up to the proposal team to create a document that matches those specifications

This little piggy...

A Lesson in Customer-Focused Proposals from a Nursery Rhyme

Most people are familiar with the nursery rhyme “This Little Piggy.” In this nursery rhyme, a parent counts the number of toes on their child, all leading up to the pivotal climax when the last piggy goes “wee, wee, wee all the way home,” and the child gets tickled. This may be a fun game to play with kids, but it is also a lesson on writing customer-focused proposals.

Active and passive voice sentences both convey action, but active sentences are more persuasive, decisive, and confident. Use active voice unless you have a good reason to choose passive voice...

You've done your homework on a strategic opportunity. You know the customer; you know who likely competitors are; and you know what solutions you'll offer on the competitive bid. Now what?