As Harley Stein, a partner with Tenzing Consulting, points out, there are only two strategies that you can use to address the requirements:

• Strategy 1:  Draft an outline that literally follows Section L or whatever RFP section contains the proposal instructions.  If Section L differs from the evaluation criteria, combine the evaluation criteria with Section L.
• Strategy 2:  Draft an outline that literally follows Section M or whatever RFP section contains the proposal evaluation criteria.  If Section M differs from Section L, combine the proposal instructions with Section M.

Although you may be tempted to follow another strategy, Stein strongly recommends against it because you are not adhering to the RFP.  This is guaranteed to torpedo your bid.

Here is how you can use these strategies to develop a compliant and compelling proposal.

Strategy 1

This is the easiest to do because it means literally following the instructions, no matter how illogical they may appear.  Follow the proposal instructions in order and to the letter.  If Section L differs from the evaluation criteria, combine the evaluation criteria with Section L.

Strategy 2

There may be some government RFPs that specifically tell you to address the evaluation criteria.  Your task is clear:  follow the evaluation criteria in order and to the letter.  If Section M differs from Section L, combine the proposal instructions with Section M.

However, whatever strategy you choose, you must use multiple means and places to deliver you win themes and key messages or else you will not have a compelling proposal.

This is important because reviewers do not read proposals linearly.  They skip around the narrative to read what interests them.  Consequently, you should do the following:

• Write a great Executive Summary that highlights your entire proposal in just a few pages.
• Use the introductory paragraph of each section to highlight your key points.
• Use call-out boxes to highlight important facts, brief case studies, quotes, and win themes.
• Use action captions under your visuals to make your major points.
• Find different ways of expressing your basic win themes throughout your prose.  Most proposals are all features and few benefits.  Highlight the benefits.

Follow Sections L or M, but remember to emphasize your key messages in whatever strategy you choose.  You must keep telling reviewers why you are the best company to carry out the contract.  You can be compliant and compelling at the same time – this is the major characteristic of winning proposals.

Bob Lohfeld, the founder and president of Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc., suggests six quick fixes that can improve a company’s proposal win rate.  They are based on two surveys Lohfeld Consulting conducted in 2012 with corporate proposal professionals.

1.  Capture and Proposal Training 

Only 52 percent of the companies surveyed provided professional training to proposal professionals.  To perform well, proposal personnel must have opportunities to study and learn about their profession.

2.  Business Acquisition Process

Only 46 percent of the companies surveyed have documented their business acquisition processes.  This includes proposal development.  To perform well, companies must document their proposal development processes so they can be used effectively and improved over time.

3.  Capture Management

Only 33 percent of companies surveyed review their capture management processes they use to pursue contract opportunities.  Companies need to be constantly reviewing the pursuit of new business to ascertain whether or not they should develop proposals in response to potential bids.

4.  Gate Reviews

Only 45 percent of companies surveyed use gate reviews to determine whether or not to pursue new business opportunities.  Companies need to use gate reviews to make timely decisions about bids that may lead to proposal development.

5.  Annotated Outlines

Amazingly, only 30 percent of companies have their proposal teams outline and annotate their assigned sections before writing.  This leads to poor writing, wasted time, excessive costs, and poor proposals.

6.  Proposal Errors

Among companies surveyed, 37 percent stated that their proposals have errors that may cause them to lose contracts.  Companies need to create proposal development processes that lead to complete, compliant, and persuasive proposals that are substantially free of errors.

These survey results are sobering.  If your company has one or more of these problems, start fixing them and your proposals will become more competitive.

Companies should encourage proposal professionals to form informal groups to learn from each other and work on shared problems.  This is good for proposal professionals and good for their companies, but it can only work if they are encouraged, respected, and supported, and most importantly, if the results of their deliberations are seriously considered.

Here are the steps you can take to develop collective knowledge from small working groups:

• Start with a real need, not a top-down mandate from the company.
• Make sure that you get support from senior management and a sincere commitment to consider reports that the group might issue.  If you do not, meetings will become little more than venting sessions.
• Expand the group by word-of-mouth and reputation rather than advertising.
• Be inclusive; invite anyone to join who wants to participate.
• Make it convenient to meet.  A lunch meeting might be a good start.
• Emphasize shared goals and problems rather than differences by playing down job titles.
• Use existing resources, including the company’s people, rooms, and equipment.
• Report on the results in brief, direct memos.
• Take small steps to minimize risks.
• Maintain informal status.  It will encourage a friendly atmosphere and keep expectations modest.

Small, informal working groups addressing common problems are likely to arrive at imaginative and uncommon solutions.  If senior management is not supportive, I would not form these groups because their deliberations will become an exercise in frustration and disappointment. 

However, if senior management is committed to fostering them and seriously considering the reports they issue, small working groups can become very practical and productive informal mini-organizations within a company.  They can benefit individual employees while help companies develop more effective responses to contract opportunities.

Organizations should encourage proposal professionals to form informal groups to learn from each other and work on shared problems.  This is good for proposal professionals and good for their organizations, but it can only work if they are encouraged, respected, and supported, and most importantly, if the results of their deliberations are seriously considered.

Here are the steps you can take to develop collective knowledge from small working groups:

• Start with a real need, not a top-down mandate from the organization.
• Make sure that you get support from senior management and a sincere commitment to consider reports that the group might issue.  If you do not, meetings will become little more than venting sessions.
• Expand the group by word-of-mouth and reputation rather than advertising.
• Be inclusive; invite anyone to join who wants to participate.
• Make it convenient to meet.  A lunch meeting might be a good start.
• Emphasize shared goals and problems rather than differences by playing down job titles.
• Use existing resources, including the organization’s people, rooms, and equipment.
• Report on the results in brief, direct memos.
• Take small steps to minimize risks.
• Maintain informal status.  It will encourage a friendly atmosphere and keep expectations modest.

Small, informal working groups addressing common problems are likely to arrive at imaginative and uncommon solutions.  If senior management is not supportive, I would not form these groups because their deliberations will become an exercise in frustration and disappointment. 

However, if senior management is committed to fostering them and seriously considering the reports they issue, small working groups can become very practical and productive informal mini-organizations within a organization.  They can benefit individual employees while help organizations develop more effective responses to grant opportunities.

1.  Proposals are an ecosystem, not a battlefield

Developing a proposal is not like going to war and it need not involve lacerating conflicts.  Great proposal managers build teams that thrive on cooperation and partnerships, even with competitors.

2.  A company is a community, not a machine

Members of proposal trams are professionals, not cogs in some impersonal machine.  Great proposal managers help inspire team members to help each other and their company, not treat each other as expendable parts.

3.  Management is primarily a form of service, not control

Proposal teams work best when they are not micro-managed.  Great proposal managers set a general direction, coach and mentor provide team members with needed resources, and help them succeed.  When your teammates become stars, you become a star.

4.  Proposal team members are colleagues, not children

Team members are not immature, inferior beings who cannot be trusted.  Great proposal managers treat their colleagues with the respect due professionals and adults.

5.  Motivation comes from something positive, not from fear

Good proposal managers do not strike fear in their teams or manage through threats.  Instead, they inspire the team to perform well by forging a culture that thrives on cooperation and that expects great things from everyone.

6.  Change leads to growth, not pain

Change is inevitable and need not be upsetting or threatening.  Great proposal managers help their proposal teams make the kinds of changes that lead to the submission of winning proposals.

7.  IT offers empowerment, not control

IT can be used to monitor proposal teams, but that is not an important function.  Great proposal managers use technology to help teammates achieve their goals and build better relationships.

8.  Work should be enjoyable, not just toil

Work is a way to achieve goals and not punish people.  Great proposal managers try to help teammates work in ways that will lead to satisfaction and even enjoyment.

Great proposal managers have great core beliefs which they use to develop highly competitive proposals.  Having a sterling vision is not enough, but successful proposal managers must find ways to use the workplace, their organizations, and team dynamics to accomplish an ambitious goal.  And what could be more ambitious than developing a winning proposal from scratch?

1.  Proposals are an ecosystem, not a battlefield

Developing a grant proposal is not like going to war and it need not involve lacerating conflicts.  Great proposal managers build teams that thrive on cooperation and partnerships, even with competitors.

2.  A company is a community, not a machine

Members of proposal trams are professionals, not cogs in some impersonal machine.  Great proposal managers help inspire team members to help each other and their company, not treat each other as expendable parts.

3.  Management is primarily a form of service, not control

Proposal teams work best when they are not micro-managed.  Great grant proposal managers set a general direction, coach and mentor provide team members with needed resources, and help them succeed.  When your teammates become stars, you become a star.

4.  Proposal team members are colleagues, not children

Team members are not immature, inferior beings who cannot be trusted.  Great proposal managers treat their colleagues with the respect due professionals and adults.

5.  Motivation comes from something positive, not from fear

Good proposal managers do not strike fear in their teams or manage through threats.  Instead, they inspire the team to perform well by forging a culture that thrives on cooperation and that expects great things from everyone.

6.  Change leads to growth, not pain

Change is inevitable and need not be upsetting or threatening.  Great grant proposal managers help their proposal teams make the kinds of changes that lead to the submission of winning proposals.

7.  IT offers empowerment, not control

IT can be used to monitor proposal teams, but that is not an important function.  Great proposal managers use technology to help teammates achieve their goals and build better relationships.

8.  Work should be enjoyable, not just toil

Work is a way to achieve goals and not punish people.  Great grant proposal managers try to help teammates work in ways that will lead to satisfaction and even enjoyment.

Great grant proposal managers have great core beliefs which they use to develop highly competitive proposals.  Having a sterling vision is not enough, but successful proposal managers must find ways to use the workplace, their organizations, and team dynamics to accomplish an ambitious goal.  And what could be more ambitious than developing a winning grant proposal from scratch?

One of the wisest people on the subject of developing strong win themes is Chris Simmons, the founder and Principal of Rainmakerz Consulting.  I strongly recommend that proposal professionals read his five-part series on “How to Create Great Proposal Themes” at www.rainmakerz.biz/news.html.

To develop strong win themes, you must provide differentiators, or proof that sets you apart from the competition and demonstrates to reviewers that your proposed solution is likely to work.  Proposals should include no more than several win themes.  Anything more is too difficult for reviewers to remember.

There are two good reasons to spend time developing your win themes.  First, it will provide you with a framework for developing your proposal.  And second, it will help focus reviewers on the main points of your argument, story, and information that comprise your proposal.  In other words, win themes are good for you and good for reviewers. 

Win themes are not mindless sales slogans that we see in advertising.  They are carefully developed statements that contain (1) a central idea that is of benefit to your customer; and (2) proof.  They help reviewers answer the question:  Why should we select you?  As Simmons points out, “well-written themes provide clear and convincing reasons for capturing the attention (and ultimately the imagination) of evaluators.”

To start creating good win themes, take these steps:

• List the customer’s main issues.
• List a feature of your solution that will address each customer’s issue.
• Define the issue concrete and specifically.
• Try to quantify the benefit.
• Draft a proposal theme statement that links the features and benefits to the customer issue.

Here are some examples of good proposal themes that follow this approach:

Our “e-business” software will reduce your shipping and handling costs by 12 percent in year one of the contract.

Our team of 14 engineers has a combined total of over 200 years of experience successfully designing, testing, and implementing transition plans on-time and within budget.

Our Green Team has completed 33 Phase II remediation contracts for EPA in the past three years with “Excellent” ratings.

Good win themes are the scaffolding for competitive proposals.  Take the time to develop them at the beginning of your proposal development process and you will produce better proposals.

One of the wisest people on the subject of developing strong win themes is Chris Simmons, the founder and Principal of Rainmakerz Consulting.  I strongly recommend that proposal professionals read his five-part series on “How to Create Great Proposal Themes” at www.rainmakerz.biz/news.html.  Although Simmons is providing advice to businesses, his advice also applies to nonprofit organizations applying for grants.

To develop strong win themes, you must provide differentiators, or proof that sets you apart from the competition and demonstrates to reviewers that your proposed solution is likely to work.  Proposals should include no more than several win themes.  Anything more is too difficult for reviewers to remember.

There are two good reasons to spend time developing your win themes.  First, it will provide you with a framework for developing your grant proposal.  And second, it will help focus reviewers on the main points of your argument, story, and information that comprise your proposal.  In other words, win themes are good for you and good for reviewers. 

Win themes are not mindless sales slogans that we see in advertising.  They are carefully developed statements that contain (1) a central idea that is of benefit to your funder; and (2) proof.  They help reviewers answer the question:  Why should we select you?  As Simmons points out, “well-written themes provide clear and convincing reasons for capturing the attention (and ultimately the imagination) of evaluators.”

To start creating good win themes, take these steps:

• List the funder’s main issues.
• List a feature of your solution that will address each funder’s issue.
• Define the issue concrete and specifically.
• Try to quantify the benefit.
• Draft a proposal theme statement that links the features and benefits to the funder issue.

Here are some examples of good proposal themes that follow this approach:

Over the past three years, our organization has provided consumers with reliable, effective, and safe family planning services at less than $5 US dollars per service, the least expensive among major family planning organizations.

Our drug-free coalition has mobilized over 150 community- and faith-based organizations to develop local drug-free programs that have been cited by the US Department of Education for their “effectiveness in reducing drug use among teens.”

Our EPA grant training program at 40 historically black colleges and universities will result in at least 7 institutions applying for EPA education grants over the next year.

Good win themes are the scaffolding for competitive proposals.  Take the time to develop them at the beginning of your proposal development process and you will produce better grant proposals.

There are two good reasons to hold a “lessons learned” meeting.  First, it will provide the proposal team with a great opportunity to kvetch and vent their considerable frustrations.  This is healthy and therapeutic.  And second, the meeting will you improve your proposal development processes.

As captureplanning.com (www.captureplanning.com) has pointed out, an effective “lessons learned” meeting should result in change.  You must go beyond discussion and turn the best ideas in the meeting into action items that will lead to new and improved proposals.

Below are major topics and questions that you should discuss in your “lessons learned” meeting.

Strategy

Was there a clear strategy?

Did you have accurate and useful information?

Was there is clear capture plan?

Was the capture plan executed successfully?

Did the capture and proposal teams communicate effectively?

How can you improve the strategic process?

Support

Did you receive support from senior management?

Did you receive the resources you needed?

How can you improve the support structure?

Proposal processes

Which processes worked well?

Which processes had defects?  What were these defects?

How can you improve your proposal processes?

Communication

Where communications clear and helpful?

How well did team members work together?

Were members mentored, coached, and constructively criticized?

Did they receive appropriate encouragement, praise, and acknowledgement?

Would they voluntarily work together again?  Why or why not?

How can you improve communications?

Proposal

Was the proposal complete, compliant, and persuasive?

Was the proposal well written?

Was the proposal visually effective?

Was the proposal consistent between volumes?

Did the budget tell the same story as the narrative?

How can you improve your proposals?

Production

Was the proposal production process timely and smooth?

Did you produce the proposal at a reasonable cost?

How can you improve the production process?

Winning and Losing

Di you request a debrief meeting with the government agency?

What did you learn?

How will you incorporate your debrief meeting into your next proposal development process?

Treat the proposal development process as a pedagogical opportunity to learn and reflect.  Then document the “lessons learned” and make changes to your next proposal development process.  You can always improve your ability to develop highly competitive proposals.

There are two good reasons to hold a “lessons learned” meeting.  First, it will provide the proposal team with a great opportunity to kvetch and vent their considerable frustrations.  This is healthy and therapeutic.  And second, the meeting will you improve your grant proposal development processes.

As captureplanning.com (www.captureplanning.com) has pointed out, an effective “lessons learned” meeting should result in change.  You must go beyond discussion and turn the best ideas in the meeting into action items that will lead to new and improved proposals.

Below are major topics and questions that you should discuss in your “lessons learned” meeting.

Strategy

Was there a clear strategy?

Did you have accurate and useful information?

How can you improve the strategic process?

Support

Did you receive support from senior management?

Did you receive the resources you needed?

How can you improve the support structure?

Proposal processes

Which processes worked well?

Which processes had defects?  What were these defects?

How can you improve your proposal processes?

Communication

Where communications clear and helpful?

How well did team members work together?

Were members mentored, coached, and constructively criticized?

Did they receive appropriate encouragement, praise, and acknowledgement?

Would they voluntarily work together again?  Why or why not?

How can you improve communications?

Proposal

Was the proposal complete, compliant, and persuasive?

Was the proposal well written?

Was the proposal visually effective?

Did the budget tell the same story as the narrative?

How can you improve your proposals?

Production

Was the proposal production process timely and smooth?

Did you produce the proposal at a reasonable cost?

How can you improve the production process?

Winning and Losing

Di you request a debrief meeting with the funder?

What did you learn?

How will you incorporate your debrief meeting into your next proposal development process?

Treat the grant proposal development process as a pedagogical opportunity to learn and reflect.  Then document the “lessons learned” and make changes to your next proposal development process.  You can always improve your ability to develop highly grant competitive proposals.