Page 116 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

Identifying, Selecting, and Developing Themes 107

discussions of objectives, methods, qualifications, costs, and benefits. And those
discussions, like this one, are certainly not boilerplate, nor were they written by
a junior “just-happened-to-be-available” consultant who never met me. Clearly,
the writer developed his themes specifically for my situation.

Where Themes Come From

You’re selling not in a vacuum but in response to my specific situation. That situation
is conditioned by what the buyers, individually and collectively, on the one hand,
and your competitors, on the other, bring to it. Therefore, you must (1) address the
individual needs and desires of me and each of the other buyers, (2) respond to our
collective needs and desires, and (3) counter your competition. These three actions
provide you with the three sources of themes: hot buttons, evaluation criteria, and
counters to the competition, which I’ll discuss in turn (Figure 7.1.)

‡ ‡/H]L LTV[PVUHS
JVU[LU[
‡
‡(MMLJ[ WYVQLJ[ HUK
/V[ )\[[VUZ
ZLSSPUN WYVJLZZ
‡ ‡<Z\HSS` PUKP]PK\HSPaLK ;OLTLZ HYL!
HUK \UZWVRLU
;OL YLWLH[LK
L_WYLZZPVU VM `V\Y
HIPSP[PLZ HUK
JHWHIPSP[PLZ [V!
‡
‡<Z\HSS` JVSSLJ[P]L
,]HS\H[PVU ‡*HU IL ^YP[[LU VY ‡(KKYLZZ OV[
*YP[LYPH ‡ I\[[VUZ
ZWVRLU
‡4LL[ L]HS\H[PVU
JYP[LYPH
‡*V\U[LY [OL
JVTWL[P[PVU
@
@V\Y WVZP[PVU YLSH[P]L
*V\U[LYZ [V [V JVTWL[P[VYZ IHZLK
[V
*VTWL[P[PVU VU [OL L]HS\H[PVU
V
JYP[LYPH
J
and c

hemes c
,
T
ount
ers t
7.1

ons
,
om hot butt
FIGURE 7.1 Themes come from hot buttons, evaluation criteria, and counters to o
FIGURE
evalua
eria
ome fr
tion crit
the competition.
the competition.