Page 14 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

Introduction 5

that will help you thoughtfully develop, organize, and sequence the actions
necessary to achieve our objective.
Part 1 of this book, then, focuses on what I call the “logics” of proposals: the
logical relationship among the current situation, desired result, and benefits;
and the logically constructed methodology you will use to help remove the
discrepancy between where I and my organization are and where we want to be.
The Preface of this book mentions that the difference between winning and
coming in second is often only two to five points on a hundred-point scale, and
understanding proposal logics may get you only some of the points you need
to win. Why not all? Because I and others buy for psychological as well as for
logical reasons. Accordingly, Part 2 focuses on what I call the “psychologics” of
proposals. The next two steps in my proposal-development process address these
psychologics.
3. Reconcile different perspectives across multiple buyers. Writing Winning
Business Proposals assumes that most of your proposal situations involve what
is called a “complex sale.” A complex sale exists when you sell to multiple buyers,
each of whom may play a different role in evaluating your proposal. Each may
have a different perception—sometimes slight, sometimes significant—of the
problem or opportunity and of the benefits that will accrue to their organization,
collectively, and to them, individually, from solving that problem or realizing that
opportunity.
Too often, proposals are unsuccessful because the writers assume they are
selling to organizations rather than to individuals. Although an organization
can be in a problematic situation, different people within the organization
often have different points of view of the current situation. What to one person
is eroding profits might be a lack of productivity to a second and poor customer
service to a third. Each “buyer,” in short, has a different agenda, a different
critical issue, or at least a different slant on the issue that must be considered.
I’ll help you explore these persons as individuals who play different roles on the
consultant-evaluation committee and have different buying criteria. I discuss
these roles in Chapter 6.
Once you’ve understood the individual players in the selling situation, you
need to create a framework, a mosaic, a collage, to understand their similarities
and differences. A successful proposal has to address these differences in one
document or in one presentation. Addressing different perceptions is a major
challenge. You need, for example, to know each buyer’s hot buttons: their
individual desires and concerns that must be addressed during the project. You
need to understand the benefits that will accrue to each, once the proposed
objectives are achieved. But, just as important, you need to understand how
each buyer’s hot buttons complement or conflict with the desires and concerns