Page 15 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

6 Writing Winning Business Proposals

of other buyers. In Chapter 7, I discuss these matters as well as proposal
evaluation criteria and counters to the competition.
4. Crystallize and develop key proposal messages and themes. To be most
effective, your proposal (spoken or written) needs to communicate several
essential messages that clearly differentiate it from competitors’ proposals and
convince me and the other buyers that you have heard and understood the
issues from our respective points of view. These messages, which characterize
our story and our needs, are called “themes.” They come from your analysis
of our individual hot buttons and our collective evaluation criteria and from
your counters to your competition. Once you have identified your themes and
developed them, you will have generated much of the persuasive content to
incorporate into your proposal. In Chapter 7, I discuss themes and the themes-
development process in detail.
5. Weave the messages and themes throughout the proposal. All the logical
and psychological strategy must be applied, of course, and the chapters in
Part 3 address this application. Just as Beethoven repeated his musical themes
throughout his symphonies, you want to “play” your themes throughout your
proposal. By weaving your web of persuasion, you can communicate why you,
and not someone else, can best support me to achieve my desired result. In
Chapter 10, I discuss the important concept of persuasion slots, those parts of
your proposal that contain your themes and other selling points. Chapters 9 to
13 discuss major parts of the proposal where you discuss your understanding
of my situation, your proposed method for addressing it, the benefits to the
buyers of your doing so, and the like.

Each of this book’s chapters introduces you to important concepts and strat-
egies, which are then applied in a work session. I’ve written the work sessions
from your point of view, so that you can see how the strategies are applied as you
develop your proposal step-by-step. That is, the work sessions (which are based
on a real-life case) allow you to experience and practice the concepts laid out
step-by-step in the chapter preceding it. I can’t tell you how important this is: Do
not skip the work sessions; they bring the concepts to life.
Before we begin our journey together, I have to let you in on a little secret.
There are no rules for writing; there are only strategies. No rules. Not even that
subjects and verbs should always agree. Not even that sentences (like this and the
previous two) shouldn’t be fragments.
Rule-bound writers are limited writers. Having been told never to begin a sen-
tence with but, they never do. “But why not do so?” I ask, if the situation suggests
that you should. Consequently, rule-bound writers have fewer options to choose
from, fewer possibilities to consider, fewer arrows in their quiver or weapons in