Page 175 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

166 Writing Winning Business Proposals

Slot Explains Expresses Example

Opening Why A rationale Because ABC’s market is changing
P-slot rapidly,
An action/ we will work with you to update your
I-slot How
activity market forecast.

FIGURE 10.3 The opening P-slot and what it doess
FI G U R E 10.3 T he opening P -slot and wha t it doe

Slot Explains Expresses Example
Opening Why A rationale Because ABC’s market is changing
P-slot rapidly,
An action/ we will work with you to update your
I-slot How
activity market forecast.
By having the market forecast validated
Closing What A result/ by an outside party, your firm will help
P-slot benefit convince Consolidated that the project
is rigorous and current.

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10.4
FIGURE 10.4 The closing P-slot and what it does s
FIGURE
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If I need to be even more persuasive, I can fill the closing P-slot by explaining
what benefits will accrue from the doing, as shown in Figure 10.4.
PIP: Persuasion–Information–Persuasion. Three slots. The first and last are
relatively more important and, therefore, include the persuasion. The middle slot
is relatively less important and contains the information. That information is
almost always necessary, because it states the tasks necessary for achieving your
objective. But the information isn’t always sufficient. By itself, it might not be as
persuasive as it needs to be.
Now that you understand how PIP works, we can talk about how you can use
this organizational technique at various levels of the methods section (as well as
throughout the entire proposal).
PIP at the Task Level
If necessary or appropriate, each task in your methods section can be organized
according to PIP, as suggested by Figure 10.5.