Page 183 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

174 Writing Winning Business Proposals

Because P-slots exist at the beginning and ending of things, they’re easy to
find. Once you find them, however, you have to decide whether they should be
filled. Your decision will depend on your sense of the situation, which will be
different in every proposal opportunity. As a friend recalls a proposal situation
some years ago when he was a fairly inexperienced consultant:

I wrote a proposal that I thought was going to be exactly like another pro-
posal a consultant wrote for another company. Both companies competed in
the same industry and manufactured the same products in almost the exact
same geographic area. I pulled out that other proposal in order to boilerplate
from it. I thought this would be a cakewalk. But by the time I was done, the
only thing the other proposal did was to supply some neat ideas for me.
The consultant’s earlier proposal was written to a company for which he
had done ten previous projects. He knew the president very well (the presi-
dent’s son was also a client), and the company was extraordinarily successful.
But the current proposal was for a company where I had never met anybody;
the company was in trouble; there was no warm feeling; there was no ten
years of experience; there were no previous assignments.
The earlier proposal, according to the consultant, was sort of a “Hey, Stan, this
kind of confirms what we will do together, and we will do our best, and if we blow
it we will change in midstream, and it has been great seeing you.” But the current
proposal is, “number one you don’t know me, number two I have to establish my
credentials and my firm’s credentials, number three we are sorry we took so long
to respond, because we lost your letter (which is really number four); of all the
firms you talked to, however, we are the only one with the exact right qualifica-
tions—here they are,” and now, suddenly, we have a totally different proposal. 2

Obviously, the second proposal had to be much more substantial and persua-
sive than the first; therefore, more of the P-slots had to be filled. But how do you
decide just how persuasive your proposal needs to be? I can think of at least three
factors you should consider: your relationship with the buyers, the competition,
and your sales objective, as shown in Figure 10.12.
The first two categories, “relationship with buyers” and “competition,” are fairly
obvious. Assume, for example, that the quality of your relationship with me is
excellent, that you’ve done many studies for me and my organization, and that I’m
not talking to any of your competitors. No one else is competing for my attention,
and, in the past, when you have worked for me, you’ve done so very successfully.
Your credibility is a given; you don’t have to acquire it. I’ve asked you to meet with
me to discuss a problem that needs to be solved, and you have convinced me in
our two-hour meeting that you understand the problem and have the right people
and approach for solving it. We’ve also discussed costs, and I’ve agreed to them.