Page 191 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

182 Writing Winning Business Proposals

In rereading your draft, you realize that the second bullet probably should
have some discussion under it.

Composing the P-Slots for Task 4: Select the Most Appropriate Option
This task will help eliminate the uncertainty that must be disconcerting to ABC’s
team. It will reveal whether Metzger’s, Collins’s, or Gupta’s biases are valid. But in
the process, you know that a number of “pet” ideas are going to be “shot down.”
Only considerable agreement among the buying team on the criteria to be used
to evaluate the multiple options will avoid hard feelings and assure acceptance
of the selected facility option. These thoughts, which also focus on the theme of
consensus, help you formulate an opening P-slot.
For the closing P-slot, you focus on two crucial results of completing the task:
first, ABC will know precisely how to configure its manufacturing facilities over
time; second, the result of proper configuration will allow ABC to meet customer
demand throughout the forecasted period cost-effectively and responsively.
Your draft of Task 4 reads as follows:

Task 4: Select the Most Appropriate Option
Using ABC’s distribution model and Paramount’s proprietary models for assess-
ing expansion options, the joint engagement team will evaluate thoroughly
each potential expansion option and then select the one most appropriate.
Although the range of options will have been narrowed, those remaining
will quite likely be diverse. Therefore, we will work with ABC management to
develop both quantitative and qualitative criteria that will differentiate care-
fully among the various options, and we will obtain management’s agreement
on the one most appropriate.

Specifically, to select the most appropriate option, the engagement team
will:

◉ define quantitative and qualitative criteria important to ABC and
Consolidated
◉ evaluate each option against quantitative criteria such as ROI, landed cost,
quality, and customer service
◉ evaluate each option against qualitative criteria such as manufacturing
flexibility and potential risk

When this task is completed, you will know precisely how to configure your
manufacturing facilities over time so that you can meet customer demand
throughout the forecasted period cost-effectively and responsively.