Page 201 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

192 Writing Winning Business Proposals

situations. When you access your firm’s database of previous proposals, you find
a few that look like they might be helpful, but you’re disappointed again—though
not really surprised. All the qualifications sections appear interchangeable, and, in
fact, you conclude that they pretty much are. They contain some useful and well-
written paragraphs on Paramount’s history and on its experience within ABC’s
industry. But they all sound as if they were written by Marketing. They are generic:
they use too much boilerplate and never read as though they were written to real
readers in specific situations with specific problems. The paragraphs aren’t formed
into an argument. They won’t sufficiently differentiate you from the competition
and won’t convince ABC that Paramount is the firm that should be engaged for
this project.
When you and Gilmore began developing a strategy for the proposal to ABC,
you and he spent considerable time preparing a Themes Development Worksheet.
You now want to take advantage of the thought that went into that effort, so you
review the worksheet’s column labeled “Qualifications.” You use a “why” logic
tree to structure that column’s content (Figure 11.5).
In supporting the claim that yours is the best-qualified firm for this project,
you write that Paramount has:

◉ The resources to begin this engagement immediately and to complete the study
in as little as four to five months
◉ Substantial manufacturing, financial, and strategy-development experience
within the household-appliance industry

Paramount is the
best-qualified firm
W
Why?
We have the We have We have the We have We have
resources to substantial... ability to the ability experience in
begin imme- experience address the to develop planning
diately... within your wide range of a sound... capacity
industry... issues... team... expansion...

or the qualifi
o ABC.
logic tr
ee f
oposal t
tion in the pr
tions sec
ca

”
E
11
.5
R
FIGURE 11.5 The “why” logic tree for the qualifications section in the proposal to ABC.
FIG
U
y
he “wh
T
The supporting claims come from the Themes Development Worksheet’s
The supporting claims come from the Themes Development Worksheet’s
qualifi cations column.
qualifi cations column.