Page 300 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

Using the Right Voice 291

Possible Possible
Action(s) Role(s) Character-
Kind of Required Required istics
Project (Verbs) (Nouns) (Adjectives) Themes

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• visionary • nimble • urgency
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Voice
ombina
“
speaks
is the c
tion of a noun and an

,
”
.
F
Y
1
FI
FIGURE F.1 Your voice, how your proposal “speaks,” is the combination of a noun and an
RE
GU
w y
, ho
oposal
our pr
e
our v
oic
adjective; themes help you derive the adjective.
adjective; themes help you derive the adjective.
For example, if one of my hot buttons (and one of your themes) is urgency, I
wouldn’t want a visionary who contemplates his navel; I would want someone
who can envision a strategy quickly. You would need to be a combination of an
adjective and a noun: a quick-thinking visionary, for example, or as Figure F.1
suggests, a nimble visionary. A visionary might do, and perhaps a visionary is
what your competitor will be. But a specific kind of visionary may be more per-
suasive to me, and if you’re capable of being that kind, you ought to be.
In summary, then (and I’m reading right across the columns in Figure F.1),
your voice is controlled by the kind of project you’re proposing (first column) and
by the verbs related to the results you propose to deliver (second column). These
verbs, the overall actions required, phrase your project’s objectives. These actions,
in turn, require a specific set of skills common to a specific role or roles (the