Page 315 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

306 Notes and Citations

Chapter 11

1. Why is it so often the case that the consultants (or associates or whatever the title
might be) are assigned to write the qualifications section, even though they know
next to nothing about the prospect’s situation? Here’s at least one reason: The partners
or vice presidents don’t believe that section is particularly important. They believe
that prospects don’t even read that section or, if they do, that their eyes glaze over as
they read because all the qualifications sections pretty much sound the same. And in
some, maybe many, but certainly not most situations, they may be right. However, I’ve
asked more than three dozen people to rate the importance of qualifications sections.
Before they were hired by a consultancy, half of them worked in organizations where
they had to evaluate consultants’ proposals. The other half worked as consultants
from the get-go. More than 80 percent of the former believed qualifications sections
were important. Of those consultants who had never evaluated proposals on “the
other side,” less than a third believed qualifications sections were important.

Chapter 13
1. I hope you’re wondering why this chapter on fees follows the chapter on benefits,
especially after I argued that ending a proposal with a benefits section is almost
always more strategic than ending with one on costs or fees. Here’s the reason for
this chapter’s placement: You need to have some idea of the potential client’s benefits
before you can determine your fees, using the variety of possible approaches discussed
in this chapter.
2. Also see the lead-qualification criteria in Appendix H.

Appendix F

1. This appendix is adapted from Richard C. Freed, “This Is a Pedagogical Essay on
Voice,” Journal of Business and Technical Communication 7, no. 4 (1993): 472–81.
2. Broadhead and Freed, The Variables of Composition, 103–4.

Appendix G

1. Given the rapid changes in Amazon’s rankings, the results you see will likely be
different from those I saw, though equally instructive.
2. Those buyers performing the procurement function are classic technical buyers. They
focus on the measurable, quantifiable aspects of your proposal, namely price, using
metrics like return on investment (ROI) and/or return on consulting investment
(ROCI).