Page 39 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

30 Writing Winning Business Proposals

If your answer is the first grouping, then you have closely read the case in
Appendix A. ABC wants to increase its manufacturing capacity. It does not wish
to do so in part by outsourcing some of its components. The latter objective would
require a project of greater scope because it would involve an extra deliverable: deter-
mination of the feasibility of outsourcing. I can think of two of ABC’s responses
to the latter objective: first, “You haven’t listened”; second, “You are proposing a
more expensive study than what we have asked for.” It’s possible, of course, that
ABC could have a positive response: “That’s an interesting objective that we hadn’t
considered; perhaps we ought to consider increasing capacity by outsourcing some
components rather than making them in-house.” But if you are going to propose
the second objective, you had better be certain that, before the proposal has been
submitted, you have obtained the required buy-in to avoid the negative responses.
Please note one final aspect concerning desired results, overriding questions,
and project objectives. I have defined desired results as “the outcome of the
engagement or its phases.” Depending on the type of project (i.e., insight, plan-
ning, implementation, or the various combinations) that you circle in the Logics
Worksheet, Cell 3, there can be one, or more than one, overriding question and
1,2
desired result. As we have already discussed and as is illustrated in Figure 3.4,
single-step projects have one of each. As illustrated in Figure 3.5, multiple-step
projects have two or more.

Is the Overriding Problem Aligned with the Overriding
Question(s)? (Logics Worksheet, Cells 2 and 4)

If you and I don’t agree on the overriding problem and the overriding question(s), we
will disagree about where you should begin and where you should end, and we will

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FIGURE 3.4 Overriding questions, objectives, and desired results for single-step engagements
FIG U RE 3. 4 O v erriding questions , ob j ec tiv es , and desir ed r esults f or single -st ep engagement s