Page 56 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

Aligning the Baseline Logic 47

4. The overriding problem and its effects/lack of benefits
5. The overriding problem and the overriding question(s)
6. The overriding question(s) and the objective(s)
7. The overriding question(s) and the desired result(s)
8. The objective(s) and the desired result(s)
9. The desired result(s) and the deliverables
10. The desired result(s) and the benefits
11. The deliverables and the benefits
12. The benefits and the effects/lack of benefits
◉ The baseline logic contains three important elements of your value proposition,
explaining, in the highest-level summary of your offering, where I am (S1), where I
want to be (S2), and how I will benefit by getting and being there (B).

WORK SESSION 2: Aligning the Baseline
Logic for the Situation at ABC

You approach the subject of your proposal’s baseline logic with a good deal of
care because you know that it provides the foundation for your entire proposal
and because you also know that you can use its alignment to help you think
more strategically about ABC’s current situation, desired result, and potential
benefits. Everything else in your proposal will build on this foundation, and mis-
takes in thinking and understanding at this point will have dire consequences
later. Similarly, good strategy and analytical thinking at this point will pay great
dividends later on (for example, making the writing process more efficient and
extending even to the project’s execution after you win). To ensure that you con-
struct a solid baseline logic, you use the cells in the Logics Worksheet, shown in
Appendix B, or the complete worksheet itself, which can be downloaded from
http://web.me.com/rfreed/Writing_Winning_Business_Proposals/Home.html.

The Logics Worksheet: Cell 1 (See Figure 3.20.)

Most of the information for the “Prospect Profile” you can gather from Gilmore’s
notes (see Appendix A for the people involved), but some crucial information is
lacking. Although you know that ABC is profitable, you don’t know its last year’s
revenue or the trends related to profitability and revenue. These you decide to
red flag, using that symbol to mark an uncertainty, vulnerability, gap in infor-
mation, or anything that you just plain don’t like. In addition, you find nothing
in Gilmore’s notes about ABC’s strategic direction. You feel comfortable that the
proposed project is very much in line with ABC’s strategic direction, but, it seems
to you, the proposal will be stronger if it has some discussion about this topic.