Page 94 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

PART
2

Proposal Psychologics

ow that you’ve completed Part 1 on proposal logics, you may
Nbelieve that your more logical presentations and proposals
will win far more often, and they might. But logics provide you only
the base—the necessary but not the sufficient—because I buy for psy-
chological as well as for logical reasons. I want to feel comfortable with
you, to trust you, and to sense with confidence that you understand my
situation, my risks, and, perhaps most important of all, my potential
rewards—the benefits I will receive from the project you propose.
So your task now is to combine the logical with the psychological,
the head with the heart, and to combine your analysis of my situation
and what you will do to support me with how I feel about you. I want to
be confident about your ability to deliver on your promises to meet my
objectives. I want a relationship based on trust and founded on rapport.
In Part 2, therefore, I assume that your logics are in place and
that relationships or “psychologics” are now critical to your suc-
cess. Accordingly, I show you how to align yourself with me and the
other members of the buying committee and how to position your-
self favorably against the competition. Finally, I show you how to use
that alignment and positioning to develop themes—important mes-
sages that you will weave throughout your document or presentation
to make me say, “Yes, these people have listened to and understand us,
they appreciate our risks, and they have articulated our rewards.”
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