Page 96 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

CHAPTER 6

Analyzing the Buyers

eneric structure, as we discussed in Chapter 1, primarily relates to the logic
Gof proposals. Unless you’re selling equations to a logician or theories to a
scientist, however, logic is rarely enough. That’s why you’ll have to use more than
logic. You’ll have to give me, your potential client, more than technical expertise
or a logically constructed methodology, more than elegant-sounding résumés or
qualifications statements that I know look pretty much the same in every pro-
posal you prepare. You’ll have to convince me that I want to work with you.
Think about what you offer to me: you often don’t know what you’re going to make
(i.e., what you’ll deliver to me) until you make it. You operate more like a medical doc-
tor than a civil engineer. An engineer designs a bridge to span a river, while a doctor
creates, tests, and re-creates hypotheses to discover something unknown, something
hidden, and perhaps something not agreed to. Accordingly, to choose you as my
“doctor” I need to develop trust that you, your team, and your firm can address my
uncertainty, my often ill-defined, even illogical current situation. In such cases, attitude
or “bedside manner” is just as important as or even more important than expertise.
You see, although you may think we know each other well, we don’t—certainly
not during our initial meetings. I don’t know or probably trust you completely
or appreciate your complex personality. And you, certainly, don’t know me com-
pletely or know how I will respond in a given situation. In some situations, I
become extremely analytical, seeking a lot of evidence, asking a lot of questions,
and behaving methodically and systematically. This orientation toward informa-
tion and reasoned, rational analysis may be based on the risk or magnitude of a
potential decision I must make. In this situation, I might desire a detailed meth-
odology (perhaps even your sharing of your logic tree).
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