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Copyright Shipley Associates. Proposal Habits Worth Breaking PRESENTED BY: WEBINAR Brad Douglas WWW.SHIPLEYWINS.COM © 2020 Shipley Associates David Bol Liz Woroniecki
Copyright Shipley Associates.
Proposal Habits Worth Breaking
PRESENTED BY:
W E B I N A R
Brad Douglas
WWW.SHIPLEYWINS.COM © 2020 Shipley Associates
David Bol Liz Woroniecki
Copyright Shipley Associates.
Agenda Habit? What habit? Why do we develop habits (good or bad)? Common proposal BAD habits – As shared by proposal practitioners worldwide Suggestions for overcoming bad habits Summary and questions
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What is a Habit
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1. a settled tendency or usual manner of behavior (he is habitually late for stand‐up meetings)
2. an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary(I wrote my proposal in passive voice; it’s a force of habit)
3. a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance (the daily snacking habit)
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Why are We Prone to Develop Habits?
Almost all the actions that we do are learned behaviors. When we are learning a new behavior, it requires conscious effort and expenditure of energy.
Once we successfully learn the behavior and repeat it, the degree of conscious effort required decreases and the behavior becomes an automatic subconscious response.
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Surveyed over 350 Proposal Professional
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“BAD HABITS
OBSERVED”
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Not planning and anticipating for every possible variation and
interruption (ex. schedule changes, contributor
availability ‐ getting the right people at the right
times, color team reviews, facility or online preparations).
1“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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Losing control of versions of proposal drafts. It costs hours of time lost tracking down the correct version or, more often than not, rewriting parts of the
doc. Also, the stress and anxiety it costs is immeasurable. Version
control is a lesson often learned the hard way!
2“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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Not following the strategy and plan set forth.
Forgoing the color team reviews as it's seen as time consuming when they would rather be working on the proposal. Compliance gets missed and messages get
garbled.
3“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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Trusting, without verifying: ‐ Capture data documented
and communicated to Proposal Team.
Proposal Team members need to understand the proposed solution and value statement(s).
4“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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1. Not getting the Price to Win right and bidding to it.
2. Bidder‐centric response vs. Customer‐centric, i.e., too many features vs.
benefits.
5“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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Starting by talking about the solution. We must speak to the customer's challenges and goals.
Prove you understand "why" they made a
requirement. That's the price admission to influence them.
6“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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1. Poor kickoff preparation (not always PMs fault)
2. Missing deadlines
3. Poor use of color team reviews (wrong reviewers, inadequate review format)
7“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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1. Cutting and pasting without editing from previous proposals
2. Not enough graphics with captions that tell the story
3. Features without benefits
8“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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1. Delays in commitment of proposal team members
2. Changing offer too late in process to assure
consistent implementation
3. Failure to understand customer's perspective and
to address their issues
9“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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Too many cooks in the kitchen, difference of
opinions, not sticking to the strategy.
Side bar meetings not being shared with the rest of the
prop team
10“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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Poor diet, too much heroic effort, too much caffeine;
disconnects across technical, management and
pricing solutions.
11“ B A D H A B I T S O B S E RV E D ”
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Ideas for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Toward Best Practice
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Buy‐in and participation from senior management. Ask for help the moment you think you might need it. Stay on top of the status of your proposal ‐ all the time.
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Ideas for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Toward Best Practice
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1. Leadership 2. Stamina 3. Talent
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Ideas for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Toward Best Practice
1. Good Proposal Management Plan for kickoff
2. Team participation and accountability at Daily Standup.
3. Read every word of the proposal checking for one voice and compliance.
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Ideas for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Toward Best Practice
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1. Compliance matrix 2. Annotated outline 3. Comprehensive pink/red teams
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Ideas for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Toward Best Practice
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Prepping thoroughly for every group event (agile). You are the leader. Be organized and give your team a sense of focused, intentional process. Don't make it up as you go.
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Ideas for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Toward Best Practice
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Work closely with SMEs to be sure technical information is both accurate and relevant to the requirements.
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Ideas for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Toward Best Practice
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Avoid tunnel vision. Fall back and review the customer hot buttons and play to them. Come to work, attention to detail, compete every day and always put the customer first.
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Questions and Discussion
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Next Webinar(s)….
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September 15, 2020 1 pm EThttps://www.shipleywins.com/webinars/
