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Small Businesses Offering Proposals to NASA
I found an article online when searching around for some news in the world of business proposals and found something interesting that small businesses may enjoy hearing about. NASA recently initiated a program that allows small businesses focused on technology to offer ideas for new projects. Chief Technologist, Bobby Braun says ““There is no shortage of technological innovators in this country; we simply need to invest in them. Investing in research and technology, the U.S. will not only extend its technological superiority, but also will stimulate our economy, creating new high-tech jobs, products and services all across our country”. The proposals that have been submitted were from 27 technology firms that partnered with 24 research institutions spanning throughout the country, and have a combined value of over $16 million.
This is a great example of how the ideas of small businesses and owners are becoming very influential to the growth of some very important, larger organizations. If you are part of a high-tech firm, this is no doubt very intriguing, but the opportunity lies ahead of us working in all business sectors. Programs like this provide a chance for proposal writers to truly shine in this significant role. Read more about this press release…can this open any doors in your industry?
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The Future of Business Proposals
It isn’t so easy to get by with simple proposals anymore. There are a lot of key elements that we need to keep in mind during their development and implementation. It is becoming our duty to transform traditional elements into something spectacular and eye catching that will transform onlookers into customers. This is centered around the idea of appealing to the visual needs of the people that we send proposals to.
Eye catching and noteworthy case studies will soon be something that can make or break the response to a proposal submission. Potential clients view your past stories and successes as a key factor to their decision of what your company is all about and whether or not you are a worthwhile investment. Using various tools to implement photos, videos, and other past highlights into business proposals will be a quick key to success.
If you have ever wondered whether or not people are even reading your proposals, there is also software out there that will help you and eventually be part of your day-to-day schedule. Consider this to be analytics or intelligence for your proposals instead of your website, therefore, you can easily modify elements to garner more readership. Things like this will allow you to make improvements like never before.
So, we have visuals and proposal intelligence, but what else to look forward to? Any ideas? -
Understanding a RFP
Understanding a RFP (request for proposal) is essential to any business. This is a document used in the early stage of the precurement process to find companies or people that can provide necessary services. This allows companies to find the correct information to make strategic business decisions, provide the ability to consider a wider range of solutions, and encourage suppliers to make their best effort and negotiation. Like any other business documents, there are various formats throughout different industries, but a RFP can look as follows:
- Purpose: A quick summary of the work that a company is looking to have someone accomplish.
- Background: This gives the supplier the basic information that a company would like to be considered as well as highlights the mission of the company. Therefore, their mission and values can be portrayed in the proposal that the reader creates and allows them to assess compatibility in the first place.
- Technical Requirements: These are the key elements that the proposal will need to touch upon and are critical to whether or not it will be chosen.
- Selection Criteria: This is the criteria used in the first stage of a proposal review that must be included in a proposal in order to move further.
- Review Criteria: This is the specific criteria that will be used in the next stage while making final decisions of applicants.
- Reviewal Process: This is the process that the company specifies that they use while looking at proposals.
- Contact Information: Here you will find additional information and how the proposal should be submitted.
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Knowing Your Brand is Essential
Whether you are a small business owner responsible for multiple levels of the company or hold the entitled proposal manager title, it is important to keep the brand in mind with everything that you produce. When building or addressing your brand, keep the following in mind:
Branding is like stacking stones. In order to build a brand or create brand equity, you must steer/communicate the brand to the consumer. You do this like building a wall of stones because you build a brand by putting out details in a focused way that is created by you, then built, and becomes increasingly positive as the wall rises. The best brands are simple, relevant, narrow, and memorable. You aren’t just throwing stones out there.
Brand standards must be consistent and identified. Brand standards are developed in order to keep a consistent image/identity of the brand in the minds of everyone taking a peek at your company or organization. Important elements include: brand name, full name, common name, type, representation, logo, colors, word mark, variations, implicit/explicit meaning in logo, type, patterns, shapes/die-cuts, and images. Brand standards will allow you to apply simple, identifiable elements to every document you put out there.
Brands have underlying goals and values. It is important to incorporate your organizations key values into everything you write, say, or prepare for clients. The mission or vision statements should be starting points as to how you begin work on projects or focus your brand. These underlie everything else and are essential to the branding process.
Good luck! -
A Deeper Look into a Proposal Management Career
I was curious today to see where the proposal management profession is in the 21st century, what better way to find out than looking at salaries across the board? Earlier I posted an overview about what this job entails, so let’s review and then get down to what’s really important.
The duties and responsibilities of proposal managers often include:
-Working with a finance team to optimize offer value to clients.
-Participating in key client meetings as a project and proposal facilitator.
-Work as part of the business development team to develop custom proposals and respond to client data requests.
-Compiling estimates and technical data from several departments within the company in order to facilitate the sales process.
You are a key player as far as finding, retaining, and developing relationships with clients. So how much is this generally worth?
-With salary, bonuses, profit sharing, and commission, the general total pay is from $56,900 to $90,495.
-Proposal managers with less than one year of experience usually make between $30,658 and $76,432, whereas those with over 20 years of experience make between $76,460 to $115,818.
-Proposal manager salaries generally increase corresponding to the size of the company and their general sales.
-As of individuals reporting to the site, pay differs based on city starting on top and lowering to in this order: Houston TX, Fairfax VA, Washington DC, Los Angeles CA, New York NY -
Business Proposals that Stand Out
As business writing professionals, we all know that basic just isn’t cutting it anymore. When businesses send out a request for proposal, they intend to receive multiple responses and will choose the most intriguing at the best value. It is our job to respond with a proposal that will break through the clutter and remain in the reader’s mind. Some basics to creating a memorable proposal include compelling and targeted content, succinct style, and detailed plans. In order to gain a competitive edge, think about using some of these tools that have led me to success in the past:
Videos/Photos. Submitting a business proposal means that you haven’t made it to a full-fledged presentation in front of a prospective client yet, so use this document as a way to reel them in using visual appeals. Adding photos or videos that demonstrate your capabilities will bring your business to life, making it an appealing and substantial option to the viewer. If your proposals are sent online, try implementing videos that offer a visual representation of your business as a whole or a specific area of expertise. These simple, key elements will bring your business to life and leave a lasting impression on the reader.
Case Studies. When sending out a business proposal to a potential client, be sure to include significant content will make your business memorable. Feature case studies that demonstrate past performances. Allow the viewer to see how your team has excelled in the past and how relevant your business is to the task at hand. This will instantly boost your credibility.
Remember that you can easily be remembered through creating visual and relative content that would be of interest to a potential client. Get inside of their head. Don’t get your proposal thrown in the trash can. We all work hard at what we do, so take a couple extra steps and you won’t look back!
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6 Tips for Successful Business Writers
Whether you are trying to win the contract to build a school or design a company’s website, thoughtful content and decisiveness will be key to the creation of proposals or related documents. Take a look at these hints for your writing:
1. Make it Easy to Skim
Once again, a top priority in business writing is to streamline the content that you will be sharing with prospective clients. Allow them to easily skim your creation by eliminating jargon, relying on the basics, and highlighting key points.
2. Double Check Your Work
Anyone looking for you or your company’s services expects to see expertise and care. Read, re-read, and re-re-read everything that you write in order to ensure that it is top quality. Don’t include incorrect data or misspell anything, especially the prospective client’s name!
3. Draw Mental Pictures
Your top-quality work should allow the reader to envision exactly what you layout, as if it were a current reality. So, make your writing stick in their head and plant your name and company logo there while your at it.
4. Always Think Back to Grammar School
In order to streamline your writing and get rid of the wasteful or “costly” words, think back to when you first began. If you have the Who, What, When, Why, Where, and How in there, then don’t add nonsense that your reader doesn’t care about.
5. Convey Enthusiasm
Business writing doesn’t have to always be strict or formal. While developing pitches or proposals, remember that combining enthusiasm and expertise will help you or your company be a step ahead of the competition.
6. Get Help
It’s always okay to ask for help. If you are stuck finding information, look to your peers or experts in another department that can provide valuable insight. Use tools that provide templates and easy guidelines for your writing needs. If you don’t have the time, hire a freelancer or seasoned firms do your work for you.
Good luck in a future of successful business writing! -
A New Era for Business Proposals?
The necessity of a proposal is simple enough: to pitch ideas, goals, and schedules to potential clients that make your company vital to their needs. Business proposals include various pages like an executive summary, milestones and payments, invoice, and more. All of these pages evolve around specific elements that must be included in the document. You should provide solutions for the work to be completed and explain the benefits that will result from your partnership. Including samples of past performances will guarantee your credibility and display your work skills. And, you will bundle all of these aspects in a clear package targeted directly to the audience at hand.
Now, imagine transforming all of this in a way more suitable for our digital era. I recently read an article about a couple of businesswomen that have this idea on the forefront of their new venture. They are having their clients throw out old proposal templates and transform their written word into videos that entrepreneurs and small businesses alike can use when seeking new business or investment opportunities. These videos can merge all of the elements of a normal proposal into a visual and oral format for viewers.
This idea has been developed as a way to slide businesses into the formats that potential clients use as far as digital media. Video isn’t only a way to reach businesses easily on electronic devices, it can also be used in online platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, etc. As we are becoming more adept to using social media and multimedia, it is important that business models and presentations change accordingly. But, it is essential that we are able to communicate to company’s of any technical competency or online presence.
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"The greatest possible merit of style is, of course, to make the words absolutely disappear into the thought."
Nathaniel Hawthorne
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3 Ways to Turn a Proposal into a Successful Presentation
3 Ways to Turn a Proposal into a Successful Presentation
You may be a master at building the perfect business proposal, but are you just as successful at turning it into a presentation? People looking for the help of you or your company may ask you to present your ideas in different ways that will make your services a more viable choice. If you are given the chance to give a presentation to potential clients, turn this into an opportunity that gives you an edge above the competition.
1. Know your audience. It is the presenter’s duty to know everything about the people they are speaking to in order to ensure success. Being able to direct information to key players and addressing them by the proper title will allow you to differentiate yourself. Prospects won’t be bored or offended if you are able to fine-tune various aspects of the presentation like tone and inclusion/exclusion of content to fit their need.
2. Be an expert. You always want to let your personality shine through in presentations, so why not highlight your expertise? Whether you are a digital guru or a premium craftsman, fill your listeners in on what sets you apart above others in your field. Also, don’t be afraid to make them laugh and relate with each other in a conversational manner.
3. Remember the importance of visuals. In the 21st century, a picture is still worth a thousand words. In order to retain information, most people must learn both visually and orally. Always be prepared with intriguing visuals to keep viewers interested and make your performance memorable. Use charts to show them how you will enhance their business or present case studies of your abilities that you can showcase throughout the allotted time.
As a business communicator, it is your duty to give potential clients what they need and in the format most appropriate for their business. When asked to develop a presentation, use the information that you would include in a written proposal as a way to guide your thoughts and intrigue the prospect.
