Different Types of Proposal Management Approaches

Responding to RFPs is a regular occurrence for many businesses. But the skills needed to effectively manage proposals vary from one business to the next.

A proposal specialist is responsible for articulating differentiators, requesting help from SMEs and customizing answers to focus on the customer’s needs. They also ensure that each answer is consistent and logically based.

Internal Proposals

In many businesses, proposals aren’t written in response to a client request for a quote or proposal (RFP). Instead, they’re written for internal purposes. For example, a business may propose a new process for training or an upgrade to a piece of equipment. Or a sales department might propose a new marketing strategy to increase revenue or the number of leads generated.

Regardless of the reason for the proposal, the same principles apply: a good proposal conveys the value of the project to the reader and why your company is the best one to undertake it. It also provides a clear outline of the deliverables a customer can expect.

For large organizations, creating a system to manage internal and external proposals can be challenging. Having dedicated proposal managers can help ensure all the necessary steps are taken to meet client requirements and create winning bids.

Internal proposal management includes defining the scope of work, identifying key milestones and ensuring any legal paperwork is completed. It also involves preparing a knowledge library so that subject matter experts can quickly and easily find answers to questions in proposals. This saves time for both SMEs and proposal writers. In addition, it increases the quality of the proposal and reduces the risk of errors and omissions. The process also supports collaboration in a global and virtual environment.

External Proposals

As the name suggests, external proposals are designed for customers outside of the company. These are usually created as responses to a request for proposal (RFP) or as unsolicited proposals that a company management team decides to pursue. The preparation of a quality external proposal involves many of the same skills as an internal one, including understanding the customer’s needs and goals, researching comparable solutions and designing a solution tailored to the customer’s situation.

A well-written external proposal also focuses on the business value that the project will provide to the customer, using clear and persuasive language to convince them that your company’s approach is the best. It also outlines the proposal’s schedule and budget, with detailed timelines and milestone dates. In addition, it explains the proposal’s qualifications, including work experience, references and education that prove your company is qualified to complete the proposed project.

Proposal to Payment

Finally, an effective external proposal contains visual aids that draw the reader into the document and help explain complex technical data. It also avoids technobabble, reducing the amount of jargon that is used to describe the proposal’s technical approach. This is important because non-technical people are likely to read the proposal. In addition, running the proposal through a grammar check software application can prevent a proposal full of errors. This helps build credibility and trust in your audience.

Preparation of a Technical Approach

The technical approach section of a proposal should clearly communicate how your business understands the customer’s problem and what you intend to do to address it. It is the cornerstone of a quality response, and it often takes the longest time to write. It can be a challenge to balance the technical details with the message of why a customer should select you over their other options.

Depending on the size of your business and the number of employees with subject matter expertise, it may be difficult to assemble all of their contributions into one cohesive narrative. This is especially true when the RFP contains complex, technical elements.

The answer is to provide a comprehensive project plan, including a detailed breakdown of what tasks are needed to execute the scope of work, who will do them, and when they will be done. This information should also include a schedule and cost estimate, based on estimated labor hours and materials.

In addition to a detailed project plan, you should provide a summary of your previous experience with similar projects, as well as any relevant documentation. This could include a contract, procurement document, supplier certifications, or regulatory paperwork. Proposal management also includes ensuring that you meet any legal requirements for submission, such as those outlined in the special conditions of tender or cover letter.

Management Approach

Despite the fact that they often include highly technical information, proposals are ultimately about building trust. If your client doesn’t believe you can deliver on what you have promised, then why should they buy from you? The management approach demonstrates that you can do what you say you can, not only with your technical proposal content but also by providing the requisite project leadership to manage an entire bid and contract.

The best way to ensure that a company can meet all the demands of an RFP is to develop a consistent process for responding to them. This will allow a team to work together efficiently, even in a remote or distributed environment, and produce a consistently high quality proposal.

One of the most effective ways to manage a proposal development process is to create a calendar that sets key proposal deadlines for the team. This should be created by the proposal manager and continually updated throughout the proposal writing process. It’s a good idea to over-estimate the amount of time required for each part of a proposal to give the team some cushion in case they run into any issues.

The other essential component of a successful proposal management process is an efficient and accessible knowledge library. Using a software solution like RFP360 that provides an automated library for all proposal content will save a significant amount of time by reducing the number of questions that need to be written, by saving commonly asked answers and by displaying this information in an easy-to-search manner.