{"id":425,"date":"2018-10-16T06:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T06:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/?p=425"},"modified":"2018-10-16T06:00:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T06:00:56","slug":"what-does-your-prospect-really-think-of-your-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/16\/what-does-your-prospect-really-think-of-your-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Your Prospect (Really) Think of Your Proposal?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As a consultant, how many times have you wished you could have been a fly on the wall as a prospect reviewed your proposal and those from your competitors? We might be gratified. We might be mortified. But oh, what we could learn!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/proposal1200x2000-1-1024x614.jpg\" alt=\"Man stroking his chin, pondering\" class=\"wp-image-1708\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I recently helped a client prepare a request for proposals (RFP) for consulting services that are outside my core area of business. And, I thought the client\u2019s comments would make for an interesting mini case study on proposals and the proposing process. Although it\u2019s only one data point, I think a lot of my client\u2019s observations had to do with human nature rather than the particulars of this client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A bit of background: The client sent an RFP to 10 firms, nine of whom responded. This was a \u201cshortlist\u201d of firms recommended by the senior executive team and board members. The fee for this project will be in the $150\u2013200K range. There\u2019s also an opportunity for repeat business with the client for projects in the high five-figure range. The RFP clarified that my client was reaching out to a \u201cselect list\u201d of firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some of the standout comments my client made in the review process:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>\u201cThey didn\u2019t bother to respond.\u201d<\/strong> One firm (and an assumed leading contender on the client\u2019s internal list) sent a perfunctory response that they would \u201ccarefully review the RFP\u201d but didn\u2019t submit a proposal nor did they communicate further. Will this eliminate this firm from future business? No. But did they put a small dent in their relationship with my client and disappoint the board member who recommended them? Definitely.<\/li><li><strong>\u201cThey were just going through the motions.\u201d <\/strong>The first cut in the proposal review process was to eliminate the boilerplate responses. These were the proposals that explained the consultants\u2019 processes but didn\u2019t connect their processes to the client\u2019s needs.<\/li><li><strong>\u201cThey were one of the few firms that bothered to ask questions.\u201d <\/strong>The proposals that rose to the top were from firms that took the time to engage with my client. In fact, one of the smaller firms made it into the final three because the two principals of the firm got on a conference call with my client. That action made a positive impact on my client, but, more importantly, their proposal showed a sophisticated understanding of the client\u2019s needs. Their actions and proposal stood out.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what were the characteristics of the proposals that made the final cut?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>They took the time to connect. <\/strong>They didn\u2019t just lob a proposal at the prospect.<\/li><li><strong>They demonstrated a track record of experience on similar projects for similarly situated organizations. <\/strong>Pretty basic, right? Still, some of the proposals missed this point.<\/li><li><strong>They connected the dots. <\/strong>They went beyond including the perfunctory \u201csituation analysis\u201d and made a strong connection between my client\u2019s situation and other work they had done. They demonstrated both situational understanding and a directly related competency.<\/li><li><strong>They gave the client perspective.<\/strong> They drew on their experience, and in one case, publicly available research, to highlight things that would be a focal point of their approach&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;things that my client might not have thought of. They went beyond the \u201crequired information\u201d outlined in the RFP.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In the final analysis, the proposals that made the final cut were from firms that did nothing more than pay attention to the basics. They made a human-to-human connection, demonstrated their competence, connected the dots with the client\u2019s situation, and brought their perspective into the proposal. But it\u2019s <em>how<\/em> they paid that attention that\u2019s important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, it might be easy to discount this because of the fee involved. You might be thinking, \u201cof course, you can swing out there when a six-figure fee is at stake!\u201d I\u2019m sure that these proposals were all 90% boilerplate. But it\u2019s what they did with the 10% that made the final cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-related-post\"><strong>Related Post<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-going-solo-going-big\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/hows-your-hustle\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-going-solo-going-big\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/five-ways-to-boot-your-consulting-confidence\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-going-solo-going-big\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/are-you-driving-your-consulting-business-or-is-it-driving-you\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a consultant, how many times have you wished you could have been a fly on the wall as a prospect reviewed your proposal and those from your competitors? We might be gratified. We might be mortified. But oh, what we could learn!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accelerate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goingsologoingbig.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}