Will Anyone Read Your Proposal?
By Michael W. McLaughlin
Sometimes I think consulting proposals should include a bright red label warning that persistent drowsiness is a known side effect of reading them.
Not long ago, a consultant wrote to ask me how to make proposals come alive, especially in highly competitive bidding situations. My answer was simple: Write for the first reader and the last reader of each proposal. Otherwise, you're likely to lull your readers to sleep and find yourself without a sale.
Most Proposals Are D.O.A.
At a meeting with a prospective client, I spotted a rather large mound of spiral-bound proposals on the credenza. I asked if the client had read them yet. "No, and I won't, either. Most are just too hard to wade through. If anything, I'll skim them."
Pondering the hundreds of hours that people had poured into those proposals, I wondered if the authors would do anything differently if they knew the fate of all that hard work.
Now it's true that consultants often have to create proposals in a big hurry. Once they commit to seeking outside help, most clients are anxious to receive a proposal. In response to crunch time, some writers force pre-fabricated language into their proposals. Too often, though, what's easy for the author to write is so painful for clients to read that they don't.
Fortunately, many consultants now recognize that weighing down a proposal with jargon and buzzwords results in ambiguity about the project objectives, scope, and anticipated results. The few jargon-laden proposals that sneak through the client's selection process often need extensive rework before a project can be launched.
Consultants also seem to be getting the hang of beginning proposals with a discussion of the client's needs and ending with a recitation of the consultant's credentials—instead of the other way around.
Quack, Quack, Quack
What's often missing from consulting proposals is recognition of who the reader is. If you want to create a responsive and winning proposal, write with specific people firmly in mind—not the generic "client."
Too many proposals fail to grab attention because they have the appeal of an obituary. Obviously, a proposal is a business document that can hardly be expected to rival a best-selling novel. But if your client hesitates to even pick up your proposal to read it, something's terribly wrong.
Author Stephen King tells us that unless you write directly to a reader, you are "just a voice quacking in the wind."
Many proposals are just so much quacking because of the consultant's failure to zero in on the reader. After all, a proposal is often read by technical evaluators, procurement executives, decision makers, and others. Anticipating a mix of expectations from such a diverse group of readers may lead you to write to none of them.
Land in the Right “Pile”
So, which of those readers should you write your proposal to? Of course, you have to figure out exactly who in the client's organization will read your proposal. That may not always be as easy as it sounds, but do some digging and find out before you begin writing. Then, focus on the needs of those who will be the first and last readers of your proposal.
In many competitive proposal situations, the first reader is an evaluator or recommender, not a decision maker. The result of the initial evaluation process may be two piles of proposals—the "Maybe" and the "No" piles. The "Maybe" proposals move on in the process and the "No" proposals don't.
To your first reader, compliance with the stated requirements for the proposal is almost as important as other content. Often, the first reader is a veteran of reading proposals, knows every trick in the book, and gets little or no satisfaction from slogging through another round of proposals.
Brighten this reader's day by removing any doubt that your proposal is in complete compliance with the client's requirements. Don't assume the reader knows that you've complied with those requirements—show how you've done it. In one case, a consultant supplied an easy-to-use reference guide illustrating how each section of the proposal corresponded to the client's requirements.
The point is to make sure your proposal format provides a fast and easy way for your first reader to check compliance. Otherwise, the substance of your proposal will get a less thorough review, and it is much more likely to end up in the dreaded "No" pile.
It's certainly possible that your first reader will be both an evaluator and a decision maker. That simplifies things somewhat, but you still need to shift mental gears to include the latter perspective.
Last…but Not Least
Whatever other hats the last reader wears, think of that person as the decision maker. It's not enough to convince yourself that you've covered all the bases in a proposal. The last reader must agree with you.
Find a volunteer to cold-read your proposal as if from the client's viewpoint. Ask your volunteer to answer questions such as, "Do the objectives of the project come through clearly and simply?" And, "Are the expected results of the project unambiguous in the proposal?"
Some proposal readers focus mainly (or even exclusively) on the executive summary, and you should assume that the last reader will be one of them. To win the support of your last reader, the executive summary must establish a definitive connection between project objectives and the proposed approach.
Your executive summary must be a real distillation, not just a shortened rehash of the proposal contents or a laundry list of the consultant's accomplishments.
The last reader often reads proposals only from the finalists, so the consultant's qualifications to do the work are rarely in doubt. What is essential is to demonstrate a superior understanding of the objectives, provide an insightful approach to meeting project goals, and propose an extraordinary team.
Keep the last reader in mind throughout the proposal process and you'll develop new insights along the way. That was the case for one consultant who was proposing to help a client improve performance and reduce costs for customer service.
Some of the competing consultants simply proposed a series of process and system changes as a way to deliver better service at a lower cost. The person who was to be the first proposal reader had framed the problem in that way and the consultants responded accordingly.
The winning consultant also considered the point of view of the division's general manager—the last reader. The winning proposal satisfied the needs of the first reader, but also suggested that an analysis and improvement of product quality, shipping accuracy, and product design processes would help improve customer service more than just tweaking existing processes.
That focus on the first and last reader won the project.
Ask Three Questions
Consulting proposals don't have to be page-turners, but they also shouldn't read like mortgage lending documents. If you fail to engage your two key readers, the assessment of your proposal boils down to one attribute that clients can readily understand—price. Once that happens, you've probably lost.
Look at your past proposals and ask yourself three questions: Did you identify your first and last readers? What were their respective roles, expectations, and needs? Was your proposal responsive to these particular readers?
You don't have to settle for "quacking in the wind." Know your first and last readers and write every proposal to them. That, by the way, will also take care of everyone in between. Clients will read your proposals and you're more likely to win.
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Michael W. McLaughlin is a Principal with MindShare Consulting, LLC and the coauthor of Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants. He is also the publisher of Management Consulting News and The Guerrilla Consultant. Before founding MindShare Consulting LLC, he was a partner with Deloitte Consulting, where he spent more than two decades helping clients.