Writing Winning Proposals - Part 2
Misconception #2 - Proposals have to be dull.
Companies submitting a proposal usually like their presentation to be verbose, officious and stilted. As we've already discovered, the receiving companies usually have a different perspective. I can often tell with a quick skim how intent a company is to communicate with me. It's easy to see. Large blocks of copy leading to phrasing that's constipated. Statistics in abundance - usually about their firm, not mine. All the hallmarks of a good snore.
It's easy for writers to get stuck in a rut and think that to communicate with confidence and authority they must use a formal, solemn tone. And this is our second misconception ... in fact, only legal documents need to sound like legal documents (and many legal documents don't need to sound like legal documents either).
A proposal is a communication and whenever you are communicating, your primary task is to engage the audience in the message you are sending. Here's a few common places where proposal writes miss the mark:
They focus inward, not outward - Remember that it's not about you. Be prepared to put your head into a prospect's business and think like they think. Worry about the things they worry about. Solve the problems they want solved. If you have "offices in every major port in the world" show how your offices overlap with your prospect's freight movements. When you have a new service to introduce, highlight how it solves a problem for the client. I'll say it again. It's not about you. Write everything so that it is about the prospect.
Theystate the obvious - "My Company Pty Ltd is a national health care provider specialising in residential aged care and employing over 5,500 employees." I'm sure you've read introductions like this as many times as I have. There are few things worse to a prospect than having to wade through all the information they already know about your company. It screams 'lazy preparation' to the reader, your prospect. Tell prospects things they don't know, or may already know, but that have suddenly been made relevant to their needs.
They use too much off-the-shelf text - Your prospect will be evaluating your proposal - consciously or unconsciously - by the extent that it speaks directly to them and their organisation. Stray from this and it's simply a waste of time and paper. Off-the-shelf text has its place. We all use it. But be aware that readers can spot the tell-tale signs of pre-prepared text a mile away.
They have no theatre - Early in my career in retail I learnt the importance of 'theatre'. Retail theatre is all about building the big idea into an experience for shoppers and then executing it big. The same concept applies to all communications ... including crafting proposals. Let's say your proposal is to a hospital for your laundry service. What would you put on the cover? "Proposal to Provide Laundry Services to Eastern Districts Hospital"? Instead, the front cover could be an image of a birthing unit with a happy mother (always include people in your images) with a headline that reads "Deliveries Every Day." Then think "How big can I make this concept?" Perhaps you could find the whitest, softest, freshest smelling nappy and fold it around the proposal. The first approach merely describes your services. The other is not only customised, it involves the reader (unwrapping the nappy) and lets them experience some of your commitment and passion. That's adding theatre to your proposals.
In written communications, it doesn't take rocket science to understand that if your client stops reading, you've lost your opportunity. But a word of warning. Don't stray from the Request For Proposal (RFP) if one exists. It was written for a reason. Readers want direct comparisons between proposals. If you make this process difficult for the reader there's a good chance you won't be considered at all.
'Professional' and 'creative' can coexist in proposals.
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