The Future of Proposal Development – Building the Next Generation of Proposal Writers

The need for higher quality proposals has never been more urgent. Federal Contractors are now realizing that to survive in tomorrow’s procurement environment, full of changes, complexities and ambiguities, they need different proposal approaches and techniques from those that helped them succeed in the past. But more importantly, they need new solutions, new proposal ideas, infused by new talent. Our experience has shown that the best proposals are developed by combining proposal professionals with technical gurus and operational practitioners to achieve a perfect balance of tangible and valuable features (aka solutions) with benefits that the customer wants to buy (aka value proposition). Without tangible, innovative solutions, customer benefits in the proposal just become “fluffy”.

To achieve this balance, more and more of our customers are realizing they need to involve their technical Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) more closely in the proposal process. But throwing SMEs in the proposal mix without preparation – is a recipe for disaster. Not only will they not be able to produce the level of expected writing (proposals are not technical white papers after all), but they can get discouraged from participating the next time.

Our client, KBRWyle, realized just that. They hired Smart BD to lead several 2.5-day proposal writing courses, preparing their SMEs for supporting upcoming proposals. Result: over 30 new proposal writers ready, eager and excited to try out their newly acquired proposal writing skills.

Don’t take our word for it… see what the participants had to say about this course:

“Covering proposal development from beginning to end with specific, important focus areas was especially helpful! Especially understanding perspective from customer, Capture Manager, Proposal Manager, Reviewers, etc. I enjoyed it very much. Although I have been involved in a number of proposal section development opportunities, I learned a lot of invaluable info in this class.”

“Very knowledgeable and experienced instructor with many relevant examples. The use of a real RFP example to work from was also great. Thank you it was a great training and I am very glad to have taken it.”

“Overall I found the course to be very informative. Marina has tremendous experience and her ability to relate her pat experience ties things together.”

Do you want to bring Smart BD to a pop-up classroom at your workplace?  Do not hesitate to reach out, email us at [email protected] with the training quote request.