The Owners' Manual | Issue 24 | Spring 2022

04. BE BRIEF People have short attention spans, and that includes selection committees. Your proposal is one of many submissions they will be reviewing, so you need to make your case clearly and concisely. By keeping proposals brief, you are more likely to keep the audience fully engaged throughout. Don’t overwhelm them with information and think about ways to supplement text with easily digestible graphics, photos, or charts. If a client starts skimming sections because your proposal is too text heavy or long; they could miss the most important details. 05. BE PROACTIVE, NOT REACTIVE One of best ways to improve your proposals is to be proactive. Don’t wait until a deadline is approaching to create new staff resumes or project sheets; get them done before the next proposal even starts. At BL, there’s a lot of small things you can do to be proactive. Even something as simple as updating CRM with new references, writing a new win announcement, or keeping project data easily accessible can make a huge difference come proposal time. When materials and information is easy to pull together, you can avoid making needless mistakes when rushing. 06. TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK Proposals can be challenging, time consuming, and stressful, but the good news is you aren’t alone. Pursuits are led by a team of proposal experts - Marketing! They are there to guide you through the process and are responsible for the majority of the work that goes into proposals. Marketing can even help on sections that Project Managers are responsible for, like project approaches, schedules, and fees. They can help edit write-ups, create charts and graphics, and even check your math. In the end, practice makes perfect. The tools above are great, but they won’t help you improve unless you put them into action. Try volunteering to take on more proposal responsibilities or look back at past proposals to see where you can improve or save time in the future. Proposal writing can be intimidating, but you have to leave your comfort zone in order to grow.

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