The ‘I’s DON’T Have It
I once performed an audit on a cross-section of a household-name, B2B corporation’s past Expression-of-Interest (EOI) and Request-for-Proposal (RFP) responses (my standard practice when taking on a new client looking for continuous improvement rather than one-off production assistance). The opening paragraph of one submission’s Executive Summary included “we”, “us” or (“company name”) no less than […]
Avoiding the ‘What Can We Say’ Trap
By my observations (across a span of more than two decades in the field), a vast majority of organisations start their proposal-producing process with the submission version of ‘writer’s block’. Those who are appointed “writers” (either of the entire submission, or of the various component sections if it’s the response to a complex Request for […]
The Critical Difference Between Self-Confidence and Arrogance
Self-confidence and arrogance are two characteristics that are all too often confused in a business setting – and even more so, in the context of new-business pursuits and the associated proposals put forward to prospective clientele. On that note, I’ve come across an eight-minute YouTube video that couldn’t have expressed my own sentiments better. On […]
Quick Tips to Rejuvenate Your Capability Statement
In a formal submission, your Capability Statement (or other such document) must, as a minimum, serve two purposes i.e.: (1) Demonstrate your degree of experience, competence, and resource-readiness to provide the service or to deliver the product your enterprise is bidding to deliver, and (2) Provide the bid’s evaluators with a feel for the health, […]
The ‘Visceral’ Advantage of the SME
One of the key advantages a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) has over the corporate players in its industry is simply this: The personnel within an SME are more closely aligned with, and connected to, the goals and visions of its leadership. They understand them. The organisation’s future is their future. By contrast, a corporation’s […]