| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Ten Tips for Creating a Winning Proposal - Part 2
Part 1 of this series described five critical components for creating a winning proposal. In some instances, these components are all a prospective client needs to make a determination and award the job. Be sure to carefully review the request for proposal to determine the amount of information you need to include in your proposal. Remember, each proposal is unique. Here are five more tips to keep in mind when preparing a winning proposal. Tip #6 - Properly Estimate Job Costs Selecting the right price for the proposed work is a delicate balancing act. Pricing the job too low could cause you to lose money on the job. Also, a bid that's too low might be perceived by the client as unrealistic and cause you to lose the bid. Take time to properly consider the amount of time and materials involved in completing the tasks you have outlined and price the job accordingly. Tip #7 - Add Meat as Necessary Proposal requirements vary greatly. If you're putting together a proposal for a major corporation or a government job, you'll probably need extensive documentation. Examples of additional information that might be required include sub-contractor agreements, non-disclosure forms, contingency plans, change order procedures, risk analysis data, benchmark results and more. If the request for proposal asks for it, be sure you include it. Tip #8 - Don't Reveal Too Much! When submitting your proposed solution to the prospective client's problem, you must not reveal too much information. You need to satisfactorily explain your approach while at the same time keeping some information to yourself. Sound confusing? How about this: If you tell the client exactly how to solve the problem, the client might decide to implement your solution without your assistance! You'll lose out on the bid, not because your approach was inadequate, but because you explained it so well the client did not need an outside company to implement it. Tip #9 - Proper Presentation Once you've gathered all the important components for your proposal, take time to ensure it is properly presented. Put together a Table of Contents and check that all copies of all documents are proofread, smudge-free and in the correct order. Finally, insert the proposal into a suitable binder. Give the finished document a final review; it's your last chance to correct any mistakes. Submit the proposal according to the instructions provided and make sure it is delivered before the submission deadline. If possible, deliver the proposal in person. You never know who you'll encounter on the receiving end! Tip #10 - Investigate the Winning Bid If your company is not awarded the bid, try to learn more about the company that did submit the winning proposal. Put on your investigator hat. Find out the price submitted with the winning bid and the approach that was proposed. Research the company itself. Use whatever you discover as a learning tool for the next time. The information just might help your company put together the next winning proposal. And there you have it - ten tips for submitting a winning proposal. Good Luck! Copyright © 2004 Cavyl Stewart. Get more software tips, strategies and recommendations to help you create winning proposals by signing up for my Exclusive 100% free, 100% original content ecourse: "The Secrets To Unlocking The Power In Your Proposals"! To sign up please visit: http://www.find-small-business-software.com/proposal-ecourse.html
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Customers: The Key To Successful Marketing How well do you know your customers?What is the primary reason your customers or clients come to you? Or purchase your product or service? What is the Number One problem you solve for them? Do you know? Are you certain? If you don't, your marketing could be missing the mark, and you could be missing out on sales.Uncovering Your "Key Selling Point"This is the Single Marketing Message that is the central message in all of your communications about your business, product or service. Insiders Secret to Selling Mailing Lists If you've got a mailing list of at least a thousand names or more, you're sitting on a gold mine. All it takes is for you to get the word out that you've got a mailing list for rent, at a competitive price, and you should be home free!First of all, you've got to have a bonafide list of customers - a list of names of people that have responded to an ad or bought from you. Resistances To Marketing a Practice-Part 1 If you are a therapist, counselor, or an alternative or complementary health practitioner (naturopath, homeopathetic doctor, massage therapist, body worker, etc.), in all likelihood, you are not only uninformed about effective marketing methods, but you are also likely to have some negative feelings about self promotion and marketing. How Do I Define My Market? Your market is who you want to reach. Your customer. T.E.A.M Profit As you network and meet other business owners, keep this philosophy in mind: "Together Everyone Achieves More Profit"Remember this when you meet someone with a business that serves your target market. Think about how each of you can work together to achieve more and grow your businesses. Building Skills in Information Marketing will Boost Your Business Yesterday I was sitting on a train going into London when I thought I'd take a look around the carriage just to see what everyone was doing. I wanted to make a mental note because my five year old son always asks me 'what happened at your work today Daddy?' So I put my newspaper down and took a look around me. The Biggest Needle In The Haystack Hello everyone! Have you ever been curious about something, and wanted to learn about it? If you're like me, I am a pretty curious fellow, I really like to learn.Where is the best place to start finding the information you are looking for? My choice for information gathering is the Internet!Where do you start your search for information? I use search engines, my favorite is Google. Hispanic Market Reality and Purchasing Power How many Hispanic people live in the US currently. Well there are 35. Attracting New Business on a Shoestring Budget In a recent marketing workshop I attended, I discovered that most business owners rely on just two or three strategies to attract new business. Even well-established companies tend to rely on one or two strategies. Successful Non-for-Profit Fundraising Letters Share Eight Qualities You'll be encouraged to know that the art of writing effective fundraising letters can be learned. I learned it. Distinguish Your Business From The Competition You followed time-honored online marketing techniques to the letter: you have a great web site, the site has a high search engine rank, and you created a compelling marketing message that showcases your unique selling proposition. Unfortunately, your competitors are reading the same playbook and are implementing the same marketing strategies. Mortgage Originator Marketing - Differentiate or Die One of the best ways to attract more clients is to quit marketing the same way your competitors do. Because when all mortgage originator marketing is essentially the same, it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish one loan officer from another. Mortgage Marketing - How to Find Your Niche Ann Landers, Dr. Phil and Roger Ebert take pleasure in being recognized as leading experts in their respective fields. Getting More From Your Customer We are all customers of one product or another. How is it we always seem to buy or shop from the same place? What is it that these businesses do to keep us coming back and buying from them? A large portion of the selection process that a customer goes through is done through advertising - attracting and reminding customers through promotions. Turning The Casual Scanner Into A Buyer The world is full of scanners. Most people simply scan the page to see if anything piques their interest, rather than reading the ads, sales letters, or web copy. Misrepresentation - Through Silence! We're back to the subject of ethics, more specifically, business ethics.But unlike ethical dilemmas we've discussed in the past - when people are confronted with bizarre, freak circumstances they had never planned for, and then face agonizing choices regarding how to react - I'm now talking about cases where people willfully and proactively steer events in a certain direction. The Illusion of Print Mail Services If ever there was a lazy way to easy profits in mail order it hasto be the concept of letting someone else do all the work foryou. In theory, it works like this: You send a camera-ready circular or ad to someone who advertisesa print/mail service and they will print and mail it (along withmany others) to 1,000 to 25,000 names on their own list. The Power Of A Story If you want your marketing to be effective, you absolutely must connect emotionally with your prospects. And one of the best ways to do that is by telling a story. Effective Tips For Telemarketers I had a telemarketer call me recently. Here's a rough transcript of the conversation. Contrarian Marketing at Benettons Perhaps, with apologies to Dale Carnegie, we should call this article: "How to make enemies AND influence people."The subject: United Colors of Benetton's campaign to promote its clothing, using photos and stories about death row prisoners in the U.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
