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1 Welcome to Today s Webinar! The Seven Deadly Sins of Proposal Writing with Dr. Tom Sant AUDIO INFORMATION: You may listen to today s webinar through your computer speakers; or: Call-in (US/Canada): Global numbers are available in your webinar reminder from Qvidian Access code:

2 Today s Speaker Dr. Tom Sant Best-Selling Author

3 Time to confess

4 Are Your Proposal Efforts Sinful? The symptoms of sin: 1. Low win rates 2. Long, drawn out sales cycles 3. Heavy use of generic content 4. Text that doesn t work

5 The Seven Deadly Sins 1. Failing to qualify the deal 2. Not focusing on what the client cares about 3. No persuasive structure 4. No clear differentiation 5. Failure to offer a compelling value proposition 6. Not making it easy to understand and easy to use 7. Credibility killers -- misspellings, grammar errors, wrong client name, inconsistent formats, etc.

6 Why do good people commit these sins?

7 Reason #1: Sales Mythology Successful sales are a matter of charisma or process. The proposal doesn t matter.

8 Reason # 2: Sales People Hate Doing Them Sales people avoid writing proposals because they do not feel confident in their abilities.

9 Reason # 3: No Process, No Tools, No Teeth No formal process for handling RFPs or proposals, no tools or reusable content, and no consistency in enforcing policies.

10 Avoiding the Seven Deadly Sins

11 Proposal Success 1 Qualify the Deal 2 Focus on the Client 3 Use Persuasive Structure 4 Differentiate Yourself 5 Show Compelling Value 6 Make It Easy to Read 7 Defuse the Credibility Bombs

12 Drive Out the Waste

13 Deal or No Deal? 1. Do we know enough? 2. Is this a real deal? 3. Can we be competitive? 4. Can we win?

14 Qualification Real deal? Do they have a compelling need? Do they have budget? A three-phase Do we have a process. relationship? Do we match their key requirements? - Technically? Can we compete? - Management plan? - Resource capabilities? Can we win? Do we have meaningful differentiators? Are we at the right level, speaking to the right people? Can we offer a compelling value proposition? Is there a strong bias in our favor? Can we influence the decision criteria?

15 Focus on What Matters

16 Create the Right First Impression: Minimize Cognitive Dissonance

17 What Kind of First Impression Are You Making? Don t waste my time with a bunch of boilerplate! Title Proposal Initial focus? Your name or the client s? Are you pushing a product or proposing a solution?

18 Seven Client-Centered Questions 1. Client s problem, issues? 2. Why is it a problem? 3. Desired outcomes? 4. Most important? 5. Potential solutions? 6. Probable results? 7. Why are we the right choice?

19 Use Persuasive Structure

20 Persuasion is a matter of delivering the right message the right way.

21 The Persuasive Paradigm The Structure of Persuasion N Needs: The customer s key business needs, problems, issues, pains, or opportunities: the drivers behind the deal. Outcomes: O The positive impact that will come from meeting those needs: the motivation to move forward. Solution: S A recommendation for a product or service that will solve the problem and deliver the outcomes Evidence: E Proof you can do the job on time and on budget: your differentiators.

22 Differentiate Yourself

23 Self-Serving Differentiators

24 Differentiators That Matter in Selling Services Methodology Project Management People Resources / Facilities / Tools

25 Establish Compelling Value

26 Smart Buyers Look for Positive Impact Revenue generation Operational efficiency Reliability of mission-critical operations Quality Worker productivity Customer satisfaction Regulatory compliance And other key performance indicators

27 The Value Proposition (Value s - Cost s ) > (Value a - Cost a ) where: Value s = the value of your offering Cost s = the cost of your offering Value a = the value of the next best alternative Cost a = the cost of the next best alternative

28 Four Areas of Value Business / Financial Budgetary compliance Profit improvement Downsizing Personal goals Technical / infrastructure goals Automating a laborintensive process Adding flexibility Improving QC Social goals Internal - Morale - Absenteeism - Turnover External - Public support - Approval - Recognition Look at the client s key goal areas and seek a solution where they overlap.

29 Four Principles of Effective Value 1. Make sure the client cares 2. Measure it 3. Picture it 4. Link it to your differentiators

30 Make It Easy to Read

31 KISS: Keep It Short and Simple The first principle of persuasive writing: Be clear. Live by the first time right rule.

32 Four Pseudo-Languages that Don t Work 1. Fluff 2. Guff 3. Geek 4. Weasel

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34 Fluff: Grandiose claims Vague generalities Clichés No proof

35 Forget the Fluff! Here are a few examples. Anything look familiar? High performance Synergy User friendly Integrated Partnership Seamless Robust World class Best of breed Leading edge State of the art Quality focused Uniquely qualified Innovative

36 Guff.

37 Guff. Guff: Long sentences Too many big words Too much passive voice

38 The dimensionality of expected project problems coupled with the limited time available for preparation means that choices will have to be made to assure viability of the most critical analytical processes.

39 The dimensionality of expected project problems coupled with the limited time available for preparation means that choices will have to be made to assure viability of the most critical analytical processes. Average sentence length: 32 words

40 The dimensionality of expected project problems coupled with the limited time available for preparation means that choices will have to be made to assure viability of the most critical analytical processes. Average sentence length: 32 words Words with three syllables or more: 18

41 The dimensionality of expected project problems coupled with the limited time available for preparation means that choices will have to be made to assure viability of the most critical analytical processes. Average sentence length: 32 words Words with three syllables or more: 18 Passive voice: both sentences

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43 Geek: Disregard for the audience Overuse of jargon and acronyms A focus on technical details instead of business fit or impact

44 We propose using an aggregate computation time ceiling method imposed over a series of fitness cases, thus enabling evolved programs to dynamically choose when to stop processing each fitness case with minimal damage to domain performance.

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46 Avoid the Weasel! Weasel Unnecessary use of weasel words Hyperqualification of every statement Passive voice Subjunctive constructions

47 Weasel Words can be might helps could may be enable allow up to like virtually significantly

48 Exterminate the Weasel In summary, we believe that we have proposed an effective solution, based on the information we have at this time. We look forward to exploring details of the project at greater depth in the future, but for now we hope that this initial proposal will suggest that there is a compelling case for considering us to receive this contract.

49 Exterminate the Weasel In summary, we believe that we have proposed an effective solution, based on the information we have at this time. We look forward to exploring details of the project at greater depth in the future, but for now we hope that this initial proposal will suggest that there is a compelling case for considering us to receive this contract.

50 Exterminate the Weasel In summary, we believe that we have proposed an effective solution, based on the information we have at this time. We look forward to exploring details of the project at greater depth in the future, but for now we hope that this initial proposal will suggest that there is a compelling case for considering us to receive this contract.

51 Defuse the Credibility Bombs

52 Clean Up the Obvious Mistakes The goal is perfection.

53 Editing Tips: 1. Check the client name 2. Always run your spell checker Correctness 3. Use the grammar checker 4. Use the readability calculator Clarity

54 Next Steps

55 You may be feeling a bit overwhelmed.

56 You might even feel that your way of writing proposals has been flattened.

57 Don t despair 1. Take what you like and leave the rest. 2. Identify the most important points for your proposal success. 3. Plan specific steps to incorporate those points into your business practice.

58 4. Qvidian Proposal Automation RFP Responses Proactive Proposals Presentations Qvidian Proposal Automation View a demo at

59 Additional Resources To learn more and/or schedule a customized demo of Qvidian s Proposal Automation, contact us: USA: UK: +44 (0) info@qvidian.com Download your complimentary copy of the new whitepaper, The Seven Deadly Sins of Proposal Writing by Tom Sant at

60 Thank You for Attending!

61 USA: UK: +44 (0)