The Competitive Edge: Why You Need a Professional Proposal Consultant
Are you a small business owner struggling to grow your business? Or perhaps you work for a larger company drowning in RFPs and other solicitations. For either of these cases, proposal consultants can be your competitive edge in managing the heavy lift of RFP-based proposals while achieving 100% compliance and creating responsive, winning proposals.
What Is a Proposal Consultant?
While some companies have internal proposal teams, many companies- large and small- do not. Consequently, proposal tasks stack on top of team members’ daily responsibilities, which means working nights and weekends to complete the proposal on time.
Proposal leads struggle to delegate responsibilities, schedule reviews, and meet deadlines. In turn, this lackluster approach leads to lost bids and frustrated teams.
However, proposal consultants can resolve these disparities.
Ok, so what are proposal consultants? According to the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) Body of Knowledge,
“Proposal/Business Development Consultants are independent contractors who work for proposal consulting companies. They provide companies with additional options for resources across all business development functions. Their job functions vary from leadership of engagements to assisting in surge situations. Their roles may include contributions to supporting a client’s business development capabilities in gap analysis, process development, and leadership coaching.”
This definition presents consultants as a supplement for existing proposal teams without addressing the critical role of proposal consultants as the only source of proposal support.
In many cases, the consultant (or team of consultants) serves as the primary proposal team. They only solicit help from the hiring company when needed, e.g., understanding the deal, executive sponsorship, subject matter expertise, reviews, and proposal delivery.
How Can a Proposal Consultant Support My Business?
Proposal consultants have an established methodology they apply to each RFP response. As a result, you won’t have to reinvent the wheel and will gain a competitive edge throughout the proposal effort.
A proposal consultant’s approach might look something like this:
Pre-Bid Strategy:
- Receive solicitation documents and review each to understand how long the project will take.
- Meet with clients to discuss opportunities, expectations, budget, and responsibilities.
- Create a project plan based on client expectations and contributions.
- Create templates, styles, and customized cover pages.
Proposal Development:
- Input preexisting content.
- Write new content as needed.
- Create graphics, callouts, and figures.
- Perform compliance checks throughout the process.
- Schedule regular cadence calls to track progress and address roadblocks or concerns.
- Maintain version control.
- Stay up to date on amendments or other changes to the opportunity.
Proposal Submission:
- Finalize documents using a combination of manual editing, editing software, and finalization software.
- Save documents in required formats.
- Collect and send final files for client approval.
- Assist with portal, email, or physical submissions.
Key Takeaways
Now ask yourself—wouldn’t you rather hire someone else (who already knows how to do everything on this list) than deal with the aggravation of figuring it out yourself? Using a proposal consultant saves time and resources for internal teams. As such, you can focus on your company’s growth and delivering impactful solutions to your clients.
Unsure where to begin your RFx journey? Let Once Upon an RFP’s proposal experts help position you for success with proven processes and tools. Contact us.
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
As a proud woman-owned and certified disability-owned business, Once Upon an RFP is committed to fostering a culture of inclusivity, acceptance, and support in a diverse world.