Lesson 14: When to Seek Professional Proposal Help?

If you answer yes to any of the following questions, the answer is NOW:

• Constant chaos leading right up to the deadline?
• Rejected responses due to non-compliance?
• Last-minute or late proposal submissions?
• An overworked, beyond capacity team?
• No idea why you’re not winning bids?

So often, proposal teams are not dedicated resources. Whether your team is responding to a solicitation/RFP or submitting a proactive proposal, it may be a project beyond each member’s daily responsibilities. This means your team may be working late or on weekends just to meet the deadline.

Hiring proposal professionals not only eliminates undo stress, but it streamlines future bid efforts by establishing standard processes, procedures, and timelines.

What If We Need a Complete Revamp?

Perhaps you need to hire a whole proposal team to take over. For companies that frequently submit large-scale proposals, hiring proposal consultants to develop each aspect of the proposal process may be the best way to go.

Proposal consultants can help:

• Draft project plans.
• Create proposal templates.
• Facilitate team kickoff meetings.
• Facilitate cadence calls.
• Support content development.
• Draft proposal sections.
• Complete required
• Create compelling page layouts and graphics.
• Review and edit.
• Suggest production and delivery best practices.
• Submit electronic submissions.

How Else Can a Proposal Professional Help?

What a proposal professional can do to help your team will depend on where your gaps lie.

If your team struggles with compliance and sticking to internal deadlines, you may need a proposal manager to create a project plan, delegate tasks, and keep the project on course.

Maybe your team needs help creating templates, organizing content, or creating client-focused and effective content. In this case, you may need to hire a proposal writer to conduct interviews, customize existing content, or generate new copy.

Once your team has the right combination of resources and processes in place, proposal compliance and deadlines will become a walk in the park.

Photo by nikko macaspac on Unsplash