Jargon in Proposals
Jargon is great--as long as everyone understands the jargon you use. If they don't, though, they're missing the point you're trying to make.
Dave's Proposal Blog
Post-Procurement Research and Analysis
How can you get better if you don’t know what you did wrong? Or right? A good post-procurement research and analysis program will show you both.
How to Improve Your RFP/Proposal Win Rate
How to improve your RFP/proposal win rate involves more than just writing better proposals. In fact, there are five major things that impact your win rate.
Proposal Writers Are Salespeople
Too many people in the proposal development world think of themselves as “technical” writers. In fact, proposal writers are salespeople who sell on paper.
Why Professional Salespeople Hate RFPs (and Why They Shouldn’t)
Professional salespeople hate RFPs, and not always for good reasons. It’s time to set some things straight.
The Best Books for Proposal Development Professionals
If you can only choose three, what are the best books that proposal development professionals should read?
Calculating Proposal Win Rates
How do you calculate your proposal win rate? Begin by recognizing there’s more than one. This blog post argues there are at least eight proposal win ratios most sellers should be calculating.
Choosing Who Should Write Your Content
Proposal writers write. Everybody else should be supporting the writing effort.
Proposal Success Factors
Responding to an RFP is not a writing project to complete, it’s a sales process to win–and we need to treat it that way.
Understand Why Buyers Go Out To Bid
Buyers issue RFPs for only one of two reasons; because they have to or because they want to. If you get an RFP but don’t know which one it is, your chances of winning just went down.
Average Proposal Win Rate When Responding to RFPs
Sellers ask about average win rates because they’re trying to gauge their performance. They’re looking for some external standard against which they can evaluate how well they’re doing. But is this the best approach?
Capitalization…in Moderation!
Some writers feel the need to capitalize words more than is actually necessary. Fortunately, there are capitalization rules to guide us.
It’s OK to Use Contractions in Your Proposals
In the old days, formal business writing precluded the use of contractions. In today’s informal world, contractions are fine.
Use Active Voice to Improve Proposal Clarity and Credibility
Use active voice when writing proposals. Your writing will be clearer, and you won’t sound like you’re trying to hide something.
Making Your Proposals Friendly to Colorblind Readers
If you use color graphs and charts to communicate information in your proposals, then the 8% of men and .5% of women who are colorblind may not understand.