Proposal Land

Better RFP Responses & Management
 
Proposal Land

Production Land versus Proposal Land

In Production Land clever people design and make a product or service and then task someone with selling it. In marketing jargon, this someone first identifies the features of the product/service — the characteristics that describe it objectively — and then tries to identify the benefit each confers on a client/user — the things that turn clients/users into buyers by making them willing to spend their money.

A product with the feature of being rugged has the benefit of low replacement cost due to less breakage. A service with the feature of being consistent has the benefit of reliable or predictable outputs/outcomes. A process with the feature of being efficient has the benefit of allowing a project to be finished on schedule  — usually good in itself and often a cost reducer as well. A piece of equipment that conserves fuel has the benefit of lower operating cost.

Proposal Land flips the relationship between features and benefits. First we identify what benefit the client wants — reliability, low-cost, availability, ease of use, 24/7 coverage, to name a few — and then we design a service or product or piece of equipment with the features necessary to deliver those benefits.

It takes marketers and marketing writers in Production Land a while to learn that benefits are not obvious: that they do not necessarily follow from the feature without saying. In a similar way, it takes workers in Proposal Land a while to learn that they should start with the benefits: with what the client really wants. When done correctly, it makes the marketing communication task much easier. No longer is a hapless writer trying to intuit, guess, and otherwise make up a benefit to correlate with every product/service feature: As the basis for the proposal, they just sorta jump out at you.

 

Term: Site Visit

Visit to a site for which, or at which, the contractor will be providing services.

Intended to communicate the scope of work clearly and fairly to all bidders.

Can be mandatory or optional, depending on RFP terms.

Useful for identifying competitors, even in this day of electronic bidding sites, as some companies pay consultants to download RFP documents.

Can be useful for building team cohesion. Can just be weird . . .

Slip/Slip to the Right

Refers primarily to a client not meeting its own promised or forecast date for issuing an RFP, as in “The RFP is slipping to the right.”

Also refers to any schedule deadline being changed to be later than originally advertised.

Note that nothing ever slips to the left.

Only If

This week’s oft-confused terms (margin and markup) give me my rant du jour. Do such silly little differences as whether something is calculated as a percentage of selling price or of cost really matter?

Only if your continued employment depends on achieving a certain profitability for company owners.

Only if you’re trying to communicate clearly with executives.

Only if you’re trying to understand important nuances.

Only if you’re trying to respect domain expertise.

Proposals often see us working with people we know not much in areas we know not at all. A good place to start is by learning the basic jargon. Or at least not being impatient of nuances that seem inconsequential to us, whether those nuances are grammatical, technical, managerial, or financial.

Ask, listen, and learn.

 

Term: Markup

An accounting term for the difference between the cost to the producer or supplier and the price at which it is sold; calculated as a percentage of cost.

Erroneously, often used interchangeably with margin by non-accountants.