Jessica Pryke

…however, the reality of a photograph emotionally reinforces truth in your messages. Photographs convey realism and authenticity. Imagine what your customer wants to see after making a purchase and select images that support that vision realised. Using photographs makes your proposals more compelling and helps de-risk your solution, as photographs offer visible proof of past

Prevent your proposals from being a collection of “trust me” claims by including proof of experience and performance. Create compelling, de-risked proposals by ensuring these proof points are embedded within the main body content they relate to, bolstering the claims being made. Different evaluators reviewing different sections rarely link your proposed approach to relevant proof

… ensure your verbal and non-verbal communication styles are working in harmony. When these elements are in conflict, your credibility is brought into question. Audience members are more likely to trust the non-verbal elements when determining truth/meaning. Practise to develop and display competent, consistent, non-verbal presentation skills that will maximise your persuasive impact.

Gobbledygook is pompous or abstract language that obscures and confuses meaning. Increase the persuasiveness of your sales documents (and conversations) by using specific, concise words and phrases. By being specific you: •improve the clarity and credibility of your offering •make the job of evaluating your proposed solution easier

An early solution freeze leads to a superior proposal, with an adequate solution. A late solution freeze puts pressure on the proposal team and will typically result in poorly written proposals fraught with pricing inconsistencies, a reduction in your evaluation scores and an increase in your contractual risk. Determine who has the authority to freeze

No matter how poor the numbering system in the bid request, use it. Place helpful notes in your proposal and your cross-reference matrix to make it easy for evaluators to correlate the bid request and your proposal.

Value propositions establish the value basis for the business relationship. They describe how your solution will improve the customer’s business and how the improvement will be measured. Make sure your value proposition is: •relevant to the individual client •predicated around what is important to the client not what you consider important about your own organisation

Redundant words reduce the persuasiveness of your sales documents and should be used only when trying to: •Emphasise a point: Planning is absolutely essential to meet every milestone •Mirror the bid request: Every bidder must include a chapter on past performance

  In most instances, the evaluators did not prepare the bid request AND they are looking to rapidly locate the answers to the questions asked in the bid request.   Make it easy for evaluators to correlate the bid request and your proposal by: •Mirroring the numbering system in the bid request •Placing helpful notes

Kick off meetings are critical milestones that require careful core team planning then execution. Premature kickoff meetings offer the illusion of progress but lead to more rework and less competitive proposals Good ones motivate, inform and direct teams and have the following objectives: •Create a cohesive team •Initiate contributors’ proposal efforts •Answer questions about the