When you are in a position of an editor or a reviewer, remember that the authors put a lot of work into the proposal, so be respectful and productive in your criticism. You want to treat your team members like fellow adults, and shape your feedback accordingly.
Let’s talk compliance. Compliance, as you know, starts with a proper proposal outline. Proposal managers need to decide which sections of the statement of work to discuss in the outline, and which sections to exclude. It is the outliner’s job to really understand the big picture, and ensure it is structured and annotated in the way that the writers understand the context of their sections. The outliners have to figure out how to tell a great story within the constraints of being compliant.
I spent about 7 years in the infantry, 5.5 years with the 82nd Airborne Division, and 27 months in Afghanistan. This Veterans Day, I want to encourage everyone to work more with veterans and understand the unique skills they bring to business development. Veterans often struggle with transitioning back into the civilian workforce, like I did when I first exited the Army. They often find it hard to translate their valuable experience from their time in the military into the business environment. Yet, many of the skills that our highly trained military personnel have picked up in the field translate very well into the office environment.
We need to get prepared to sprint until the next crisis and potential shutdown that is just around the corner. In the business development world, now is the best time to get in contact with your Government customers. Fit in your capture activities while you can. This stop-and-go, strapped-for-resources type of environment could end up being the new normal for a while. Whether we replay this fiasco all over again in a couple months remains to be seen, but that has been the trend as of late. Regardless, we must go on and serve our customers as if the politicians will work things out between themselves.
The most important goal of capture is to stack the deck in your favor. For now, forget about proving you are the best among the most awesome competitors by writing a winning proposal. Let’s think about how you can reduce the number of competitors from the outset or even better, how you can avoid the competition and get a sole source award where you don’t even have to write a competitive proposal.
Engaging the Government customer boils down to four key tasks: building relationships, collecting information, influencing the requirements, and vetting your solution. Let’s discuss these key tasks and how to complete them in the most effective way.
