Description
This course is for those who have several years of experience with proposal management. It builds advanced skills by offering a deeper understanding of the theory and practice of proposal management, expanding abilities through best practices-based methodologies, and provides tool sets for immediate implementation.
It is an interactive 2-day workshop that is 60 percent lecture, 20 percent exercises and case studies, and 20 percent discussion.
The experts who teach our business development, capture and proposal training are highly experienced currently practicing proposal professionals whose years of successful experience in Government acquisition and training allow them to offer valuable insights to our students. Our instructors can answer tough questions as they come up during the course. They can also tailor the material to their students’ specific challenges, and share their experience based on the most current realities. Check our instructor’s bios on our About page.
Course Curriculum
Learning Objectives
The participants will learn and practice skills in:
- Understanding how to avoid proposal mistakes even mature companies make • Mastering tools and techniques for making a bid-no-bid decision.
- Determining whether an RFP is wired.
- Planning and managing proposal budget and resources.
- Conducting a highly effective proposal kickoff.
- Scaling the proposal process up and down for different size pursuits.
- Applying the techniques to produce the most compelling proposal content that makes a winning difference.
- Mastering rapid learning techniques in a new subject matter to provide ample guidance to subject matter experts who develop innovative solutions.
- Initiating and facilitating rapid solution and section development for every part of the proposal.
- Tracking volume and section progress and quality.
- Applying leadership and proposal team building techniques to achieve optimum performance from proposal contributors.
- Applying effective communication methods to the proposal team.
- Getting results from difficult proposal team members.
- Working effectively with remote participants.
- Getting the most useful inputs from the color reviews.
- Mastering techniques for quickly integrating reviewers’ input into the proposal.
- Managing proposal risk.
- Applying metrics for proposal effectiveness.
- Conducting an effective lessons learned session.
- Making use of personal and organizational proposal process optimization.
Module 1: Introduction
- Introductions and learning objectives.
- Recap: Overview of the proposal process from an advanced big-picture perspective.
Module 2: Preparing for the Proposal Effort
- Top proposal mistakes even mature companies make, and how to avoid them.
- Tools and techniques for making a bid-no-bid decision.
- Tell-tale signs for when the RFP is wired.
- The most important and often missed step before initiating a proposal effort.
- How to plan for proposal resources to manage your team to the budget, and ensure adequate resources for proper proposal quality.
- Typical failures and complications at the proposal preparation stage and how to navigate through them successfully. determine correct and incorrect courses of actions as applicable to a real-life scenario.
- Exercise: Develop a proposal resource plan.
Module 3: Orchestrating a Great Proposal Kickoff
- Psychology of a great proposal kickoff.
- Determining appropriate size and level of proposal kickoff.
- Scaling the proposal process up and down for pursuits of different sizes, including proposal teams with more than 50 participants.
- Tailoring proposal process to the specific pursuit.
- Planning just-in-time training sessions.
- Preparing the kickoff handouts for best communication and team integration.
- Advanced techniques for reaching the nine kickoff goals.
- Typical failures and complications at the kickoff stage and how to navigate through them successfully
- Case Study: Determine correct and incorrect courses of actions as applicable to a real-life scenario.
Module 4: Driving the Team to Produce Winning Content
- Rising beyond the administrative task of running the proposal process.
- Six steps to owning proposal content and making a winning difference.
- Techniques for becoming an expert at being an expert in any proposal’s subject matter.
- Professional techniques for interviewing subject matter experts and capturing content effectively.
- How to provide ample direction and guidance to subject matter experts.
- Typical failures and complications at the content development stage and how to navigate through them successfully.
- Exercise: Practice rapid learning techniques and determine content quality.
Module 5: Overseeing the Development of Winning Volumes and Sections
- How to initiate and facilitate rapid solution and section development sessions.
- Paying attention to the cost volume – one of the most important parts of your bid.
- Managing simultaneous orals and proposal processes.
- Getting to the winning content: executive summary, management, technical, past performance, resumes, and other sections.
- Tracking volume and section progress and quality.
- Exercises: Compare proposal and non-proposal resume. Build an optimized past performance template.
Module 6: Proposal Leadership
- Advanced skills for leading a proposal team effectively on a daily basis.
- Team-building techniques.
- Key management skills that distinguish great proposal managers from the rest.
- Keeping the excitement, motivation, and momentum for your proposal team.
- Methods of effective communication with the proposal team.
- How to coach and train your proposal team.
- How to get results from difficult proposal team members.
- How to work effectively with remote participants.
- Mastering data calls.
- Typical failures and complications of proposal leadership, and how to successfully navigate through them.
- Exercise: Practice proposal team building techniques.
Module 7: Getting the Most from the Proposal Color Review Teams
- Rules of thumb for selecting the right number and types of reviews.
- Setting the right tone for the review regardless of your company’s review process.
- Preparing directions for reviewers.
- Various methods for conducting reviews and their suitability for your proposal.
- Techniques for quickly integrating reviewers’ input into your proposal.
- How to get the most useful input from reviewers.
- Typical failures and complications as related to proposal color reviews, and how to successfully navigate through them.
- Discussion: Troubleshooting organizational review processes and identifying improvements.
Module 8: Improving Proposal Performance
- Troubleshooting your proposal development plan and proposal risk management.
- Navigating through difficult proposal interfaces.
- Facilitating smooth transition from capture to proposal team.
- Transitioning from story boards to draft.
- Scaling the proposal effort up and down depending on the natural lifecycle.
- Effective management of proposal budget.
- Metrics for proposal effectiveness.
- Conducting an effective lessons learned session.
- Personal and organizational proposal process optimization.
- Exercise: Allocate resources based on the proposal lifecycle, and identify risk areas.
Module 9: Summary
- Additional resources and bibliography.
- Summary.
- Recap.
Meet Your Instructor
Olessia Smotrova, CF.APMP Fellow
Olessia has more than 25 years of experience in business development. She led winning bids for four out of the top five Government contractors, winning more than $26 billion over the course of her career in single award contracts. She is an AI developer and strategist, pioneering the use of generative AI in Government contracting. She has created and implemented AI tools for business development processes, proposal strategy formulation, and competitive analysis. She is an AI super-user and thought leader in the practical application of generative AI in synthesizing complex data, generating innovative solutions, and driving decision-making in high-stakes Government BD environments.
She is the author of the book How to Get Government Contracts: Have a Slice of $1 Trillion Pie and seven other books. She has taught a graduate course for the Stevens Institute of Technology, and she provided training to Treasury and NASA. She has served for 2 years as the President of the National Contracts Management Association (NCMA) Bethesda/Medical Chapter and for 2 years as the President of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) National Capital Area Chapter.
Olessia is recognized as an APMP Fellow for her contributions to the field of capture and proposals – the highest honor in the business development profession. Her skills span every aspect of business development, sales, and marketing. Prior to supporting Fortune 500 companies and small businesses as a proposal consultant and growing OST, she worked as a business developer for Raytheon and Lockheed Martin and wrote for the Financial Times of London.
