Proposal Theme Statements & Win Strategy Training (On-Demand)

$595.00

Theme statements show the Government exactly why they should choose you over your competitors. This course teaches you step-by-step how to write persuasive and memorable proposals using theme statements that highlight your discriminators in terms of customer benefits. You will learn how to build a win strategy based on these specific themes and deliver a compliant and compelling proposal.

This class is also offered in a live lecture format that you can attend in person or virtually. To learn more click here.

SKU: ONDEM-PTSAWST Categories: ,

Description

This training workshop offers valuable skills in proposal win themes development as the most important element of persuasion. As a core component of win themes development, this course also covers win strategy development techniques indispensable in Government capture management.

This course emphasizes that win themes are primarily a function of capture management, and should drive your win strategy, not the other way around.

The course walks you through the purpose of win themes, their numerous types, and their three building blocks. It discusses how they are used at every stage of the capture, proposal, and proposal evaluation process. The workshop then advances beyond the mere basics in order to explain everything needed to develop effective proposal win themes. It shows how to write win themes that are memorable and make your company stand out among other bidders. These win themes are capable of influencing your Government customers so that they feel compelled to select your company.

You will then acquire techniques and practice them in hands-on exercises to transform win themes into win strategies, to help increase your proposal’s win probability (Pwin).

The workshop helps practice an efficient process of getting to the right win themes within hours instead of spending days in boring and unproductive brainstorming sessions, coming up with such overused statements as “we are the lowest risk, best value provider” or “we are ISO or CMMI certified.”

This workshop is 40 percent lecture, 50 percent exercises, and 10 percent discussion. Participants will learn how to masterfully facilitate win themes development sessions, and will never have to struggle with creating the right win themes or win strategies.

The experts who teach our business development, capture, and proposal training courses 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 us page.

Course Curriculum

Learning Objectives

Upon course completion, the participants will have learned and be able to put into practice:
  • Understanding the goals and the characteristics of effective proposal win themes and customer messages during the capture process.
  • ​Knowing the most useful types and categories of win themes for Government capture and proposals.
  • ​Recognizing and applying the building blocks of a successful win theme.
  • ​Identifying Government customer hot buttons necessary for win theme development.
  • ​Using a three-session win theme development process.
  • ​Refining and enhancing win themes.
  • ​Deriving a capture win strategy and developing strategic actions from your win themes to increase your Pwin.
  • ​Applying advanced win theme development concepts to influence Government evaluators more effectively.
  • ​Presenting win themes effectively in a proposal.
  • ​Facilitating the win theme development process and applying its principles in course participants’ organizations.

Course Highlights

Module 1: Introduction
  • Introductions and learning objectives.
  • The purpose of win themes.
Module 2: Defining Win Themes
  • Typical problems with developing proposal win themes.​
  • Definition of proposal win themes.
  • ​Rule of thumb for win themes.
  • ​Variety of win theme forms and their examples.
  • ​Characteristics of effective win themes that are most useful to winning your proposal.
  • Three general categories of win themes.
    Discussion: Types and categories of win themes used in participants’ proposals.
Module 3: The Anatomy of Proposal Win Themes
  • Three building blocks of effective proposal win themes.
  • ​Function of each building block and its identifying questions.
  • ​Dissecting each of the win themes building blocks.
  • ​Checklists and questions for defining the building blocks.
  • ​Making your win themes believable.
  • ​Real reasons why people have trouble identifying benefits.
  • ​Identifying the customer’s sweet spot.
  • ​Techniques for disciplined construction of win themes.
  • ​Examples of successful proposal win themes.
    Exercise: Identify each of the building blocks and their relevancy to the customer. Deconstruct a complex win theme.
Module 4: The Secret Sauce – Efficient and Effective Win Theme Development Process During the Capture Process
  • Facilitating a win themes development session.
  • ​Inputs into a win themes development: Brainstorming Session 1 structure.
  • ​Outputs from win themes development: Brainstorming Session 1.
  • ​How to automatically shift focus from you to the customer.
  • ​Definition and types of Government hot buttons.
  • ​Techniques for identifying hot buttons for your Government customers.
  • ​Framework with a checklist for recognizing hot buttons.
  • ​The secret sauce of win theme development: Brainstorming Session 2.
  • ​Examples of win themes that highlight the principle of customer focus.
  • ​Brainstorming Session 3: Weeding and refining win themes using a strategic approach.
  • ​Facilitating Win Themes Brainstorming Session 3.
    Exercise: Identify customer’s hot buttons. Apply next process steps to developing win themes. Refine and enhance your win theme.
Module 5: Transforming Win Themes into Win Strategies and Action Items as the Focus of Successful Capture Planning
  • Win strategy development using win themes.
  • ​Strategic actions development for successful capture planning.
  • ​Types of strategic actions that increase your proposal Pwin.
    Discussion: Derive a capture win strategy and develop strategic actions from your win theme.
Module 6: Advanced Win Theme Concepts
  • Flavors of proposal win themes.
  • Advanced persuasion techniques applicable to win themes and customer messaging.
  • Questions to pressure-test the quality of your win themes.
    Exercise: Practice changing the win theme’s flavor to enhance its effectiveness.
Module 7: Placing Win Themes in the Proposal
  • Examples of how win themes should appear in a Government proposal.
  • ​Structure of a win theme in a focus box.
  • ​Structure of a win theme in the text.
  • ​Other instances of win themes.
    Exercise:​Rephrase your win theme to present it in different forms in your proposal.
Module 8: Capture and Proposal Team Facilitation in Win Themes Development
  • Capture and proposal team facilitation tips.
  • ​Win theme development process application tips.
  • ​Where win theme development fits in the capture and proposal process.
    Discussion: How participants will implement win themes development process in their organizations.
Module 9: Summary and Recap
  • Additional resources and bibliography.
  • Summary.
  • ​Recap.

Meet Your Instructor

Olessia Smotrova Profile Photo 2024 Updated OST Global Solutions IncOlessia 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.

Student Reviews

Anthony Needam Avatar
Anthony Needam
12/10/2024
This was new to me. It was very I formative. We received our packets late. I was not aware of how interactive this would be.
read more
Nao Gamo Avatar
Nao Gamo
11/07/2024
I highly recommend the "MASTER AI TO ENHANCE BD, CAPTURE AND PROPOSAL PROCESSES" course! Not just a high-level overview of AI and its capabilities, the course is full of practical tips that you can apply immediately. All the courses I have taken with OST Global Solutions have been well worth it!!
read more
Francisca Celmer Avatar
Francisca Celmer
11/07/2024
The "Master AI to Enhanced BD, Capture, and Proposal Processes" class given by OST Global Solutions was truly outstanding. The instructor was incredibly knowledgeable and engaging. She made the material easy to understand and directly applicable. I highly recommend this class.
read more
Jay Yudof Avatar
Jay Yudof
11/06/2024
The BD and capture using AI course what is comprehensive and effectively taught.
read more
andre downey Avatar
andre downey
11/06/2024
The class taught alot of useful information on ai & working it in to our proposal development process
read more
Lilliana Reyes Avatar
Lilliana Reyes
9/20/2024
Great course! Clear information and great pace.
The information was very helpful for someone getting started in the proposal world or someone just trying to learn how to easily transition from InDesign to Microsoft Word.
read more
Aislinn Berge Avatar
Aislinn Berge
9/20/2024
Took the full day training on Desktop Publishing For Proposal Writing with Phillip Pettet. I learned so much! Phillip was fantastic at explaining things and gave lots of tips and tricks for using Word. Thank you!
read more
TC Phil Avatar
TC Phil
8/28/2024
I recently completed the year-long Business Development Apprenticeship with OST Global Solutions, Inc., and it exceeded my expectations! The program is comprehensive, covering BD, capture, proposal skills, and so much more. It’s clear that OST is the best in the business—they have addressed the real skill gap in this field.

Their curriculum, aligned with Department of Labor standards for Federal Government Business Development, is TOP-NOTCH and the first of its kind in the nation! The training was practical, directly applicable to our business, and provided the expertise needed to succeed in this competitive industry. I highly recommend this apprenticeship to anyone looking to advance their career in Business Development. I plan on taking many additional courses over the next few years as they continue to stay ahead of the curve. Thank you, OST!
read more
George Franz Avatar
George Franz
6/13/2024
Great course from OST Global Solutions! Olessia's vast experience in this area shines through and the course is chocked full of tips, tactics, and information sources to consider to perform competitive analysis and determine price to win for opportunities.
read more
Tiffany & Jay Jackson Avatar
Tiffany & Jay Jackson
4/29/2024
I've taken multiple classes with Olessia of OST Global Solutions and the classes are always well-structured and informative. The lastest course on AI is phenomenal - highly recommend it if you're looking to enhance your BD, Capture, and Proposal processes via AI!
read more
LaKeisha Thomas Avatar
LaKeisha Thomas
4/25/2024
Alexia was a very engaging instructor. The AI class was mind blowing! The capabilities using AI to assist with BD processes are endless. I'm looking forward to implementing all of these new tools.
read more
Erica Blue Avatar
Erica Blue
4/25/2024
Olessia did a wonderful job of teaching how to use AI for all stages of the Biz Dev process. She had practical examples and hands on practice. Helped change my perspective of AI overall, including its capabilities and limitations.
read more