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- Herausgeber: tredition
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
'Sharing is Caring'. This well-known saying describes accurately my main motivation for writing this book, in which I've gathered together over a decade's worth of insights from working in the proposal industry. And because Young Professionals are most of the time those in need of great care and guidance, this book does not just provide theoretical knowledge on selected themes but also tackles topics that will be invaluable in supporting professional development. In addition, the book shares suggestions and insights on themes that might not be perceived as technical but are equally important for a successful career in Bid and Proposal Management.
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Seitenzahl: 135
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Proposal Management Insights
Vatis Tsague, CP APMP
PROPOSALMANAGEMENTINSIGHTS
A Collection Of Selected Articles Based On Over 10 Years Of Industry Experience
© 2023 Vatis Tsague
FIRST EDITION
Cover Design & Illustration by: Nnouk Kevin Nazaire
Printing and distribution on behalf of the author:
tredition GmbH, Heinz-Beusen-Stieg 5, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany.
ISBN Softcover: 978-3-347-95944-6
ISBN E-Book: 978-3-347-95945-3
This work, including its parts, is protected by copyright. The author is responsible for the contents. Any exploitation is not permitted without the author's consent. Publication and distribution are carried out on behalf of the author, who can be contacted at: tredition GmbH, Department "Imprint Service", Heinz-Beusen-Stieg 5, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany.
For my Dad.
“Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience. You need experience to gain wisdom.”
— Albert Einstein
Table of Contents
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
I. Preface
1. Escalation Management in Proposal Management – a Guide to Navigate through Tough Times
2. Establishing a (New) Proposal Management Department – a 3-Phases Approach
3. Good Governance & Proposal Management – an Indissociable Connection
4. Proposal Mangement Vs. Bid Management – an Exprience-Based Assessment
5. The Proposal Management Plan (Pmp) – an Indispensable Tool for Proposal Professionals
6. How to Get Unexperienced Proposal Managers “Up and Running” in Just 12 Weeks
7. Quality in Proposal Management: Why It Matters and How It Can be Implemented
8. Powerpoint (Ppt): the Best Format to Produce Proposals – a Demonstration in 6 Points
9. Pursuit Team Vs. Pitch Team – a Comparative Assessment
10. When Knowing the Client is Not Enough – Dealing Withe Frustrtion in Proposal Management
11. The Biggest Challenge for Proposal Managers: Changing the Busi-Ness Sector
12. More than Just “Admin Stuff” - Documentation as at Major Post-Submission Activity
13. Why a Win Rate for Proposal Managers Doesn’T Make Sense – a Fact-Based Assessment
14. Public Sector Vs. Private Sector Proposals – a Comparative Assessment
15. Differentiating between Proposal & Marketing Content – an Assessment
16. Why are Good Proposal Professionals So Expensive? – Ja Simple Explanation
17. The (Often Underestimated) Power of Cvs in Proposals
18. When an Incumbent is Misused by His Client – a Scenario
19. Proposal Management as a Course within University Studies – a Future-Proof Approach
20. The Benefits of Consistent & Apmp-Approved Job Titles in the Proposal Industry – a Proposition
21. Compliance - the "Captain" of All Rules in Proposal Management
22. Orals Prep. – Why It is Important & How to Proceed
23. “Rfp Writer” as Job Title – a Confusing Combination
II. References & Literature
II. Acknowledgements
Proposal Management Insights
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
I.Preface
II.Acknowledgements
Proposal Management Insights
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I. PREFACE
1. PREFACE
Proposal Management Insights is about Proposal Management which ‘can be defined as a step or stage within the sales process aiming at winning business through the submission of a well written offer, outlining exactly how a service provider plans to achieve a client’s goal.‘1
However, Proposal Management Insights provides more than just useful industry knowledge – the reader finds a synthetic mix of industry recommendations and best-practices as well as experiencedbased assessments on themes that are often absent from discussions and conferences, but which are equally important, especially for young Professionals. In this regard, articles such as „The Biggest Challenge for Proposal Managers: Changing Business Sectors” or „Escalation Management in Proposal Management – A Guide to Navigate Through Tough Times” are a perfect illustration.
Readers of „Proposal Management Insights” may recognize some articles already published on some famous online platforms such as APMP WinningTheBusiness.com. However, the publication of a significant portion of content is completely new and provides the readers with useful insights and perspectives on different areas of the proposal management profession. Moreover, a selected number of articles have been enriched with (Additional) Key Takeaway and/or useful quotes to enhance the pedagogical approach and enable a better comprehension of the topic addressed.
But where does the need to produce a book on Proposal Management come from? This appears to be a legitimate question given the fact that the industry is already full of countless books and literature.
The initiative to produce articles is and has always been an act of learning and sharing experiences while enjoying its benefits because knowledge is the only thing you can share while encreasing it as you learn from the feedback you receive !
Proposal Management Insights is also the result of a personal aspiration, an aspiration that resulted from the need to answer a critical question: How do we make our competences more visible and how do we share the valuable knowledge gathered over the years? Of course, we should strive to be excellent at what we do in order to be considered as such by peers. Arguably, this would require delivering great performances which should qualify us to be considered as “Experts”; but an additional requirement would be to proudly showcase this expertise by producing and sharing content – content with different and interesting perspectives.
In this regard, acquiring and developing knowledge by serving the proposal community with a book that could be used to promote Proposal Management as a discipline appeared to me as a logical conclusion.
Was my involvement in the proposal industry planned?
The answer is no. But is my case so unique? Not at all ! Many Professionals have indeed confessed that they got into the proposal industry “by accident”, which is often the accomplishment of a challenging (professional) journey. This reality, visible on the graphic below, is portrayed in the final results of a poll I created in March 2023 on LinkedIn.
Source : Results of a LinkedIn Survey, conducted on March 2023.
And just there you have a great example of one of the roles that Proposal Management Insights aims to play which is to provide concrete answers on many important issues and topics, thereby providing meaningful orientations and experienced-based solutions for (young) Proposal Professionals as these topics are addressed with the ultimate goal of helping them have a planned, structured, and successful career.
As Proposal Management Insights is, for the most part, fact and experienced-based, it offers less room for a contestation or at least makes this quite difficult. However, there are some topics with assessments intentionally based on a subjective approach which, by definition, must be open for contradiction, discussion and even contestation. This is intended and will be appreciated.
The exercise of challenging ideas should be part of our culture as it helps to improve the debate, thereby leading to progress. Needless to say, that (constructive) critics on the subjects in this book is awaited as it will help the proposal community to grow intellectually which is one of the inevitable results when thoughts are submitted to useful critics.
There is no specific reason for the ranking of the articles in this book because no topic is more important than the other. As mentioned, they are based on practical experience and challenges encountered over the last ten years and as such, can also be viewed as the result of intense reflections on the current state and the future of the proposal profession.
Articles such as „The Benefits of Consistent & APMP-approved Job Titles in the Proposal Industry – A Proposition” or “Proposal Management as a Subject within University Studies – A Futureproof Approach” can be considered as a contribution to the debate.
Finally, Proposal Management Insights intends to showcase a clear commitment to the development of the proposal profession and aspires to be classified among the tools that can be used to shape the future of the proposal industry.
Flörsheim am Main, August 2023
Vatis Tsague, CP APMP
1 A quote from my article « Good Governance and Proposal Management – an indissociable connection ». See page 41 of this book.
1. ESCALATION MANAGEMENT IN PROPOSAL MANAGEMENT – A GUIDE TO NAVIGATE THROUGH TOUGH TIMES
The Escalation Road Map (ERM)
Source: Self-designed graphic
Introduction
As with any other initiative or activity, everything does not always go to plan during a project which sometimes generates the need to have a clear process and specific stakeholders in order to ensure a successful project outcome. This reality, also known as Escalation, is no different in Proposal Management. An escalation might not always be a pleasant topic as it implies that something is going wrong but Professionals in the industry do recognize the need for such a process and how important it is to know how to conduct one when needed.
The aim of this article is therefore to underscore the importance of knowing how to manage escalations and to provide guidance and tools to manage them successfully. The proposed approach will help understand why it matters while providing a road map that is consistent and experienced-based. It should be noted that a differentiation should be made between what I call “positive” and “negative” escalations. A “positive” escalation can be defined as the process of getting the feedback of a SME or a (senior) stakeholder to help appreciate a situation before making a final decision. This is however not the subject of this article. Instead, this article will solely focus on the “negative” escalation as part of a tool that must be triggered to avoid or settle a problem arising from conflicting views or opinions among project team members.
With the ambitious goal of providing a guide to navigate through tough times, a detailed definition of the term ‘Escalation’ above will be followed by a presentation of the approach before closing with a clear and direct message to all those who might be tempted to misuse this precious tool.
What does it mean to escalate and why it matters?
From a definition point of view, to escalate means to require (senior) assistance, in order to urgently communicate on the seriousness of a situation with the aim of increasing the intensity or raising maximum awareness. Within Proposal Management, the occurrence of escalation largely depends on the seniority of the Proposal Manager in charge. Proposal Professionals with in-depth experience are well-equipped with tools and strategies to effectively manage potential conflicts within a project team thereby avoiding (unnecessary) escalations.
For Junior Professionals however, escalations sometimes remain the only option available to “save” a project and ensure a successful delivery. It is therefore critical to know how to navigate through these tough times, which is why the present Escalation Road Map (ERM) was established as a means to summarize the different stages and appropriate actions for each stage. The main graphic of this article provides a synthetic view of the process.
To have an escalation process is not just important, it is best practice. The process should be updated at least once a year. As suggested above, the benefits of having one in place are most visible in times of crisis because of the huge amount of time that is saved. However, efficiency is not the only benefit: Effectiveness also grows as the Proposal Manager has more time to deal with proposal and content related issues, hence ensuring a successful delivery.
Managing Escalations – The “höfflich, aber bestimmt Approach”
Many experienced Professionals (including myself) might argue that the secret to a successful escalation management is to avoid one in the first place! And this can only be achieved through a consistent and constant communication with all stakeholders involved. Fair enough. But what do you do if this doesn’t help, and you still need to escalate?
As an answer, I suggest an assessment that I’ve labeled the “höfflich aber bestimmt” approach which is a concept I’ve developed over the years to successfully manage escalations. The term “höfflich aber bestimmt” is from the German language and literally mean “polite but firm”. In other words, the Proposal Manager – in his constant communication with all stakeholders working on the proposal – will need to be polite but firm in his actions and requirements.
Polite because it is always the right thing to do. Firm because as a Proposal Professional, your job is to ensure the delivery of compliant and responsive proposals which demands not only industry knowledge but also a strong personality combined with outstanding work ethic that not only must be respected, but more importantly, imposes respect.
As shown in the graphic ERM above, on average 95% of all escalations are or can be settled before Stage 4. This estimation, based on experience, also reflects how efficient and empowered the various stakeholders must be. For all of them, and maybe even more so for the Proposal Manager in charge, there should be a strong interest in ensuring that all necessary actions needed between stage 1 & 3 were taken to resolve the issue(s), making the use of stage 4 unnecessary. Their competence and professionalism are at stake here and could be negatively evaluated if they fail, thereby forcing top management to intervene. (Stage 4)
Do not misuse escalations!
This article cannot be concluded without addressing a misconception in our industry which is that of confusing the call for escalation with the fear of taking actions. The first one is best practice and the other one is incompetence! It would indeed be unprofessional to “misuse” escalation to justify the lack of confidence in making or taking decisions.
