Recent posts by Cheryl Smith

8 minute read
August 24, 2021

Faster, Better Review Results for Proposal Managers

Proposal reviews are a crossroads for your team; where the writing revisits the win strategy, compliance is confirmed, competition is ghosted, scoring is tested and story and...
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6 minute read
July 19, 2021

Co-Authoring for Proposal Managers

Proposal writing is a team sport, tasking experts from across your organization to collaborate and bring a compliant and compelling win strategy to life in the proposal....
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9 minute read
June 16, 2021

To Do or Not To Do Proposal To-Do Lists

Proposal managers take a lot of guff about their process to-do lists. Team members, writing tasks, graphics, reviews, deadlines, you name it. Sometimes we’ll even add...
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12 minute read
June 8, 2021

The Proposal Writing Key to Pre-RFP

All too often, teams jump into writing without the details they need to write a proposal. But many of the writing techniques teams use to write compelling proposals rely on...
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13 minute read
June 2, 2021

Proposal Writing to Win Strategy: The Hero's Journey

Stories have the power to draw attention. For example, “My friend bought a Tesla.” That’s exciting! But when the story is over, it leaves the reader to draw their own...
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12 minute read
May 25, 2021

Proposal Writing to Win Strategy: The Power of Story

Why do proposals fail? One reason is they struggle to communicate a clear understanding of the client’s problem. When your proposal fails to communicate a clear understanding...
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8 minute read
May 18, 2021

Proposal Writing to Win Strategy: Reviewing for Win Themes and Proposal Themes

Quality proposals use Win Themes and Proposal Themes to capture the evaluator’s attention and imagination. Win Themes subtly remind evaluators of your proposition as they...
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9 minute read
May 10, 2021

Proposal Writing to Win Strategy: Proposal Themes

Quality proposals use Win Themes, or central, overarching messages, to subtly echo the Win Strategy throughout the entire proposal. They also use Proposal Themes: succinct,...
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9 minute read
May 4, 2021

Proposal Writing to Win Strategy: Win Themes

A win strategy is a company's plan for “how to” win the opportunity. It represents a deep understanding of your prospect. It articulates your solution features, benefits and...
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