It’s the beginning of the year and firms are lining up their projects and consultants. Proposals and statements of work are getting written and signed. My students (management consulting class M 10-1pm) have a proposal-writing assignment due, here’s what I told them.
Answer the client’s key questions
Proposal outlines vary, but there are also commonalities. This is a sales document, and in the end, you want them to buy. If marketing is making it “easy to buy”, then here are some questions a buyer might have:
1 – Overview / Background
- What is your understanding of our company and the issue(s)?
- What are some of your initial points of view, observations? (show me you’re thinking)
- What’s the potential opportunity? Is this project worth doing?
2 – Objectives
- What are the goals of this project?
- How will this benefit us short-term / long-term?
- What will success look like?
3 – Approach
- What is the “architecture” and big phases of the project?
- What is the sequencing of events and why?
- How much time, resources, access do you need from me and my team?
4 – Key Deliverables
- What “product” will you be giving us?
- What will it look like? Excel, PowerPoint, survey, workshop?
- What’s the purpose of these deliverables?
5 – Timeline / Activities
- How many weeks / months is the project?
- How does the approach (phases) correspond to the calendar?
- What are the key activities and milestones each week?
6 – Team
- Who are the consultants on the project?
- Why are these the right people?
- What are their roles on the team?
7 – Qualifications
- What makes you different from the “run-of-the-mill” process consultant?
- What evidence can you show that you’ve done similar work before?
- Do you have references that I can call?
8 – Pricing
- How much will this cost?
- Will this be fixed fee or paid by the # of resources x hourly rate?
- What are the payment terms?
What’s it look like?
We’ve talked about the 4 “hats” you wear when writing here. After the madman, architect, carpenter stages, it’s time to take a step back and judge what you wrote. Does it make sense? Could the client actually explain it to someone else – based on your document? Is it choked-full of jargon and boring business generalities?
Sometimes, words are insufficient. Sometimes, a table helps to organize data and put things in buckets. Sometimes, a diagram can quickly and poetically show the architecture of your thoughts. Sometimes, a screenshot of a scrubbed (cleansed of client information) deliverable helps the client “see” what you’re talking about. This is an area where we can learn from our design-thinking, marketing siblings – who find immersive ways to enchant the client. Home-built websites, videos, visualizations, mock-ups, and in-person workshops.
What’s the story you’re telling?
A successful proposal is a story that convinces the client – head, heart, hand – that this project is worth doing, and that it will be successful. No one wants to spend the company’s money, then get embarrassed by a failed project. Clients put themselves at risk by trusting you. Yes, you are a risk.
What’s the story you are telling? As you describe what you COULD DO, how can you ally their fears with your structured thinking, precise language, and business wisdom? During this engagement period, how are you describing the marriage? How can you be specific enough to be credible, but also broad enough to flexibly follow the data and analysis to the right recommendations.
Is it worth it?
We often put the pricing at the end – on purpose. In the preceding pages, the proposal should make a compelling “pitch” of the work, approach, deliverables, and team that will do the work. Namely, this is a good deal for the client.
Think about willingness-to-pay. However expensive your fixed fee and rate, you should be confident in your ability to return a multiple of that to your client in good work. If you’re charging $ X, are you giving 5-10X in value to the client?
Finally, a few sanity check questions:
- If a stranger picked up this document, would they get it?
- If you were the client, would you buy this?
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Great summary! I’d like to add a few comments about the tone and length of the document.
If the client is non-governmental and not a utility, and if the client counterpart is the CEO or a top manager, I think the proposal should be jargon-free, personable, written from scratch and short. If your firm has to crank out proposal after proposal and the pricing is in the lower bracket, usually the work is less tailored and that shows in proposals (i.e.: copy paste). And frankly it can’t really be avoided. But for strategy engagements or other such work, a proposal should never feel like it fell off a conveyor belt. And in these situations I’d avoid graphs or tables if possible.
Utilities and government work typically require specific templates and sections, as they will be scrutinized and can be made public.
Thank you kindly. Great input. Proposals depend on the audience. If government, non-profit, utility company, then expect it to be publicly available. Yikes…
Oh, and the sanity check questions you added are of the utmost importance.
#superwinning.
Like the approach. Very similar to Tom Sant’s NOSE (Needs Outcomes Solutions Evidence) framework.
To me, the bigger question is why you are writing a proposal. Is this in response to an RFP? Especially one you just found out about… Then you may be doing a lot of work to help your client get a lower price from their current vendor.
That is 100% true. That would be an interesting poll. . . . for those who have submitted a solicited RFP bid. . 1) What % did you win? 2) Of that %, what % di you regret winning. . .
Good outline and summary . Most clients make decisions through a committee or team . An Executive Summary is something that I have always included. We completed it at the end of creating the proposal and it was the first item in the proposal . We would like to flatter ourselves that our clients will read the whole thing (and some will) . However it has been my experience that the discussions concerning the proposal in the committee/team process are conducted using the Executive Summary.
That is 100% the truth.
Hi,
Great summary and content. Though the write up does allude to it in a rather subtle way, in addition I usually call out the following in the proposal.
1. What is the problem/situation we are dealing with, and therefore what’s the possibility we are creating/addressing.
2. What are the factors/matters that are critical to the success of this project/activity.
Best Regards, Nandan