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Management & Operating (M&O) for Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12), Pantex Plant Site (PX), & Savannah River Site (SRS)

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If you need help designing and executing your capture program or proposals to win this procurement contact Sid Jaffe, at 703-642-5153.

Brown Bag Session 12: Knowing the Client�s Dream
By Sid Jaffe, President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.

There are four types of proposals and responses to RFPs: Bad, Good, Outstanding and the Right Proposal. Bad Proposals lose because they are generally not compliant, and probably address an opportunity to which they never should have been written. Good Proposals may be compliant, but lack distinction and rarely win. Outstanding Proposals are compliant as well as having the components of a strong solution, value-based price and are backed by past performance; yet they too often lose. It is the Right Proposal that wins. The Right Proposal is not only compliant and compelling, but also contains in it the client's dream and their operations plan -- what we know and call "Win Themes." The Right Proposal has these aforementioned elements and presents them using the client's words.

The proposal reads to the decision maker as if they wrote it. They relate to it. They want it. You won't read your client's dream or win themes in FedBizOpps. You cannot write to the client's dream, in the client's words, if you have not met with them often enough to establish a trusted relationship so that they will want to share their dream and vision with you. You develop the position of trust with the client over time, not during one briefing where you do all of the talking. Schedule a Brown Bag with your staff to discuss how they can participate in developing relationships that leads to knowing the operations plan and dream -- the Win Themes.

For more information on BD training for your managers and technical staff that address this issue contact Sid Jaffe, sjaffe@acibiz.com at 703-642-5153.

Time: We Can't Create It; We Can Only Use It
By Bill Hamilton, Vice President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.

A large number of our newsletter articles have to do with the use of time. Most of them described wasted time and things that can be done about that waste. We all give lip service to the need for good time management but few of us do anything about implementing it.

The business development process is time consuming. Unlike television programs, business development success does not happen in a 60-minute window. Companies all too often concentrate on the near term just to keep the lights on while overlooking the need for training or planning for the future. While you need to keep the lights on, you also need to keep looking ahead of the current crises to prepare for the next opportunity. It is very difficult for a manager to concurrently face daily crises while keeping an inquiring mind to search for the next future crown jewel.

To keep time on your side, begin your planning early. Every hour of front end planning and getting to know your customer early in the process will help you many times over in a latter part of the procurement cycle. Take advantage of slack times or long-lead times to train your employees and hone their skills. Before RFP's hit you, take advantage of time to review your past performance citations and resumes of key personnel or people who could be key personnel. Review and update capability statements before you need them. Activate capture teams as early in the process as possible and ensure your capture manager and others in the capture management team accept ownership of a procurement as a program. In so far as possible, keep operational roles separate from business development roles so business developers can keep their minds involved with developing the future and not get bogged down with current operational problems. Finally, use your most cost effective resources to do a job. Instead of wearing down your key personnel by over-use, consider using consultants in certain specific tasks in their place. This approach can be more cost effective in the long run

We cannot create time. We can only use it more efficiently. With early planning and execution of strategy, time can become an asset instead of a liability. Want to discuss ways you could improve your business development program? Call me at 703-642-5153 or contact me at bhamilton@acibiz.com and let's talk.

So The Draft's Not Perfect.... Fagetaboutit!
by J.P. Richard, Vice President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.

I recently reviewed some written material with a client and heard the following excuses as we started: "It's not very polished yet and I'm embarrassed by this stuff." I stopped him right there and reminded him that this was still the first draft and the objective was to get the ideas down on paper, not write great prose. That can come later. In fact, at the first draft stage, get the material down in any order, writing about what you are most comfortable with first, then go back and rearrange and fine tune later.

Writing paralysis can set in if you worry too much about the style and the literary value of your material. After a few experiences, you'll find that the tweaking and the refining comes more naturally and if you get most of the ideas down early, you'll have more time to refine and polish the text, even with the deadline looming. This is just one of many tips you can gain from our attending our proposal workshops. These workshops are scheduled for August 18-19, 2010. E-mail J.P. Richard at jprichard@acibiz.com.

These insults are from an era when cleverness with words was still valued, before a great portion of the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words, not to mention waving middle fingers.