Win Themes Are Reasons to Buy—But Are They Your Customer’s Reasons? Experienced proposal managers know that proposal win themes are the key benefits you’re bringing to the customer’s RFP. But as so often happens in the haste of proposal development, win themes can be afterthoughts. You offer them as guidelines for in-house reviewers but not Read More

Proposal managers often get to wear different hats. I am stating the obvious, I know. We do not always get to stand back and orchestrate the overall effort of a winning proposal. Often we have to also get down in the trenches and perform last-minute capture management, fill out pricing and contractual forms, write the technical sections when the Subject Matter Experts are unavailable, and dare I say we even have to edit the proposal after we have written most of it ourselves.

Editing begins early in the proposal writing process and continues throughout the lifecycle, but no matter what stage you are pulled in to edit, it is a distinct task in a proposal’s lifecycle that requires a specific skill set. Editing includes cutting and strengthening text for readability and impact, bringing consistency to diverse materials, achieving a “single voice” in a proposal, and even making your writing sing.