Communicating Effectively with Your Proposal Team
Communication is the key to so many things in life. So, its no surprise that this very basic but often complicated aspect of our lives also relates to submitting proposals. Before becoming a proposal manager, I worked with many teams in support roles and noticed when a proposal process was run well, I was less tired at the end of it; and when the process was a bit more chaotic I was, well… exhausted. When it came down to it, being able to follow standard processes and having clear communications made the difference.
Part of the battle with submitting a proposal can be bringing together a team that may not usually work together and now need to figure out how to work together quickly. Even if you have a small team that always works together it can still be challenging to submit a winning proposal without waring everyone out. But, having the proper communications in place leads to less confusion and burn out.
Here’s how to make it happen…
Have a proposal lead who serves as the main point of contact to keep track of the entire proposal process (e.g. a proposal manager)
As with any team sport, there needs to be one person who’s leading the charge. The reason this works is because without a designated, trusted leader things get confusing. The team doesn’t know who to listen to or ask questions of. For proposals, having one point of contact to manage the ins and outs of the project allows your team to focus on writing. This is where a proposal manager or coordinator come in handy. Even if you can’t hire for these roles, have someone that can manage the overall proposal process so it can run efficiently.
Designate team leaders that can serve as the spokesperson for major sections and consolidate information
Depending on the type of RFP you’re responding to, you’ll likely have major sections like resumes and past performance and subsections that fall under each one. If more than one person is writing that section; designating a team/writing lead is helpful to consolidate all writing sections, ensure quality, and keep the writers on track.
Schedule check-in calls to provide status reports of all areas/sections of the submission process
Check-in calls should be about 15-20 minutes and can be daily, twice a week, or even once a week for longer RFP response times. They help keep everyone informed about the entire RFP process so small things don’t slip through the cracks. Whoever is leading your proposal, as mentioned above, should also be the person to lead the check-in call since they have the bird’s eye view of everything that’s going on. These calls are not for fleshing out big ideas but rather to provide updates on all aspects of your proposal. If anything major comes up a seperate meeting with the appropriate people can be scheduled or depending on what it is, can be resolved by email.
Review sessions to go over the proposal response and identify holes
At some point in your proposal process, you have to take a step back and assess where the actual proposal stands. This is done though a series of review sessions. If there is enough time, having at least two reviews allows you to read the proposal and work with writers to improve it. If you are just a team of one or two, try hiring a contractor to review your proposal. That fresh set of eyes will notice things that you won’t because you are so close to the response.
Scale down your team so less people are involved at the end of the response period allowing for a more focused submission
It can be all hands on deck at the start of a proposal which is great to get things in motion. However near the end, having less people streamlines things and allows for focused editing, formatting, and compliance checks. Obviously, this would be for businesses that have a few extra resources and the flexibility to weed people out. For smaller teams, it will likely be the same folks on board until the proposal is submitted.
Set up a document repository that will be a central location to store all proposal documents and templates
A place to store all the proposal documents, templates, schedules and writing versions is a must for an organized proposal process. It eliminates searching through emails for an RFP, an amendment, or even the current version of the response. If you have one place to store everything associated with the proposal, as new team members or contractors come on board, you can just send them the link to get up to speed. A few recommendations are SharePoint for Microsoft Office users, Asana, and Monday.com.
What this all boils down to is…
Good communication is key to running a successful proposal submission.
How and what needs to be done will look different for each business, but communication is essential to minimizing mistakes and staying in the contracting game for the long haul.