top 10 proposal management challenges and how to overcome them webinar preview

OST Global Solutions, Inc. Copyright © 2013www.ostglobalsolutions.com ● Tel. 301-384-3350 ● [email protected]

Top 10 Proposal Management Challenges

(And How to Overcome Them)

Webinar (Preview)OST Global Solutions, Inc.

…Because There is No SecondPlace in Proposals™


About the Presenter

Won $19 billion for 4 out of the top 5 largest government contractors, dozens of 8(a) businesses, and other companies

President of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals’ (APMP) National Capital Area chapter

Prior to starting OST, won business for Lockheed Martin and Raytheon and wrote for the Financial Times of London

Founder, Bid & Proposal Academy

Author, How to Get Government Contracts: Have a Slice of a $1 Trillion Pie

Olessia Smotrova-Taylor, AF.APMP President & CEOOST Global Solutions, Inc.

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OST Global Solutions, Inc. ProfileMetro Washington DC proposal house

government contractors with end-to-end BD support and training

Thought leader in the BD field, with Bid & Proposal

Academy courses attended by the top Federal

contractors

900+ fully vetted capture and proposal managers, technical writers, graphic

artists, orals coaches, editors, subject matter experts, and other proposal support

Track record supporting 18 out of the top 20 Federal Contractors, winning $19 Billion

since 2005Training

Benchmarking

Process

Improvement

BD Services

Proposal

Support

Capture

andEnd-to-end BD

Services to

Help You Grow

and


Challenges

Tracking proposal management challenges for the past 8 years- Reviewing global survey results- Keeping logs- Reading literature- Attending APMP events

Launched LinkedIn discussions on top 3 proposal management challenges

Results: Challenges largely remain the same, although the order may have changed

Similar in commercial and government markets, across the world

How we resolve them is most important; some of them are harder to resolve than others

With the challenges remaining largely the same for years, the question is how to fix them once and for all

Download the Full Slides Presentation of this Free Webinar at

www.ostglobalsolutions.com/training/webinars


Challenge 10, Repeating the Mistakes

Lessons observed are not lessons learned; learning the lessons takes a concerted effort

Wrong type of recycling

Demoralizing for the team

Process is consistently ad-hoc

Solution: - Document your lessons learned twice:

after the proposal and after the debrief

- Use structured approach to collect feedback

- Upload your lessons learned document to a common access area

- Review the file prior to the next proposal




Challenge 9: Indiscriminant Use of Boilerplate, Without Being Responsive or Customer-Focused

Using boilerplate is as OK as using someone else’s toothbrush (Jay Herther)

Read every proposal section to check if the content is rotten

Don’t get stuck on writing quality – look for substance above all

Spot the usual offenders:- Cut-and-paste- Off-topic writing- Bland fillers and lack of substance- Missing “how”- Lack of benefits language, etc.

ID specific gaps: 8Ws, checklist questions, compliance items Devise a recovery strategy




Finding an elusive person in no time is hard- 20 years of experience, low

salary- Ph.D., PMP, TS/SCI with

Poly - “If he or she had all of that,

then he or she should not be looking for work”

Challenge 8: Difficulties with Personnel Staffing in Services and Solutions Proposals

Use a staffing expert, with a candidate “factory” in place

Start early, use key personnel matrices

Count on unexpected curveballs to result in all-nighters

Shoot for Plan B, C, and D Download the Full Slides

Presentation of this Free Webinar atwww.ostglobalsolutions.com/training/webinars


Challenge 7: Operating in the Dark While Pricing or Not Joining the New Realities

Some companies still blind to LPTA world realities

Few proposal managers:- Believe cost proposal is their job…- Are trained on cost and know what goes into the cost

proposal- Know how they can help develop better cost volumes- Are familiar with intricacies of various cost strategies

Have hard time pricing while there is no information on headcount, labor categories, etc.

No competitive information

Cost volume disagrees with technical volume

Cost proposal is not treated as a sales document

Those who win focus on the whole offer; one cannot ignore the ultimate deciding factor between winning or losing

$$$ $

Resource: Developing a Winning Cost Volume




Challenge 6: Poor Management Support and Buy-in Non-supportive management leads to:

- Marginalized understanding of proposal professionals’ role- Wrong or insufficient resources assigned to proposals- Poor reviews- “Machine gun” approach with low win rates- 11th hour corrections to proposal- Most of the other proposal challenges

Gain management support through education:- Bid & Proposal Academy courses- How to Get Government Contracts book- APMP

Develop formal presentations citing facts and metrics

Run kickoffs to obtain management buy-in; control the process better




Download the Full Slides Presentation and the Video of this Webinar at

www.ostglobalsolutions.com/training/webinars/

https://ostglobalsolutions.com/training/webinars/


Contact OST for Your Proposal and Training Needs in Federal Business Development

Julia Pochekueva, MBA, AM.APMP

Marketing, Operations, and Training Services Manager

Main 301.384.3350

Direct 301.769.6603 [email protected]

Alex Brown, AM.APMP

Director of Services

Main 301.384.3350

Direct 301.769.6601

Cell 301.356.2909

[email protected]

Olessia Smotrova-Taylor, AF.APMP

President & CEO

Office 301.384.3350

Cell 240.246.5305

[email protected]

Get Additional Resources at Our Website:www.ostglobalsolutions.com

mailto:[email protected]



top 10 proposal management challenges and how to overcome them webinar preview

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bid proposal academy

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