Creating Winning Proposals: Approach and Process

Description
Based on our experience across consulting over the past 10 years, we've broken down the key steps to developing a winning proposal.

We will all be familiar with the time pressures involved in turning around that 'urgent' proposal, and having a tried and tested formula for developing proposals is essential for several reasons.

1. It grounds and aligns the team around the key steps required to get over the finish line, and makes it clear what needs to be done, by whom, and by when.
2. It offers a base line to discuss how we should improve and refine our approach to future proposals. In most cases, we rush onto the next proposal without properly reflecting on what went well and what we can improve on next time to be more effective and efficient with our time, and ultimately improve our changes of creating a winning proposal.
3. You can quickly scale back or elaborate on activities based on the resources you have available (i.e. how much time do you have, how much resources do you have). It offers a pragmatic approach to getting what needs to be done effectively given the resources you have.
4. It highlights key interventions required; either in the form of team meetings or check-in's with the clients to ensure our thinking is on track.
5. It offers an important sense-check throughout the process to ensure we are using our time and resources appropriately and not getting drawn into 'rabbit-holes' and spending our time in the right places, with the right people, to get the most effective output.

We hope you find this guide useful!