Proposal Writing: 7 Assessment Questions You Need Answering

Proposal Writing: If your prospective customer has mature processes it is very likely they will have already decided how the proposals they receive will be assessed. This is important information for you and will greatly impact how you write the proposal.

Here are 7 Questions you need answers to before writing your Proposal: 

1. What is the marking scheme? e.g. relative weightings, feature pairwise comparison or predetermined marks being allocated for different parts of the proposal (e.g. they may value performance very highly but may not care so much about price).
2. Who is on the tender assessment team? (You may have people in the customer organisation who like – or don’t like – your company/products or who favour a competitor).
3. Will different people be marking different sections – and are they “known” to your company?
4. How long have they allowed to complete the assessment?
5. Are they getting a support contractor in to assist with assessment?
6. Are they assessing it electronically – i.e. on PCs – or are they making a physical copy?
7. Who is the lead assessor and how does the ultimate decision get ratified – and the purchase money released – within the organisation?

These questions, and others you may think of need to be analysed carefully as the resulting answers will certainly impact what you write in the proposal – or which clarification questions you may wish to ask during the bid process to level a playing field!

There is little point in writing many pages of answer, with associated evidence if the marks being awarded are low or if the importance weighting attached to the answer is low. Far better to spend your creative time answering questions on elements the customer has weighted highly.

There is little point in finessing your proposal for A4 or US Letter sized printing if the assessment panel plans to assess using PCs.

In the absence of clear guidance in the ITT documentation issued by the customer, it is part of the role of the Marketing Manager to establish facts such as this as part of his routine “positioning” contacts with the customer. Without the answers to these questions – and others – your team could be wasting their time – and your B&P Budget!

In addition to the Business Capture Mastery Online Course we are writing an eBook called, “How to Write Proposals the SMART way” which will be published in June as a .pdf  eBook and as an audiobook. To make sure you get your copy CLICK HERE to register for details.