Ten Tips for Creating a Winning Proposal – Part 2Written by Cavyl Stewart
Part 1 of this series described five critical components for creating a winning proposal. In some instances, these components are all a prospective client needs to make a determination and award job. Be sure to carefully review request for proposal to determine amount of information you need to include in your proposal. Remember, each proposal is unique. Here are five more tips to keep in mind when preparing a winning proposal. Tip #6 – Properly Estimate Job Costs Selecting right price for proposed work is a delicate balancing act. Pricing job too low could cause you to lose money on job. Also, a bid that’s too low might be perceived by client as unrealistic and cause you to lose bid. Take time to properly consider amount of time and materials involved in completing tasks you have outlined and price job accordingly. Tip #7 – Add Meat as Necessary Proposal requirements vary greatly. If you’re putting together a proposal for a major corporation or a government job, you’ll probably need extensive documentation. Examples of additional information that might be required include sub-contractor agreements, non-disclosure forms, contingency plans, change order procedures, risk analysis data, benchmark results and more. If request for proposal asks for it, be sure you include it. Tip #8 – Don’t Reveal Too Much! When submitting your proposed solution to prospective client’s problem, you must not reveal too much information. You need to satisfactorily explain your approach while at same time keeping some information to yourself. Sound confusing? How about this: If you tell client exactly how to solve problem, client might decide to implement your solution without your assistance! You’ll lose out on bid, not because your approach was inadequate, but because you explained it so well client did not need an outside company to implement it.
| | Five Marketing Nightmares and How to Prevent ThemWritten by Susan Freidmann
Five Marketing Nightmares and How to Prevent Them by Susan Friedmann The success or failure of your trade show rests heavily on how well you market your event. Marketing, when done right, can project a positive image of your event, entice exhibitors to sign dotted line, and attract loyal customers. However, critical mistakes in your marketing campaign can have opposite effect. Here are five costly errors that are common in our business, along with some sound advice on how to avoid making them. 1. You select wrong exhibition hall. You've got perfect trade show -- or so you think. The products are a great fit for demographics you're going to attract. The city you've selected is glamorous, loaded with cultural and entertainment opportunities, is easily accessible, and has ample hotel space near exhibition hall. And you've done a crackerjack job marketing your show -- you've sold all your exhibit booths and advance ticket sales are off charts. What could go wrong? Plenty, if exhibition hall you've selected is a poor fit. For example, suppose exhibition space is too small for crowd you'll attract. With thousands of people pushing and shoving each other to find exhibits, your show will quickly get a bad reputation as an uncomfortable event where it's impossible to see all products. And negative word of mouth travels almost as fast as speed of light. The solution: Do your homework! Get inside scoop from other trade show managers who have done shows at that exhibition hall. Find out what was positive about their experiences. Conduct an on-site inspection before committing to exhibition space, paying close attention to such factors as exhibit hall space, bathroom facilities, and air circulation. Consider location (is it in a dangerous part of town?), accessibility (are there traffic problems?), and service (are ticket counters adequately staffed?). Better yet, do your inspection while a trade show is going on at exhibition hall. You'll get to see for yourself whether shows operate efficiently there. 2. You compile an ineffective prospect database. You might be trying to cut corners by doing your data management in-house, but if you don't have database pros on staff, it's best to seek professional help! A list that has unlikely prospects or out-of-date addresses is a waste of time and money, and you'll lose precious opportunities to zero in on hot potential customers. You might hesitate to spend more money on a solid database management firm, but you could lose twice as much by failing to reach right target audience. 3. You construct a poorly designed Web site.
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