5 Proposal Writing Mistakes To Avoid
I’ve read my fair share of proposals over the years—some easy to follow and well put together, while others have great ideas buried under fancy words that makes them hard to follow. I can usually tell within the first few paragraphs how the rest of the proposal will go.
It’s often just small writing habits that make it tougher for evaluators to connect the dots. Here are five proposal writing mistakes with tips to fix them.
1. Lack of Clarity & Detail
It’s easy to copy and paste your best marketing copy about how great your business is and what you bring to the table. But, without a clear win strategy and step by step explanation showing how your expertise aligns with the scope of the project, you’re merely submitting a fancy capabilities statement.
Tips to improve:
Ask so what? - What I mean by this is ask yourself as you’re writing, why would the government care about this capability. If you don’t have an answer, cut it from the proposal. They only want to know about the things that will help their project.
Add metrics to provide details about similar projects you’ve done, cost savings numbers, the number of customers you’ve helped. Anything that can quantify your success and prove you would be a good choice.
Include past experience (i.e. past performance) and connect it directly to the project you are bidding on.
Develop clear win themes and weave them into your response so your main points stand out.
2. Repeating the Scope of Work
Simply restating the RFP requirements doesn’t tell anyone how you’ll actually do the work. Stating I will do this, I will do that without providing the actual steps it will take to do the work, will not get you a win.
Tips to improve:
Turn each requirement into a “how” or “why” question, then answer it. This will result in a step-by-step approach as a good starting point. Then you can use your answers to build a story of how you’ll deliver results.
When interviewing SME’s be curious about the work they do to help build your technical approach. The more specifics you have the more the government can picture you doing the work.
3. Walls of Text
Now I know the page limitations of proposals can be rough, and you have so much to say. But, squeezing lines and lines of text into the allotted pages, with small text, is just hard to get through. Remember evaluators read several proposals about the same thing and tend to scan responses. Make it easy for them to review your proposal and maybe even enjoy the read! A few ways to make things easier on the eyes:
Tips to improve:
Break up large blocks of text by using bullet points, bold headings, graphics, tables, and call out boxes.
Embrace white space and have reasonable space between paragraphs and sections
4. Not following the RFP Structure
Most RFPS have specific instructions for the outline of the proposal. This includes the numbers of volumes and what sections should be included within each volume. The structure may not always work with the story you’re trying to tell but this is how they want to read and evaluate the proposal. It makes it easier for them. So, don’t go rogue with the outline.
Tips to improve:
Match the RFP’s section titles and order.
Tag each section header with the corresponding RFP section so it’s easy for an evaluator to map it back for compliance.
Use the same language used in the RFP so it feels familiar and easy to navigate.
5. Assuming the Government Knows You
Even if you’ve worked with the agency before, you can’t assume that they know everything about your business. Evaluators can often be someone that is not familiar with the project and its past. This helps keep fresh eyes on the overall program and the evaluation of each response.
Tips to improve:
Treat every proposal like it’s your first introduction. State your success as it relates to the project and unique capabilities.
Clearly explain your value —who you are, what you do, and why you’re a strong fit.