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Depending on the type of work and how the RFP defines the requirements, you may need to conceptualize your approach as well as your content. This is typically true of proposals to provide solutions or to perform research. If the RFP does not tell you what to propose or how to do the work then you have to determine how you will achieve the goals in addition to what you will say about it.
Conceptualizing and validating your approach is basically an engineering problem. If you already have an engineering methodology, then we encourage you to use it. If you do not, then you need to:
1. Define the solution. What are you going to do in order to achieve the goals? What is your approach?
2. Specify the solution. You need to document it so that others can
collaborate. But you do not have to do this in a full narrative. We
recommend using illustrations. They enable you to identify the
components and annotate them where necessary. Simple hand sketches
should suffice. Storyboards are a traditional approach to proposal
planning that work better for planning solutions than they do for
planning content. If your solution is too complex to render with a
series of illustrations, then storyboards can be used to document it.
If you use storyboards, then take care not to entangle solution
planning with content planning.
3. Validate the solution. Are you prepared to commit to this approach?
Have all stakeholders provided input? Will it achieve the goals? Is it
realistic, feasible, and efficient? Is it compliant? Is it within
budget? Does it offer competitive advantages? Your validation plan for
the proposal should address validating the solution separately from
validating the content.
4. Write the solution into your proposal. This can be as simple as
transcribing the illustrations or storyboards into the Content Plan and
then following through with the narrative. Regardless of the approach
you take to planning the solution, you still need to plan how the
content will be developed before you start writing. When both the
solution plan and content plan have been validated, then you are ready
to start writing.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a proposal thrown into chaos
because during a late-stage review someone decided the solution was
wrong. When this happens, it’s a double-hit — in addition to the time
you spent on the original solution, you also lose the time it took to
write about it. That is why it’s critically important to validate the
solution before you start writing it.
This is why storyboards were invented. Unfortunately, while storyboards
work for brainstorming and validating a solution, they don’t work so
well for content planning. And since many RFPs tell you the solution,
people were trying to plan their content using the wrong tool.
Ultimately most gave up, and that is why you hear people talking about
storyboards but rarely actually using them.
In order to move forward, you must recognize that solution planning is
different from content planning, and that not all proposals require
solutions. When you do this, you can start using the right tool for the
right job and avoid entangling the solution with the writing until
after the solution has been validated.
CapturePlanning.com, LLC (CapturePlanning.com) is led by Carl Dickson. CapturePlanning.com
helps you learn how to find business opportunities and win more contracts.
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