Key Solutions Blog

Since it's St. Patrick’s Day, I got to thinking about some of the Irish legends, and the first one that came to mind was the legend of the Blarney Stone.

The most vulnerable point in the business development continuum is the handoff from capture manager to proposal management. This transfer to the proposal team seems to fail often. But why is that?

We see this time after time- the capture team creates a strong, defensible win strategy that by all measures should give the company an excellent chance of prevailing over the competition, but it never gets fully implemented by the proposal team management despite best intentions by all parties.  

We are often asked, sometimes too late, if the incumbent program manager should be assigned as the Capture and/or Proposal Manager for the recompete.

Like it or not, as a Proposal Manager your attitude is infectious. For better or worse, you set the tone that others see and internalize. 

In Government Proposals, experienced Proposal Managers develop a Proposal Plan to guide them through the proposal effort. This is the sixth in a series of articles that discusses part six of the planning process, Color Team Reviews.

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve heard of The Hunger Games, the dystopian trilogy by Suzanne Collins that has edged out Harry Potter’s seven books as Amazon’s best-selling series of all time. The movies set records, and fans worldwide are hysterical in their enthusiasm.

In Government Proposals, experienced Proposal Managers develop a Proposal Plan to guide them through the proposal effort.

You've been assigned to manage a major proposal. Before springing into frenetic action, withdraw to your quiet place. Ground yourself. Anticipate. Plan. Preview in your mind the production about to unfold. Have a vision for how you will lead your team to win.

We have all been there: Stand-up meetings that began with such promise, but over time languished until we came to dread them as time wasters.

You’ve heard it before but that doesn’t stop me from saying it again: proposals are tough business. Don't get discouraged! Before you reach your breaking point, here are 15 actions to heighten your enjoyment when working on a long, complex, and demanding project or proposal.