Developing Winning Proposals And Tenders

In-Company Course Overview

A practical course designed to enable salespeople and their managers to to improve their success rate in writing winning proposals and tenders for new business. The course will build on existing personal selling skills to emphasise practical tools and techniques to help improve the writing skills of salespeople and managers by focusing on the needs of the reader.

Who Should Attend

Salespeople and sales managers who are responsible for writing proposals and/or responding to invitations to tender and who need to improve their writing skills to improve their chances of submitting a winning proposal to gain more business.

Course Objectives

After attending this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the different requirements between a tender and a proposal
• Obtain the information that is necessary before beginning to write a proposal
• Understand the strengths and limitations of written proposals compared to personal selling
• Make the written tender/proposal a continuation of their personal selling efforts by taking a customer’s perspective
• Identify and implement the six elements for an effective proposal
• Recognise the relevant costing, pricing and performance issues in tenders and proposals
• Submit a proposal/tender with the right content in the right format to meet the needs of the reader.

Course Programme

Preparing For Tenders And Proposals
Differences between a proposal and tender
Learning from past experience
Getting feedback and evaluating the success rate
Preparing a proposal or tender: what you need to know

Taking The Customer’s Point Of View
Where do we start?
Who is involved
Idenifying the decision making process
Communicating effectively
Identifying customer needs
Taking an accurate brief
Understanding the real needs and problems
The key selection criteria
Benefits versus Features: a review
Deciding what will excite the decision makers
Developing competitive advantage: selling your solution

Writing Skills
The written proposal/tender as a selling document
Taking the customer perspective
developing the content and presentation
What should a proposal contain? What is key elements
Adding value data - supporting information, references, testimonials etc.
Creating commitment by linking your benefits to the solution
Agreeing your pricing policy and how to present it

Writing Skills For Proposals
Using paragraphs and sentences for better impact
Designing your offer document to achieve maximum impact
Deciding what is best layout
The one page proposal

The Follow Up
What are the next stages?
Ensuring they are under your control

To improve your ability to writing winning proposals and tenders or talk through your requirements, including tailoring this course to suit your exact needs, please contact:

Faye Shipley
T: 01789 734300
E: fayes@structuredtraining.com