Winning a bid opportunity does not occur due to blind luck. Wins are almost always the result of intense and aggressive upfront sales efforts to end users. Deciding on whether to bid on an opportunity can be a stressful and challenging task. However, the clues as to whether to bid on a project are actually very clear from the very beginning of the process. Unfortunately, many ignore the clues. If one were to focus on the customer's demeanor, it becomes apparent early in the game whether he or she has been sold that you have a solution to their problem. You must also search for signs that your competitors may have also sold the customer on the fact that they have a viable solution as well. At this point in the game, it may be clear that your company should bid on the project while it remains less obvious whether you are going to walk away with the deal.

Your staff has sold the customer. Now what? Winning proposals begin with a detailed outline. First deconstruct the Request for Proposal (RFP) and build the proposal outline. Do it once and with enough thoroughness to give you a splitting headache. This may require that you read the painfully-boring RFP numerous times as you are building the outline. Pick out each and every requirement, each evaluation criteria, every instruction, all meaningful contract clauses, and the like and cut and paste them into your outline.

Although the foregoing is a good way to start, a detailed outline without a strong strategy and selling points does not have a prayer. This is where the upfront sales efforts come in. Now add selling points your sales staff gleaned during the sales process, model text, thoughts about how your business has done it in the past, text from previous solutions, and anything pertaining to the deal at hand that will enhance the proposal. All of these points should be added to the outline at the inception of the outline's preparation. Why? A detailed outline stimulates discussion amongst the proposal team if it is made available to the team at the beginning. Ideas can then be added to the outline and the outline can be enhanced repeatedly until it begins to take on the characteristics of a winning proposal.

The outlining process can takes days or even weeks and, because of the amount of effort involved, there is an inherent tendency to shortcut the process. Don't shortcut the outlining process; this is a mortal sin. You will waste massive amounts of time downstream because the first draft will be a disorganized mess. During proposal meetings, your team will hear the following over and over, "Wasn't that in the RFP somewhere" followed by 5 - 10 minutes of paper rustling while everyone in the meeting tries to find where "that" is in the RFP.