Proposal Land

Better RFP Responses & Management
 
Proposal Land

We Don’t Need Another Word for Thesaurus

 

Worth quoting at length: a mild rant about varying terminology, albeit in a different context than Proposal Land.

I’ve actually forgotten which manuscript it was, but a while ago I read a passage that referred to the probability of something, then a few sentences later to the likelihood of something else. It tripped me up. Probability and likelihood are synonyms in everyday use, but carry distinct technical meanings in statistics. So I had to stop and think: why did the author change words here? Did they want me to apply the different technical definitions, and if so, why is the distinction important? Or were they just avoiding repetition? I spent a while thinking about this, but I couldn’t quite figure it out, and meanwhile I was distracted from the point the manuscript’s author was actually trying to make. That’s not, I suspect, where that author wanted me to be. (emphasis added)
– Scientist Sees Squirrel

“That’s not, I suspect, where that author wanted me to be.” No. Neither do we want our readers to be distracted from the point we’re trying to make. This is true for writers of RFPs and of proposals.

Continue reading“We Don’t Need Another Word for Thesaurus”

Dismantling Writer’s Block

 

From an unlikely source (vis-à-vis Proposal Land, at any rate – J. Budziszewski is a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin), specific suggestions for countering writer’s block, no matter its source:

  • Distraction
  • Inertia
  • Blankness
  • Sculptor’s anxiety
  • Destination anxiety
  • Fear of failure
  • Fear of rejection

Read it and unblock yourself, whether you’re writing an RFP or a response thereto.

Or read this:

Just the facts, ma’am

 

Are you responsible for drafting RFPs? Do you ever wonder how to get good information on a company’s experience? Start by understanding the game you’re in.

https://twitter.com/Bornakang/status/1685724195513139201

Everyone is doing to their experience section what this person is doing to their resume. Or trying, at least.

So, it behooves you to craft your questions to get the answers you need: A little less talk, a lot more data.

 

See also this post: Forms.

 

How to Describe Yourself

 
Here’s a super article. It bangs on (but in a funny way sezme) about poor word choices, mostly in resumes and profiles.
It applies equally well to experience claims in proposals. I spent 30 years in Proposal Land trying to get people to stop doing these same dagnabbed things, and digging it out after the fact (when I could – sometimes, executive override applied).