Elements of Style

My favourite books in terms of relationship building and communication were all written about 90 years ago. Tried and tested examples of excellence, because nothing much has changed in this, people are still people.

Communication Matters

Whatever the style of communication, the basics are still the same - communicating to the point, being understandable and placing your prospect at the centre of everything. It is the only way we are judged in this type of scenario and also the reason, I like to include image and audio whenever I can for we all have different learning styles, but also each style is another way to translate the same message.

Interview or Exam Paper

I often compare the way we present information in a bid or proposal as similar to that of an exam paper or interview process. Think about what actions we do in these situations:

• PREPARE - we find out as much as possible before each of these encounters so that we have the best chance of securing that opportunity;
• BREVITY - we provide only information which is important - an examiner or interviewer does not need to know everything about us or about the subject content - instead just answer the questions as given.

There are no prizes for doing more than is asked. Remember there is usually a scoring criteria within any proposal (official or not) just as there is in the above examples. The process is the same. Failure to prepare and all that. This is why capture management/the customer journey is so important.

Favourite Book

Now, my favourite book for this particular topic is of course - "The Elements of Style, fourth edition" by William Struck JR and E.B. White - it's a best seller for a reason. Everyone should own this book, it is small but packed with value with a great reminder of these lessons we should all be mindful of.

The book is split into two main sections - formal written English and those necessary rules as well as the basic principles of composition, followed by an approach to the style of our writing.

Golden Rules

This brings me to those rules which I refer to regularly (as you can see from the state of the book) and which I consider in regard to a bid response/customer interaction. These are my favourites - but there are more:

1. Place yourself in the background - a common rule of thumb where we focus on the prospect and the end result, not our own thoughts and feelings. The focus must always be upon them.
2. Write in a way that comes naturally - my own personal style is conversational, as though I am sat in front of the person in the same way as if I was delivering a pitch/presentation. Having a soft, understandable tone which is simple and straightforward for ease of communication is always my approach.
3. Work from a suitable design - my interpretation of this rule is to work to a proposal template/portal templates as given. "Design informs even the simplest structure". As always keep it simple.
4. Write with nouns and verbs not adjectives and adverbs - essentially write with an active voice. For example, "the dog chases the ball" is an example of active voice, direct, succinct and in the present tense; whereas "the ball is being chased by the dog" is the opposite of these. Which statement would you rather read?
5. Revise and rewrite - this is an obvious one, the craft of writing is never complete on the first draft. There will be many re-writes, considerations and changes to make sure it answers all questions perfectly with as much style and substance as the word count allows.
6. Do not overwrite - this one speaks for itself and links in with the above, stick to the point. No body want to read swathes of text to get to the point you are trying to make.
7. Do not overstate - this can undo all of the context which precedes it, boastful actions are not required.
8. Avoid the use of qualifiers - filler words! I think we all do it, but this is when we 'revise and rewrite (rule 5)' - we strip it back so we are writing in the simplest form possible.
9. Do not affect a breezy manner - this is often using more words than necessary and can come across as a bit 'egocentric' - make it less about you.
10. Use orthodox spelling - no abbreviations, slang or colloquial words - all acronyms must be referenced in full the first time they appear in text, this is often frustrating for a layperson with no knowledge of a topic.
11. Do not explain too much - be sparing in your explanations, a detailed response is not always required, sometimes people just need a basic understanding.
12. Avoid fancy words - it's not big and it's not clever. Big words don't impress anyone just as superfluous content is wasted in a business setting.
13. Be clear - as with the other rules focus on the clarity of your meaning, to save any loss of ambiguity within communication.
14. Do not inject opinion - for example we would not compare our offer to that of a competitor, and infer that our solution was better. The opinion would not be received well and it would almost always have the opposite impact of that which is desired.

Lessons Learnt

The beauty in writing and crafting a winning bid response is that there is always more to do and learn. These golden rules help me to remain on task and create the best response, time and again. We are all human and make mistakes, so to have this in my framework of excellence always helps.

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