Trust and the Art of Successful Proposal Writing

Trust is a foundation of successful relationships, including between a business and a potential customer. Probably the best way to develop that trust is slowly, over a long period of time, based on positive shared experiences. That approach is often not possible between a business and a potential customer. Sometimes the only method of communication available is a formal one; a written response to a request for proposals (RFP). This is often the case doing business with the government. Therefore proposal writing becomes an art of generating trust.

Stephen M. R. Covey’s 2006 book The Speed of Trust provides a practical model for understanding the components of trust. Not surprisingly, it has sold nearly one million copies and been published in 22 languages. I find his idea of the four cores of credibility underlying trust particularly compelling. It says that our belief in the credibility of another person or organization is based on our assessment of their integrity, intent, capabilities, and results. Integrity includes honesty, humility, courage, and congruency or consistency between actions and values. Intent is whether motives are selfish or caring. Capabilities are the talents, skills, knowledge and abilities that enable excellent performance. Results include both past accomplishments and potential performance.

Whew! How do we convey all of that in a written proposal? We can begin by looking at how these cores of credibility are seen overtly and covertly in the evaluation factors of RFPs. The obvious ones are the last two: capabilities and results; which are the kinds of terms usually seen in RFPs. Integrity and intent are not explicitly addressed in RFPs, but that doesn’t mean that potential customers aren’t thinking about and reacting to their own assessment of these less tangible factors.

Working backwards, let’s begin with results. Past accomplishments and potential results correspond to a specific section and evaluation criteria in most government RFPs: past performance. Usually the government agency asks for three recent contracts that are of similar size and scope to the RFP requirements. Experienced companies are methodical about selecting and writing past performance descriptions that are likely to help convince the customer to trust that the company will be able to do a good job if awarded the contract.

Sometimes the proposal manager will use compliance matrices to further ensure that the writer addresses all of the key points in a past performance. Everyone probably understands intuitively that past results build trust about the likelihood of future results. But I’ve found that sometimes proposal writers and managers are so focused on the mechanics of compliance that they lose awareness about effective human to human communication. For example, they may pack as much information into the allotted space as possible, not understand that less content more attractively displayed can produce more absorbed information.

Capabilities, the third element of credibility, are demonstrated in the technical approach, staffing and management sections of the proposal. Here a company can demonstrate knowledge and experience with best industry standards and also beyond that, describe solutions that have unique features which stand out as a kind of personality or brand that the customer can readily distinguish from competitors. Achieving this kind of differentiation can be challenging when increasingly information technology and management consulting firms are using the same tools and frameworks.  But sometimes personality is conveyed not so much by what is said as how it is said. This is where writing as an applied art form has to rise above compliance matrices and other mechanical devices.

Obviously, you want to have the most experienced and credentialed staff, and have certified management processes. But you never want to lose the awareness that human beings will be reading this material. And unlike machines, human beings get bored, react emotionally to verbal and visual information; and all that gets factored into their rational decision making and scoring of your proposal.

That last point highlights why paying attention to integrity and intent, the two less tangible elements of credibility, is important. Trust is in many ways as much an emotional reaction, as an intellectual decision. We are not likely to trust a person or company we feel is lacking integrity and uncaring. These reactions probably override the impact of capabilities and results. There is a section of RFPs that often requires bidders to demonstrate an understanding of the customer’s needs and circumstances relevant to the requirements. Rather than giving this section cursory treatment and jumping into the technical approach, staff and management capabilities, and past performance, this should be an opportunity to show the virtues underlying caring and integrity. A proposal is above all a form of human to human communication. When we care, we listen, we pay attention, and we feel compassion.

The Author:

Bernard Brookes, PhD, MBA, PMP is an effective writer and conceptualizer of organizational and technical solutions; an organizational and performance improvement consultant, lean six sigma black belt, business architect and strategist; a PMO, governance and project management expert; and a proposal and capture manager and proposal writer. He has Over 20 years’ hands-on experience in government contracting, including capture, business development and proposal management, and program and project management. Email: [email protected] Phone: 240-246-6161