Proposal 2.0 - PPT beats WORD hands down!...for now

It is quite safe to say that most clients dont read proposal documents end to end. At least, they dont read all proposals end to end. They do read some parts of the proposals, without which they surely cant decide on whom to award the bid. Why dont they read all parts of the proposal? The most significant reason is surely the size (100s of pages) and then the complexity and drabness of the format (WORD document).

An average person can probably comprehend 200 words per minute  (much less for non-native speakers like the French or the Japanese) and an average A4 size page has maybe 1000 words. How long would it take for a person to read an average vendor proposal of 100 pages? 500 minutes or 8 hours!!!! Now, the client has to read 5-10 proposals! He now has to find an average 7 x 8 = 56 hours to read all these proposals!!!! Of course, you will argue that different people at the client end read only the sections relevant for them but the problem is still not insignificant.

Wait a minute. But we get called to defense meetings often only two days after proposal submission!!! How is that possible? Surely the client didnt have time to go through our proposal completely? Maybe he didnt read the good parts of my proposal which is why I didnt make it this time....surely, it is a reading lottery out there and we thought we were in a logical world...

What do we as bid managers do? One small change you can make is this - whenever the client does not explicitly ask for a WORD document proposal, try making a Powerpoint presentation.    


A PPT of 50 slides can easily represent all the important stuff we have in a 100 page proposal. 

A PPT of 50 slides can be gone through in 1-2 hours maximum. 

A PPT of 50 slides saves effort for us in that we dont need to make a defense presentation separately. 

A PPT makes us think concisely. 

A PPT prevents us from filling pages with meaningless words. 

On a PPT, mistakes can be easily caught so review becomes easy for us. 

A PPT automatically demands more visual elements, so we make our proposal better automatically....

and lastly, in this Copenhagen season, you can even preen in your greenness with all those trees you have saved!

 
So, next time, if the client does not specify a format, go forth boldly and make your proposal in PPT!!!! If you want to be doubly sure, ask them in the Q & A and believe me, most clients would be relieved to be given PPT proposals.

Is this the future then?. Of course not...this would at best fly for the next couple of years.

In 2011, yes just two winters more, I believe we will be submitting video proposals where we will show the client what we can do. WEtube will provide private areas where a client can get his vendors to post their proposals. Then the client will leave video feedback and the vendors can enter into a video dialogue...

remember, you read it first here on 'Bid Runner'!