Proposal Writing Tips for Consultants
Proposal Writing Tips for Consultants: Navigating the RFP (Request for Proposal) landscape can be daunting, but with the right approach, it's an opportunity to showcase your expertise. The recent experience of the Community Consultants Collective (CCC) provides a roadmap for consultants aiming to improve their RFP responses.
The Community Consultants Collective (CCC) Advisory Board recently had the opportunity to participate in a closed RFP (request for proposal) round.
Two board members who were a part of this proposal shared their experiences with the CCC during the September meeting.
The CCC received an email from the company requesting to know about our services. The company asked the CCC board to attend a Q&A session.
The RFP the CCC received listed the project's needs and stated that they are deferring to experts for this project, which is why they seek our services.
Specific requirements we had to offer and respond to:
Budget
Language
Length of time
Scope of work
The deadline was one week from when we learned about the opportunity. The CCC inquired if there was a reason for the short timeframe (which is uncommon). They noted that the project needs to get off the ground immediately.
CCC Board Member Carolyn Zick suggests being detailed and including clauses on what is a paid service vs. something included in a quote or proposal.
The statement of work needs to be precise. Suppose you are working with or applying to bid contracts with a large enterprise. In that case, you must be very clear in your terminology and language.
During the CCC meetup, there was some discussion of the difference between a proposal and a statement of work, which can differ depending on who is writing the agreement or contract.
Carolyn recommended that a consultant provide all documents, including a statement of work, proposal, contract, and even a first invoice.
Many government agencies require three or more bids to ensure that they are getting a variety of organizations or companies to apply for the selection process.
Questions also arose about our newly formed group and which consultants had the time, capacity, experience, and knowledge to do the work requested.
Proposal Writing Tips for Consultants: Comments from the members of the CCC
The CCC Advisory Board is reviewing potential subcontractors and verifying the consultant work. CCC board members wanted to approach this with as much transparency as possible. CCC
Member Kelly Pratt shared her experience working as a board member and the approaches the organization worked with in the past.
Board Member Jamie Langskov shared that she's been challenging the board to ask difficult questions so that everyone in the CCC can access the information and resources to make the best decisions for the organization.
"We want everyone to feel good about the processes we put in place and want to make sure we do it fairly," Jamie said.
Kelly mentioned that a member in an organization she worked with needed to be vetted to ensure each member submitted the required information.
To provide full transparency, the CCC Advisory Board will review all active members of the CCC to align their skills for a better way to offer potential clients the talent pool available when working with the organization.
UPDATE: October New Date TBA
The CCC Advisory Board has canceled the October 4th meetup due to the conflict with CMX's event. Stay tuned for updates for the October meetup. Our topic will be to discuss developing partnerships with community platforms and software.