CH 4: Finding Your Unique Selling Point 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

To enable the students to effectively analyze the RFP, assign tasks and set schedule for the proposal development process in order to present your proposal in a unique way. 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Step III: Detailed RFP Analysis and Your USP Step IV: Preparation Schedule Step V: Assignment of Tasks 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Done to find out the your unique selling point (USP) USP is how you stand out from the competition, and your analysis of the RFP, secondary and primary data on the focused areas of your project will help you formulate this strategy, which in turn, will drive the detailed plans for each part of the program design To effectively analyze the detailed RFP and find out your unique selling points, you might need to pull in staff from several departments and also create a RFP analysis checklist 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Three purpose of the RFP analysis Define problems and requirements to be addressed Determine what resources and information you will need to write the proposal Generate the specific tasks that the team groups will be assigned 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

RFP analysis checklist might include... Clients problems or requirements RFP page number The work you team need to do Who is assigned the task Date input is due Date it is actually delivered Page number of your final proposal that responds to the clients original problem or requirement Your RFP analysis checklist can help you to identify gaps in your knowledge or database (For more details, see page 50) 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Once you have developed a checklist form, the RFP can be analyzed in two stages: an initial quick evaluation and a more detailed analysis 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Initial quick Evaluation: might take around five or ten minutes to complete, and is one way to obtain an overview of the clients requirements and what resources you are likely to need to complete the work The clients main problems or requirements What special resources the contractor requires What restrictions are placed on who may bid for the contract How much time you have to complete the work 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Detailed Analysis: Key questions What is the customers real versus stated problems? What does the client believe is the solution? What experience do you have to handle the clients problems or requirement? Who is your principal competition? How are they likely to respond to the RFP? 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Detailed Analysis: Key questions (Cont) Will the preparation effort require any demonstrations benchmark tests, or other preliminary work? Who in the clients organization is likely to support or oppose your proposal? What is your unique selling point likely to be? Who will form the project team? What are your company's experience and qualifications for the job? How much will the proposal effort cost your firm? 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Asking the client for information Not all information you need will be in the RFP; the writer may have been unclear about certain specifications or conditions, or there may be gaps in the RFP you need to fill in Asking client if all bidders will see each other questions If so, asking client for a private meeting 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

A question of value (make your proposal unique and off-value to the client) Show that you understand the clients problems better than the client does Present a detailed, achievable plan showing how you will solve the clients problem within the constraints of the RFP Show evidence that your firm is highly qualified to implement the plan Meet all RFP requirements, including delivering the proposal to the client before the state deadline Sell the client on the credibility of your plan and your firm. Your proposal must create absolute confidence that your firm can deliver the promised service or product 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

A question of value (make your proposal unique and off-value to the client) could be proved in the background research which might cover: The topic of the RFP, background of the project, and the clients history, organization and the budget for the project The competitions strengths and weaknesses regarding the RFP topic and compared with your firm The target market for the RFP product 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Clients needs and wants Using background research, the proposal team should be able to generate a prioritized list of the clients needs and wants See page 59 of the clients needs/wants analysis form 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Value Added Elements While developing your USP strategy, keep in mind that you may be able to add features as you go along. This value-added approach enables you to respond to information you gain from the client or from additional research See Value-Added Elements Form on page January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Establish specific due dates for each task as well as for the first drafts of the technical, management, and time/cost sections of the proposal, the front matter, and the executive summary Everyone on the proposal-writing team should know the deadlines for their sections of the proposal, the date the first draft of the complete document is to be assembled, and the date the document is to be turned over to management for review. 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

To effectively assign tasks, the manager needs to know what tasks to delegate to which people In some cases, the person who has an ideas is not the best person to develop it or write about it Making due dates very clear, its a good idea to require routine progress reports from your proposal-writing staff Routine progress reports can allow you to detect quickly if things are going on track and prevents people from the delay on their assignments 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou

END OF CHAPTER 4… 14 January 2014 Lectured by: OR Vitou