Advanced Proposal Management

Classroom Training on June 21 - 22, 2012 in Rockville, MD

This class covers a spectrum of the most important topics, from preparing for a proposal effort and making a bid-no-bid decision, to orchestrating a great proposal kickoff, driving subject matter experts to produce winning content, exhibiting superb leadership and management skills, optimizing proposal team performance, getting the most from the proposal color reviews, and mitigating proposal risks at every stage to reduce stress and increase win probability. The course also focuses on measuring and improving cost-efficiency and effectiveness of the proposal team.

This course takes proposal management to the next level,
beyond the proposal process, and into fine-tuning of the
skills indispensable for a senior proposal manager.

This course is for those who have experience with proposal management. It builds advanced skills by offering deeper understanding of the theory and practice of proposal management, expands abilities through best practices-based methodologies, and provides tool sets for immediate implementation. It is an interactive 2-day workshop that is 60 percent lecture, 20 percent exercises and case studies, and 20 percent discussion.

Date: June 21 - 22, 2012 (Tuesday - Wednesday). 8:30am - 5:00pm (continental breakfast and afternoon snack included).
Location: Metro Park North Business Center, 7361 Calhoun Place, Suite 560, Rockville, MD 20855
check our Visitor Guide for location details, driving directions, nearby hotels and restaurants, and more).
Course completion: By attending this class, you will receive 3 CEUs towards your APMP accreditation, or 3 PDUs towards your PMP. At the end of this course you will get a Certificate of Completion.

Who should attend this course: This is a major or elective course for the Bid and Proposal Academy Certification Program. This course is for: proposal managers, capture managers, business developers, proposal coordinators, financial personnel, business owners, sales executives.

Learning objectives: Upon course completion, the participants will have learned and be able to put into practice:

• Understanding how to avoid proposal mistakes even mature companies make • Mastering tools and techniques for making a bid-no-bid decision.
• Determining whether an RFP is wired.
• Planning and managing proposal budget and resources.
• Conducting a highly effective proposal kickoff.
• Scaling the proposal process up and down for different size pursuits.
• Applying the techniques to produce the most compelling proposal content that makes a winning difference.
• Mastering rapid learning techniques in a new subject matter to provide ample guidance to subject matter experts who develop innovative solutions.
• Initiating and facilitating rapid solution and section development for every part of the proposal.
• Tracking volume and section progress and quality.
• Applying leadership and proposal team building techniques to achieve optimum performance from proposal contributors.
• Applying effective communication methods to the proposal team.
• Getting results from difficult proposal team members.
• Working effectively with remote participants.
• Getting the most useful inputs from the color reviews.
• Mastering techniques for quickly integrating reviewers’ input into the proposal.
• Managing proposal risk.
• Applying metrics for proposal effectiveness.
• Conducting an effective lessons learned session.
• Making use of personal and organizational proposal process optimization.

Course curriculum: Here are some of the topics we will cover in this course.

Day 1 highlights

Module 1: Introduction
- Introductions and learning objectives.
- Recap: Overview of the proposal process from an advanced big-picture perspective.

 

Module 2: Preparing for the proposal effort
- Top proposal mistakes even mature companies make, and how to avoid them.
- Tools and techniques for making a bid-no-bid decision.
- Tell-tale signs for when the RFP is wired.
- The most important and often missed step before initiating a proposal effort.
- How to plan for proposal resources to manage your team to the budget, and ensure adequate resources for proper proposal quality.
- Typical failures and complications at the proposal preparation stage and how to navigate through them successfully. determine correct and incorrect courses of actions as applicable to a real-life scenario.
Exercise: Develop a proposal resource plan.

 

Module 3: Exercise: Develop a proposal resource plan
- Psychology of a great proposal kickoff.
- Determining appropriate size and level of proposal kickoff.
- Scaling the proposal process up and down for pursuits of different sizes, including proposal teams with more than 50 participants.
- Tailoring proposal process to the specific pursuit.
- Planning just-in-time training sessions.
- Preparing the kickoff handouts for best communication and team integration.
- Advanced techniques for reaching the nine kickoff goals.
- Typical failures and complications at the kickoff stage and how to navigate through them successfully
Case Study: Determine correct and incorrect courses of actions as applicable to a real-life scenario.

 

Module 4: Driving the team to produce winning content
- Rising beyond the administrative task of running the proposal process.
- Six steps to owning proposal content and making a winning difference.
- Techniques for becoming an expert at being an expert in any proposal’s subject matter.
- Professional techniques for interviewing subject matter experts and capturing content effectively.
- How to provide ample direction and guidance to subject matter experts.
- Typical failures and complications at the content development stage and how to navigate through them successfully.
Exercise: Practice rapid learning techniques and determine content quality.

Day 2 highlights

Module 5: Overseeing the development of winning volumes and sections
- How to initiate and facilitate rapid solution and section development sessions.
- Paying attention to the cost volume – one of the most important parts of your bid.
- Managing simultaneous orals and proposal processes.
- Getting to the winning content: executive summary, management, technical, past performance, resumes, and other sections.
- Tracking volume and section progress and quality.
Exercises:
Compare proposal and non-proposal resume.
Build an optimized past performance template.

 

Module 6: Proposal leadership
- Advanced skills for leading a proposal team effectively on a daily basis.
- Team-building techniques.
- Key management skills that distinguish great proposal managers from the rest.
- Keeping the excitement, motivation, and momentum for your proposal team.
- Methods of effective communication with the proposal team.
- How to coach and train your proposal team.
- How to get results from difficult proposal team members.
- How to work effectively with remote participants.
- Mastering data calls.
- Typical failures and complications of proposal leadership, and how to navigate through them successfully.
Exercise: Practice proposal team building techniques.

 

Module 7: Getting the most from the proposal color review teams
- Rules of thumb for selecting the right number and types of reviews.
- Setting the right tone for the review regardless of your company’s review process.
- Preparing directions for reviewers.
- Various methods for conducting reviews and their suitability for your proposal.
- Techniques for quickly integrating reviewers’ input into your proposal.
- How to get the most useful input from reviewers.
- Typical failures and complications as related to proposal color reviews, and how to navigate through them successfully.
Discussion: Troubleshooting organizational review processes and identifying improvements.

 

Module 8: Improving proposal performance
- Troubleshooting proposal development plan and proposal risk management.
- Navigating through difficult proposal interfaces.
- Transitioning from capture to proposal team.
- Transitioning from story boards to draft.
- Scaling the proposal effort up and down depending on the natural lifecycle.
- Effective management of proposal budget.
- Metrics for proposal effectiveness.
- Conducting an effective lessons learned session.
- Personal and organizational proposal process optimization.
Exercise: Distribute resources based on the proposal lifecycle, and identify risk areas.

 

Module 9: Summary
- Additional resources and bibliography.
- Summary.
- Recap.

About the instructor: Olessia Smotrova-Taylor is the President and CEO of OST Global Solutions, Inc. She is a currently practicing capture and proposal manager who has won more than $17 Billion in new business. As one of the proposal industry leaders, she is on the Board of Directors of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals' (APMP) National Capital Area (NCA) chapter and is the editor and chair of the APMP NCA Executive Summary e-zine that won 2010 APMP Communications Award. She regularly presents at the APMP's international and other conferences, roundtables, and proposal boot camps, and runs popular training webinars on business development. She is currently designing and preparing to teach a Masters-level course in proposal development for Stevens Institute of Technology. She has 16 years of experience in proposal and capture management, marketing, and communications. She is a prolific author, speaker, trainer, and blogger, and is well-known in the global proposal community. Her self-study course, Executive Summary Secrets, sells worldwide. Prior to starting her own consulting company, she won business for Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, and wrote for the Financial Times of London.

Seating is limited. Do not delay registering.

Fee and registration: For team discounts please change quantity of attendees at the checkout and click "Recalculate" to get the discount. Register 3 weeks before class date and receive $100 off per attendee as an EARLYBIRD discount!

• $1390 per one attendee ($1290 if registered 3 weeks before class date).
• $1250 per attendee when registering a team of 3 or more ($1150 if registered 3 weeks before class date), discounts apply at the checkout.

For additional questions please call 301-384-3350 during normal business hours. If you'd like to pay by invoice please send an email to service@ostglobalsolutions.com (NOTE: the payment must be received prior to the course start date).

Cancellations and rescheduling policy: Cancellation notification must be received 10 business days prior to the training date. Upon notification, your registration fee will be refunded less a $100 non-refundable processing fee. Any cancellations beyond the 10 business days are non-refundable, but the course fee can be applied towards another training course, webinar, or an OST Global Solutions training product. No refunds will be made for the cancellation of a rescheduled course. Attendee substitutions may be made at any time. Payment must be received prior to the course date. No-shows are liable for the full class fee.

P. S. If you think of someone else who could benefit from this course, please forward this invitation to them!