4. What most believe is the impressive model that will get you the funding. They think we’re wonderful! The 50-Page Impressive Proposal Learn, Study, Research $ Cha-ching! They give us lots of money!
5. Or if you’re in product dev... They think we’re wonderful! The Super-Deluxe Impressive Product Model Build, Build, Build $ Cha-ching! They give us lots of money!
6. Tonight’s take-aways: If you can’t sell it in 1-3 slides, you’re wasting your time. 50-page proposals, up front, are a waste of time and won’t get you anywhere. Write those only after you have ‘closed the deal.’
8. Reality 2: Individual humans make these decisions.
9. Reality 2: Individual humans make these decisions.
10. Reality 3: Each human has multiple pressures and needs to be met. Particularly, they need to keep their jobs or advance their careers. To so that, they need to show their superiors that they rock.
14. Sell to civilians, not green-suiters. Lesson: Understand who is actually your customer, and why.
15. 2. Identify and name what would most help that civilian. Lesson: You sell to individuals, not organizations. Caution: You convince one individual, but that one has to convince 6 others.
16. 3. The civilian’s goal: Get next year’s funding. Lesson: Learn to hear (or discover!) what that one person needs to make happen for his or her organization as soon as your contract is ‘done.’
17. 4. The civilian’s two motivations: Keep job, increase recognition. Lesson: Think through what is the driver behind that individual’s approach and need.
18. What does the civilian need to get next year’s funding? Proof that this year’s was of value. Proof that his or her organization is of value.
19. Ask the question: What do you most need to show (your superiors) at the end of this year?
20. Ask: Fast forward 5 years, what do you most need to have accomplished?
21. Why this works: A sponsor is far more interested in his or her own problem, than in your beautifully crafted solution.
23. Most satisfying for both: When you can map your beautiful solution to the problem. Caution: It must solve the real problem of the sponsor in a way that they can describe to superiors.
28. Think of it as Twitter for biz dev. You *can* say it 140 characters.
29. A Smashing Title Pain point title. Tell them all about their own problem, so that they experience it again. Let them know you understand them, their needs, and feel their pain. Loremipsum until you are done. Write too much, and they won’t read this either. Products or deliverables. Here’s where you finally get to tell them all about the shiny new things you have or will make for them. Be sure to tell them in their words, not yours. They don’t really speak your language. Solution. Here is the lovely gateway from pain to your awesome solution. This is what you will do along the way. Benefits & Support. The fabulous reasons why they should buy this, and why they should do business with you. Bonus points for naming dignitaries within their organization that you have already talked with and support your proposed solution. Contact Info. …that’s where you’ll find me. 50 50 50 50 50 100
35. It’s the short-pitch proposal. You win! A/K/A The Great Lost Art of the Quad Sheet.
36. The punchline! Use simplicity to get attention, adapt, and get acommitment.
37. The punchline! Don’t make yourself crazy: Start with the moped.Then build the Winnebago!
38. FalconDay Consulting Laura Faulkner, PhD Laura@FalconDay.com 512-964-2323 Making your customer your champion!
Editor's Notes
Once upon a time, there was talented team … Programmers and designers spent 60+ hours each developing a concept to pitch, in detail, on the phone with the POC. These hours were expended only to discover in the first few minutes of the call that the Request for Proposals was “just a placeholder” with no real funding behind it.Across the street there was another team … This team had the inside track to a $20 million dollar program. Again, countless hours by the best minds in the field were expended to write the 50-page proposal for this incredible sum of money, only to discover that the entire sponsor organization budget for the year was $20 million. The proposal was, therefore, unsupportable and there was no more time left to cut it down to something that had a chance at funding.And down the way there was a start-up … We have this great, great piece of software. Nothing like it! Hundreds of thousands of dollars went into developing every detail of it, making it run like clockwork, all before a commitment had been made by a paying sponsor or customer. The product ended up being so large, expensive, and complex, that no one bought it and the company (and a great product approach that filled a real need, actually), died before a full-on launch.
… or ‘the big honking development-before-the-sale’ approach.
A/K/A “The super deluxe model might be like throwing a Winnebago at Moped problem.
And, those individuals might be wildly different! (Yes, there are two “Reality 2” slides for a reason: What differences do you see between each of these potential audiences? How might that affect your approach to the real humans you need to convince?)
What other goals and pressures might an individual have?
It’s all about helping the influencers and decision-makers to be successful and convince those above them of that. Find out what they need to do get recognition.
Caution: If it only looks like it solves the problem, you will begin to have angst 6 months into the contract, heating up 2 months before end of contract, and likely killing your chances at follow-on funding.
What it is and isn’t.It isn’t that thing that will get you in the door, or even get the commitment.
a/k/a The Lost Art of the Quad SheetDue credit goes to Aubrey White of the Center for Agile Technology, a defense development lab at The University of Texas at Austin as the inspiration for this presentation. Mr. White is the hands-down master of this art form, and has the repeated contracts to show for it. - LF
