Get the Upper Hand on Proposal Team Chaos

Missed emails, shifting priorities, competing deadlines; proposal team chaos. If left unchecked, it inserts a hairline crack into an otherwise effective proposal process. Under pressure, these cracks grow, causing delays and a last-minute sprint the day (and night) before the due date.

Don’t let chaos get the upper hand on your proposal. Here are three team questions that cause proposal chaos and how to avoid them.

Team: Where is...?

You’ve had your Kick-off Meeting and the team is off and running. Or are they? Some are digging through email looking for their assignments. Others are searching for the document versions to edit or they’re calling you for instructions. Or worse, they’re frustrated and moving on to a different task, threatening your deadlines. When your proposal team is spending time searching for the information they need to do their job; that is a business problem that directly impacts your sale.

Eliminate this chaos by centralizing everything your team needs to be successful. They quickly find assignments and focus their time on execution. They effortlessly find (and work on) the current document version, saving a ton of heartache. They easily follow solution and strategy discussions for better writing clarity. You’re strongest team members are those who have everything they need at their fingertips so they can quickly and accurately deliver on deadlines.

Team: What do I do now?

Your proposal process is meant to keep your team in sync, avoiding the confusion and frustration that can easily derail the schedule. When they are in sync, they work together in a coordinated fashion toward a common goal. When they are out of sync, a gap grows between what is needed and what is provided, threatening your schedule.

Eliminate this chaos by automating workflow and notifications, and centralizing calendars that provide the real-time visibility and reminders your team needs to stay in sync. They know their deadlines, and where theirs fit in the bigger picture, keeping pace with the team. They know what the next step entails, despite shifting deadlines. They communicate with the team and better facilitate timely hand-offs. Automating a portion of your proposal process doesn’t mean the proposal writes itself. It does mean that those things that are best handled by technology are, and those that are best left to humans are as well.

Proposal Manager: What is everyone working on?

The majority of your proposal team has full-time jobs. They are individuals, drawn from across the organization, working together for a period of time. For the proposal manager this presents a coordination challenge; what is the team working on and are they done?

Eliminate this chaos with real-time team and task status. Proposal managers know who is writing and reviewing, and when they are done. They can see the bottlenecks, step in and redistribute the workload before they become delays. They can prioritize review feedback to make the most of limited revision time. When proposal managers have visibility into what their team is doing, they can take control and more quickly align the team to change.

When the RFP drops, the realities of shifting priorities and competing deadlines can easily trigger the chaos that derails proposal efforts. Get the upper hand on chaos with the access, visibility, and control you need to be successful.