Secure Proposal Success with Three Powerful Reviews

Three powerful proposal reviews—the year-end lessons learned review, the proposal post-mortem review, and the independent proposal review—can transform your win rate and improve operations. I don’t know about you, but I always learn far more from my failures than from my successes. So, by implementing these three review techniques, you can gain insights into your processes, reveal blind spots, enhance strengths, and set up your team for success.

Year-End Lessons Learned Reviews

The end of the year is a prime time to reflect on your proposal efforts. Year-end lessons learned reviews allow your team to evaluate annual performance, identify trends, and address recurring challenges. By asking these critical questions, you can learn from past experiences rather than repeat mistakes. Consider structuring your review around Lohfeld Consulting Group’s Seven Performance Indicators:

1. Compliance: Were your proposals compliant? If not, why? Did customers provide feedback on improving compliance?
2. Responsiveness: Did your proposals directly address customer requirements? Did your approaches provide enough detail within the page limits?
3. Customer Focus: Did your proposals prioritize the customer’s mission over highlighting your company?
4. Feature and Benefit Richness: Did your proposals consistently score highest on technical criteria? Were your wins narrow or decisive?
5. Ease of Evaluation: Could evaluators quickly locate your strengths? Did unclear formatting reduce your score?
6. Visual Appeal: Did your proposal layout enhance your narrative and highlight your strengths?
7. Writing Quality: Were your proposals free of logic gaps, spelling errors, or grammatical mistakes?

Essential Post-Mortem Reviews

Unexpected losses can be painful, but they also present invaluable learning opportunities. Post-mortem reviews analyze specific proposals—whether you won or lost—to uncover actionable insights. Winning proposals can provide replicable strategies, while losing proposals often reveal critical missteps.

To maximize value, invite candid feedback from all contributors, including subject matter experts, graphic designers, and subcontractors. Their diverse perspectives often uncover underlying issues that leadership might overlook. This holistic approach ensures you pinpoint what worked and what didn’t, making post-mortem reviews a treasure trove of knowledge for your next effort.

The Power of Independent Reviews

Sometimes, internal teams are too close to the work to spot weaknesses or untapped opportunities. This is where independent reviews shine. Independent reviewers deliver honest, actionable feedback by offering a fresh, unbiased perspective.

Partnering with experienced proposal professionals ensures your submissions align with best practices, meet federal requirements, clearly articulate your value proposition, and score highly. The result? Proposals that are compliant, compelling, and poised to win.

Conclusion

Achieving sustainable success in the bid and proposal industry requires a deliberate focus on continuous improvement. Incorporating year-end lessons learned reviews, post-mortem reviews, and independent reviews into your proposal strategy is critical for sustained success.

As you prepare for 2025, make these reviews the cornerstone of your process. By dedicating time and resources to this essential step, you’ll improve the quality of your proposals and position your team for long-term success. Remember: Success isn’t just about what you deliver—it’s about how you grow. If you want more information about how Lohfeld Consulting can help, contact us.

Related Information:

• 10 steps to creating high-scoring proposals
• Why Proposal Reviews Fail and How to Fix Them
• Capture proposal lessons learned – and then live them!
• VIDEO: Independent Proposal Reviews – Why They Matter

By Brenda Crist, Vice President at Lohfeld Consulting Group, MPA, CPP APMP Fellow

Lohfeld Consulting Group has proven results specializing in helping companies create winning captures and proposals. As the premier capture and proposal services consulting firm focused exclusively on government markets, we provide expert assistance to government contractors in Capture Planning and Strategy, Proposal Management and Writing, Capture and Proposal Process and Infrastructure, and Training. In the last 3 years, we’ve supported over 550 proposals winning more than $170B for our clients—including the Top 10 government contractors. Lohfeld Consulting Group is your “go-to” capture and proposal source! Start winning by contacting us at www.lohfeldconsulting.com and join us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube^(TM).

Brenda Crist

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