At the end of the proposal lifecycle, we’re all looking to cut page count—either to fall within the maximum page count or to increase readability with whitespace. While writers should… Continue reading Editing to reduce the length of your proposals

Few of us have ever worked in an ideal proposal shop. In most casual conversations at conferences and social gatherings, proposal professionals reveal exasperation with some aspect of their company—a… Continue reading Dealing with employment dissatisfaction: Change what’s in your control

Yoga has several aspects that are beneficial to capture and proposal professionals. These include breathing, mindfulness, meditation, and the poses themselves. Breathing: Did you know that yoga is more about… Continue reading Proposal yoga

As proposal professionals, we know the reality of hard work, long hours, deadlines, and stress. Members of the proposal team often have day jobs, too. Creativity, productivity, and contemplative abilities… Continue reading Make fun a priority

I recently returned from the largest gathering of capture and proposal professionals in the world: APMP Bid and Proposal Con 2015 in Seattle, WA. Capture and proposal professionals – be they managers, coordinators,… Continue reading Bigger is better!

Meetings are essential in business and proposals, but they also waste a lot of time. We groan about the weekly proposal staff meeting because it takes away from productive time… Continue reading 3 meeting management best practices

I started working proposals for a small business directly out of graduate school with no knowledge of federal contracting and about 3 hours of on-the-job-training. Increasing the pressure, 4 months… Continue reading Using confidence to lead

What do customers really want? As capture and proposal professionals, that question haunts us. We work very hard to understand customer hot buttons and craft our solution accordingly. However, too… Continue reading Capture and proposal innovations: activate your listening campaign

Dear Proposal Doctor, How can we stop the seemingly endless cycle of color reviews? My capture manager forces the pink and red reviews way too early in the schedule and… Continue reading How to stop the endless cycle of color reviews? Ask Proposal Doctor

Instead of writing about all the things companies should do to be more successful in their business acquisition efforts, I thought I would lead off the year by writing about… Continue reading 20 BD habits to kill off in 2015