Proposal Themes: What message do you want to send?
By Dan Safford

Consider these facts: A few hundred years back, in a town in Europe two families didn’t get along well. Then a boy from one family fell in love with a girl from the other family. There were a few fights between members of the family, and eventually one of the boy’s friends was killed. The boy and the girl decided to run away, but the plan went awry and both ended up dead. The families mourned their losses.

Broken down to bare boned-facts, Romeo and Juliet is pretty boring. It’s how the facts are threaded together in a story, tied to an over-arching theme, that makes these facts interesting. Think about a book you have read or a movie you have seen. Now think about how you answer the question: What was it about? What was The Godfather about? It was about sticking up for the family. Hamlet is about the consequences of indecision. You can encapsulate the theme in a single sentence, and you can point to all the individual pieces of the movie or the book and show how they reinforce the theme.

Every proposal should be based on a theme, an over-arching message or set of messages that find their way into every section, every graphic of your proposal. Your messages need to come out over and over again so the client cannot forget them. And your messages need to be focused not only on how you can meet the client’s needs, but why you are the best suited of all the competitors to meet those needs.

Proposal themes are all about coming up with a handful of strong messages that the client, when he is grilled by his boss, can point to and say, “This proposal is about saving us money,” or “This team can give us the innovative solutions we need to solve our particular problem,” or, “These guys know this project so well that if we hire anyone else we’ll waste valuable time.”

You wend your themes throughout the proposal, tying them to your technical story. Every “fact” you include in your proposal should be tied to one of your themes. These themes focus the reader's attention on why you are the best choice for the job.

The winning proposal begins with a set of clearly defined themes (in the executive summary) then continues to hammer on those themes throughout the proposal. In fact, the ideal proposal is written around a set of themes. You address all the RFP requirements in a way that reinforces your themes.

Characteristics of an effective theme. What makes a good theme? Apply this test to each of the strategic themes you devise. If it passes on all counts, include it in your proposal. A theme

·         Brings direct and perceivable value to the client.

·         Is provable by citing past experience, test data, testimonials, etc.

·         Is believable by the client. Have you addressed all the perceived weaknesses the client harbors about you?

·         Can be stated in a single simple sentence. (“This proposal is about _____________________”)

·         It is something you alone of all the competitors can offer

·         It is something the client believes only you can do..

If your themes do not meet these tests, revise them until they do. You may have to drop one as a major theme, relegating it to secondary importance, something you’ll keep, but only to bolster your case.

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