Why Proposal Automation Software? Part Two

How Do You Spend Your Proposal Creation Time?

The purpose of proposal automation software is to reduce the time your writers spend on administrative functions when creating a proposal while increasing the quality and consistency of their output.Some organizations embrace proposal automation to reduce the overall time required to complete a proposal and increase the number of RFPs to which they can respond. Other organizations that use proposal automation choose to reallocate their effort and increase time spent on strategic efforts to increase proposal effectiveness and win rates.But the most impactful model combines both approaches. In this scenario, organizations shift their approach depending upon the receipt of a RFP based on the qualification, win probability, client relationship, etc. of the specific opportunity – spending less time on lesser valuable opportunities and more time on those valuable opportunities that deserve the additional effort.

But Isn’t a Proposal Just a Document?

Why do many management teams consider proposal software as a kind of luxury item? Executives sometimes ask, “A proposal is just document, right? Why do we need a specialized tool to make a document?”. For sure, proposals are documents with words and images like other business documents, but your proposal writers face unique challenges when creating proposals:

• The stakes are high – Proposals alone won’t win business, but they can lose it for you.
• Time is against them – They operate under tight deadlines.
• Need ‘single source of the truth’ – There is no means of storing or searching for the most current and correct company and product information.
• Different people make different proposals – It’s impossible to create branding and writing consistency or share business-winning content across a team of proposal writers.
• Today’s model isn’t scalable – RFPs are increasing at an alarming rate. Is the proposal writer headcount increasing?
• Compliance risks – RFP terms commonly mandate proposals offered as contractually binding.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t a people or training issue. Nor can these challenges be solved with a SharePoint or Google Drive full of old proposal content. In fact, this effort typically makes the problems worse! Proposal writers need a tool to help them do a better job for the business in this unique, pressure-filled, business-critical function.