Using role-playing to unleash team member creativity when designing short-list interview content
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks reviewing proposals for a number of my clients. We’re helping some write better boilerplate, and I’ve performed emergency surgery on several proposals in advance of quick-turn deadlines. After several late nights, I continue to be amazed at how generic most proposal content is, and how often we miss opportunities for grabbing our audience’s attention in most marketing documents. Most proposals in our industry are too long, uninspiring, and difficult to navigate.
FACT: The average team spends about $3,500 a minute to present their qualifications and approach for a project to a selection committee. When you add up the business development, marketing, and team costs to get in front of the committee, this figure is certainly much higher for larger or more complicated pursuits. When we consider the cost of a pursuit this way, all of us in the design and construction community—both owners and design/construction professionals—should start thinking differently about how we work. Simply, it’s time to ‘Lean’ the pursuit process.