Winning bids and proposals
Winning bids and proposals
Using graphics to create winning bids and proposals
Graphics are a very powerful weapon in a bid/proposal manager’s armoury. If used appropriately, graphics will turn a mediocre proposal into one that will win.
In this episode, I look at; Why use graphics in a proposal?; When to use graphics; How to plan graphics production; How to use graphics in the proposal.
Download the full fact sheet and notes for this episode here.
Let me know what other areas you would like me to cover by contacting me at www.willsconsultants.co.uk
Hello, my name is Jack Wills and welcome to creating winning proposals, a podcast series designed to give you hints and tips on ways to improve your bids and proposals so that you can win more business.
Jack Wills :In this edition, we're going to be looking at graphics. And I'm going to give you some hints and tips on ways that you can use graphics more effectively in your bids and proposals. Those of you who know me well, and some of you may well have been on some of the training courses I've run over the years will know that I have a thing about graphics. It's certainly not the case that I think graphics are a waste of time in a bid or proposal document. On the contrary, what I'm against his people who use them as fillers when they read through the document after it's been prepared, and they think, 'Oh, this is all a bit dull. I think we need to slip in a graphic here'. That is a recipe for disaster, and something that I certainly wouldn't condone at all. In fact, graphics are a very powerful weapon in a bid or proposal manager's armoury. And if you use them properly, graphics will turn a mediocre proposal into one that will definitely win. Now, although many of the principles for using photographs in proposals are similar to those surrounding graphics, I haven't included these in this particular podcast and we'll do another podcast, looking at photographs in more details later. There is a fact sheet accompanying this podcast and you should be able to download that from the podcast notes or, if you can't find it there, visit the website at www.willsconsultants.co.uk and you should be able to download the document from there. So, what about graphics in proposals? Well, I'm proposing to look at four areas in this podcast. Why use graphics in a proposal?; when to use graphics in your proposal; how to plan graphics and last of all how to use the graphics in the proposal in the most effective way.
Jack Wills :So, let's start by looking at that first section. Why use graphics in a proposal? Well, clearly there are a number of very good reasons why you should be using graphics in a proposal. And although the list I'm about to give you isn't exhaustive, these are some very good reasons why you should consider using graphics in your proposal. The first thing I think is probably that graphics are proven to be one of the most effective ways of persuading the customer. The evaluator, the person who's reading your proposal, to select your solution. After all, you want to win! They give the evaluator more in depth understanding of the key points that you're trying to make. Graphics also get across your thought process more effectively to an evaluator. Next, I guess is the fact that we use graphics to grab the attention of the reader. Use of good graphics will grab the reader's attention. Just think about when you're reading through a document that perhaps has a lot of text in it, and a third of the way down the page, halfway down the page, you see an attractive graphic. Clearly, that will grab your attention. That said, and here is a word of warning, don't patronise the evaluator with simplistic graphics, which show obvious things. Often, when I'm reading through proposals, I see a graphic which has just been put in there to, well, make it look pretty, with no real meaning behind it. So, just avoid that if you can. Graphics also have a massive multiplier effect in a document and can turn pages of dense text into something that's really accessible and very easy to understand. It's less intimidating to look at a document that has some decent graphics in it, which break up the text. So using graphics in that way will make the document a lot more accessible and a lot more easy to understand.
Jack Wills :Evaluators, and I'm guilty here myself if I'm really honest, evaluators often skim documents and they look at graphics that stand out or grab their attention. Then, I suppose they look at captions underneath the graphics, closely followed by headings in the proposal and any other highlighted areas, such as call outs. So, an evaluator will often form an impression based on what they've seen in a section, rather than what they've just read. Good graphics also leave an overall positive impression about your proposal. I guess if you were to ask me to describe what that really means, is that they probably convey professionalism and and credibility to an evaluator. Never forget, of course, that evaluators will often talk to each other during the evaluation process, and I should know I've done enough of these. They'll stop, perhaps and have a cup of coffee in the evaluation room, and during a break, they'll often ask each other things like, 'Well, which proposal do you think is looking best then?' And you know, more often than not, discussions will include areas such as which proposal is making the best use of graphics and other imagery to enhance the understanding of the proposal. So, never underestimate the human dimension of evaluators, when they talk to each other. The use of graphics improves the retention of the information that you put across in a proposal. Now, there've been lots of studies about this over the years. And some studies have shown that the retention levels of very detailed information are much higher when gleaned from proposals and other documents that make good use of graphics. So, that means essentially, that when you put a graphic into your proposal, and you add a caption to it, well, those two things together, combined can make the understanding and retention of that understanding a lot better. Evaluators, as we've heard already, are not robots. All too often you'll hear authors of proposals say, 'Well, we don't need to put graphics in our proposal here because our readers are all engineers, and they're only Interested in the detail and the facts.' Well, you know, nothing can be further from the truth. All proposals can be made a lot more interesting when using graphics. Remember, evaluators are human beings. Readers expect to see graphics these days. Think about when you pick up a document. Almost everything in the public domain that is read, contains graphics of one sort or another. So, your proposal should be no different. Studies have also shown that proposals, and I guess this goes for presentations in general too, but proposals that use graphics combined with well written text are often a lot more successful than those that don't adopt this method. And I suppose the last thing on my initial list is that graphics save using lots of text. Most of you will have written proposals where you have been asked by the customer to confine your answer to 1000 words, say, in a section. Using graphics can be really useful if you're working within the constraints of a word cat. So, as I said at the beginning, whilst that list isn't exhaustive, those are a couple of ideas of why perhaps we should be using graphics in our proposals.
Jack Wills :So let's go on to the next section. When to use graphics in your proposal, Well, bid managers will have a wide range of ideas concerning when to use graphics. And all I'm going to do now is give you a few ideas that I've gleaned over the years. Again, this list isn't exhaustive, and you will have your own ideas, but consider using graphics in the following situations. First of all, and I think it's probably the most important, is where critical information needs to be put across. To the evaluator, graphics supported by text, and I mean text in the text of the document and text within the graphic, and text underneath the graphic, will put the message across. Secondly, consider using a graphic when the information that you're trying to get across is far too complex to be put across in words alone. Now, I'm not suggesting that you can't write something that describes a process that's complicated, but why bother to do that, if you can use a graphic supported by text that will put across even the most complex of ideas or processes. Additionally, of course, this is going to help the evaluator understand your solution and your thought process. So, consider using a graphic when you've got something that's really complex to put across. I think the next thing, is when you're looking at things like value propositions. Now, I'm not going to talk about value propositions in this podcast in any detail at all. I'll do that in another one. But, a written value proposition can be used in certain circumstances. But, I have to say my experience tells me that graphics conveying a value proposition within a particular section is always a lot more effective. Where you have an abstract idea to convey. For example, you might have been asked to describe your implementation process, a customer service model, or an approach to the social impact of your solution or how you approach corporate and social responsibility issues, and so on. Now, whilst you could, no doubt, explain these in words, these are fairly abstract concepts, and they're a lot easier to show in a decent graphic. I guess another circumstance is where you have a flow to a particular process. For example, flows in a production process, a process for complaints resolution, or a design process. All of these things will lend themselves to being put across in a suitable graphic. I think another time is when you've had a particular problem in the past, and you want to show an evaluator that this has now been resolved. For example, you could show how you resolved the problem through a process flow. Or you could develop a table showing a list of problems that you've discovered, and alongside each show how you resolved them. So, a decent graphic showing this sort of thing will often give an evaluator confidence in the way that your organisation has resolved something in the past. Another time is where you have identified lists of issues and you want to show how these are being mitigated in your solution. For example, you'll often be asked to identify potential risks associated with your solution. Giving a list of risks that you've identified, and then showing how you're going to mitigate each of them, will give an evaluator confidence in your thought process. The same sort of thing will apply to areas such as quality assurance. So, a good graphic in that situation will put across those thoughts effectively.
Jack Wills :Let's turn our attention now to planning graphics. I guess one of the overriding principles associated with using graphics in a proposal is that they really do need to be planned carefully and early in the proposal writing process. Graphics production should never be a secondary process, the output of which is shoved into a proposal after the writing is taking place. Additionally, of course, they should never, ever, be used just as a method to break up text that appears to be too dense. So, here are a few principles to follow when you are producing graphics for your proposal. First of all, graphics should be planned and developed before writing is started. Now, that's easier said than done. But, often they can be drafted in the early stages of the proposal development process. And sometimes graphics can actually be drafted during the capture phase of a new opportunity by the business development team, the BD team. They might not like that, of course, if you suggested to them that they could be one of the people that could draft these in the early stages. But you know, what? If they understand the customer quite well and they understand a particular issue that the customer is worried about, well, getting them to produce a graphic is a good thing. Some graphics that you produce lend themselves to being stored after being used in the current proposal, for reuse in the next proposal. For example, your production process might not change too much between one contract solution and the next, and so it could be reused in a future proposal. Now a word of warning here, and you'll hear this again, in other podcasts. Great care must be exercised when using the same graphics from one proposal to the next. It's essential that every time a pre used graphic, a piece of boilerplate graphic is used, a full appraisal of its effectiveness in the new proposal must be carried out ruthlessly. If it doesn't quite do the job, don't use it. Ideally, an action caption should also be written prior to designing the graphic. Again, that's easier said than done. And I have to say that, at best, I've only ever managed to do this around about 75 percent othe time, when I'm really on full form! An action caption consists of a figure or table number and informative heading, and one or two sentences to describe the key message that needs to be put across to the evaluator. Now, we're going to be talking about informative headings in other podcasts later on. But what we're talking about here, is a heading that is sufficiently detailed enough to give the evaluator a complete understanding of what it is they're looking at. So, action captions, get them drafted early if you can. Graphics take time to produce. A simple graphic, for example, will take probably one to two hours to complete. Whereas a more complex graphic, can take up to six to 10 hours if it's really complicated. Each one needs to be sketched out as a concept, then run past two or three third parties to assess its effectiveness. And, once this process is complete, and don't don't be frightened of people giving some criticism about your graphics when you've produced them. But, once you've done it and you've drafted one, the draft graphic can then be passed to a graphic designer, for example, to produce the final solution. Once that production has taken place, of course, the graphic needs to be reviewed to have a look and see whether it does the job. So, next thing is test out the graphic, including its action caption, and integrate it into your storyboarding process again, Storyboarding will be touched on in a later podcast, but the storyboarding process should take into account action captions and graphics as part of that process. Next, put the graphic in the proposal and see if the graphic plus the action caption seems to be coherent. Does it work? Does it make sense, when reading the text and then going on to look at the graphic. So, this is really really useful once the text has been drafted and the graphic can be inserted to make sure that it is coherent. Keep the graphics simple. Always apply the KISS principle.Those of you don't know what the KISS principle is, it's 'keep it simple, stupid', but the KISS principle, always apply that. Try to keep all graphics uncluttered, and concentrate only on getting the key messages across to the evaluator. Consider using a customer's graphic, particularly when you've been asked for information such as return on investments. Often, you'll find that a customer will give you a graphic in those sorts of circumstances showing what they would ideally like to achieve. So, what you can do is use their graphic and superimpose your information on top of it, to get the point across. But, be very careful. Always ask for permission to use the graphic because the copyright always rests with the person who generated the graphic in the first place. And, you know, sometimes people get very upset if you use their graphics without asking them!
Jack Wills :So, the last thing we're going to talk about in this podcast is how to use the graphic in the proposal. Once you have a set of graphics to use in the proposal, you work them up, you're happy that they do what you want them to do, you will want to use them to the best effect. So, here are a couple of ideas to help you achieve this and to polish up what you have produced so far. I guess first of all, it's making sure that you always place the graphic on the page to achieve maximum impact. Obviously, you want the reader, when they go through your proposal, to be hit between the eyes with the key messages. So, get it somewhere on the page where it achieves that. Normally, that's about two thirds of the way down a page, but it actually could be at the start of a page, or right at the bottom of the page. Just try to get a feel for the best place to position the graphic as you review the document as a whole,. Just try to achieve some variety in where they appear. You'll certainly get a feel for this as you keep reviewing documents. Next, test out the draft text and the graphic together with its action caption, to see if the key messages really are being made obvious to the evaluator. Always introduce the graphic in the text prior to showing it in the document. Now, conventionally, words in the text introduce a graphic by using its figure or table number. So, for example, you'll see words like 'A diagram showing our mature customer complaints resolution process is shown at figure 1 below.' That sort of introduction will prepare the evaluator for what is about to follow. Try to orientate graphics vertically, so that the evaluator doesn't need to turn the proposal on its side to see the content and read the action caption. I have to tell you, from my own experience, this is one of the more irritating things that I come across when I am evaluating proposals. Try to avoid it. Don't upset the evaluator more than is absolutely necessary! Remember, you want them on your side. I suppose in the same light, try to avoid complicated foldouts. For bigger graphics, just keep things simple. Avoid using too much text in the graphic itself. I'm not talking about the action caption here, I'm talking about the words that appear in the graphic itself. Try to keep that simple. What you don't want is an evaluator trying to work out what they are seeing in the graphic. Use the action caption to get the key messages across to the evaluator. And, the principal is that looking at the graphic and reading the action caption will give the message. Lastly, as a rule of thumb, and I suppose this does go against what I said right at the beginning of the podcast to some extent, try to (and I'm talking about big proposals now) try to get a graphic or another visual appearing on every third page as a minimum, just to keep things accessible and interesting. That said, don't slavishly go through the proposal and say to yourself, 'Oh, I've got to page 3 with no graphics now, and I need a graphic.' That's not what we're talking about. Just get a feel for making the document flow and keeping things interesting.
Jack Wills :So, that's it for this episode. Just a couple of ideas there to help you improve the use of graphics in your proposals. Remember, these graphics can be very powerful if you use them in the right place. But, do do do resist the temptation to use graphics as something to pad out your proposal. I'm Jack Wills, and thank you very much for listening. Remember, there are some notes attached to this podcast and you can always get back to me via www.willsconsultants co.uk. Or you can leave any comments in the usual way. You can also reach me on LinkedIn at any time and I'd be happy to get back to you. Thank you again for listening, and I hope you'll join me again for the next in the podcast series creating winning proposals.