Push the "easy button"

It's widely understood that User experience (UX) design is necessary for ensuring good user experiences by optimizing the making, creating, and organizing the interfaces people interact with daily, like mobile apps, websites, smart watches, and physical products. 

Good proposal design is exactly the same:  designed to optimize a good user experience.  What does that mean?

Clients will evaluate your proposal and, in some cases, the source selection team members may not even really want to be there.  They've been asked to participate as "an additional duty."  Regardless of whether they want to be there, or not, proposal design must be centered on making their job easy!

What has the RFP asked for?  Provide it.  What evaluation factors are going to be used to assess your offer?  Make sure these are clearly addressed and easy to find.  To the extent practical, organize around the evaluation factors and sprinkle the rest of required material within in an organized manner.  Create a traceability matrix to assist the client in finding everything they have asked for.

Provide clear value propositions, aligned with stated and unstated customer requirements.

Understand how your customer assesses program risk and indicate how your approaches mitigate those risks.

Imagine you're a source selection team member.  You're going to have to capture the "reasons" why each vendor's proposal meets or exceeds the project requirements while minimizing project risks FROM THE CUSTOMER'S PERSPECTIVE.  Make sure you clearly articulate all these in easy to find callout boxes.  Make it easy for the client to write their source selection justification for your offer!  Make it simple for your client to push the "easy button."

If you need help with your proposal design, click on the "Contact" link and let us know.  We'd be happy to help you build a compelling proposal.