That's interesting, so what?

There's a simple test I use called the "so what" test.  When you see an assertion, claim, or statement in a proposal, is it substantiated and does it answer the question "so what?"  If not, you're leaving it up to the reader to guess or, worse, conclude nothing at all.

Assertions like "we're the biggest recruiter in the world," or "we're the fastest," or similar, are meaningless.  How big is big?  What does it mean to be the "biggest?"  How fast is fast?  Does it matter?

Instead of generalizing, quantify it:  "Our recruiters hire an average of 1 person every four seconds worldwide, 24/7/365."

While that sounds impressive, it still doesn't answer the "so what" test. 

Improvement: "Our staffing plan for Project X requires that we hire 15 people a month for 18 months. Our recruiting team averages the onboarding of a new staff member every four seconds worldwide and specializes in the type of staff planned for this project.  Our recruiting team's abilities and demonstrated performance makes hiring 15 people a month for 18 months a very low risk for schedule disruption due to staffing issues. 

There it is.  The "so what."  Our abilities and demonstrated performance (hiring 1 person every 4 seconds and specializing in the types of staff planned for this project) translates to a very low risk for schedule disruption due to staffing issues.  Perfect.

In another blog post, I talk about making sure your client can push the easy button.  This example demonstrates something that a source selection team member could cut-and-paste into a source selection justification document with minor edits!       

Ensure the facts are clear and what they mean to the reader!

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