I recently attended a seminar that featured a luncheon speaker with some interesting and breakthrough ideas about team collaboration and interpersonal relations in business.

While I thought he provided some great insights about new ways to work with teams and clients, I was surprised to hear his views on developing proposals. I'd like to share my thoughts with you on this subject and would enjoy hearing your feedback on the issue.

One-page proposal
The speaker said he used to write long proposals. These days, however, his proposals are only one page long because he believes that prospects/clients only read the cost estimate page. He used to make them longer, but has decided that it is just a waste of time.

Winning the business
In my view and according to Tom Sant, well-known proposal guru, it takes more than a "fees" page to win business these days. If only it were that easy...

Lack of focus on customer issues
One of the biggest problems with business proposals is that they don't adequately focus on the prospective customer's problems. That's why the Executive Summary is so important, according to Sant.

Core message of solution
While it can be one of the most challenging sections to write, the Executive Summary is the core message of your solution. It lays the foundation for success because it shows the prospect that you understand their business "pain?. In addition:

• An exciting, captivating summary can set the stage for victory.
• It is the section that your potential customer reads first.
• It may be the only section read by senior management.

Please contact me if you are interested in business proposal writing, consulting or training by calling 651-486-7007 or emailing me at bmednick@bkmconsulting.com.

This past summer, I was involved in two exciting writing training projects with local colleges including a:

• Customized web site writing training for a St. Paul nonprofit organization.
• Customized customer service writing training for an international company.

Web site writing training
The timing of the web site writing training was advantageous because I was writing new web copy for a local college at the same time. This enabled me to draw on the key copywriting issues and challenges that I was facing during the web redesign project and apply them to the training sessions.

It was also good timing for the training client, who was also currently involved in a web site redesign project. This allowed us to use actual examples, issues and challenges they were facing as exercises and discussions. Key learning objectives were to:

• Review web writing basics.
• Learn and practice writing, editing, and formatting strategies to create compelling web copy.
• Apply principles and strategies learned to improve organizational web site.

Customer service writing training
The need to write clearly and quickly has never been more important than in today's highly competitive, technology-driven global economy. This is due primarily to the growth of computer technology and email.

This is particularly important for customer service professionals, who must continually update their email writing skills. Key learning objectives for the training focused on:

• Techniques to write more effective, customized responses that communicate the right tone and style to address customer issues and meet productivity goals.
• Effective strategies for organizaing and tailoring letters and emails that capture customer attention, address multiple issues, and promote loyalty.

The client and participant feedback from both training programs was very positive and I would enjoy the opportunity to develop and conduct similar writing training programs in the future!

Please contact me if you are interested in writing training by calling 651-486-7007 or emailing me at bmednick@bkmconsulting.com.