I'm back in proposal world. I didn't really get out of it, but for the past few years, I've been straddling proposals and marketing. In my new job, I'm fully in proposal world, though, playing both a capture and proposal role.
Those who don't do government proposals don't really understand what those of us who do mean by "proposal world". So let me offer a few insights to clarify why you need a passport (and a healthy dose of sanity).
1) Proposal world means playing catch-up. In the perfect world of proposals, the one they train you on, the company has advanced knowledge that a Request for Proposals is coming and has an opportunity to "shape the deal." The proposal team may even gather before the RFP comes out and start figuring out the solution and getting teammates onboard. And may have several weeks, or months even, to get it down. In a perfect world, rare for proposal world. Those generally aren't the kinds of proposals I work. The RFPs I work on are usually the "extras" or the "this just dropped" ones. They haven't been shaped. They are opportunities we may or may not have identified, but ones that, once they came out, were opportunities that we thought we could win. So with imperfect information and with less time than we'd like, we jump into proposal world.
2) Proposal world means working long hours. Everyone who has ever worked on a proposal knows that, no matter how prepared you think you are, the hours it takes to get one done are significant. Even with the longer schedules for the bigger deals, in the last few days or weeks, time becomes a factor. In the proposal world I live in, where the RFPs are "pop-ups" with usually a 2- or 3-week schedule from RFP date to proposal delivery, the hours can become even more insane. If you have more than one going on at the same time, long days can become more the rule than the exception. And weekends have a tendency to go out with the bath water, too. For those who only visit proposal world, it's the anti-vacation. For those of us who live here, delivery day is a mixed blessing. It's often a VERY long day the day before a proposal is due. But, if you're lucky as I am today, after delivery you get to take some time off. You've usually already put in your hours.
3) Proposal world can be full of cranky people. If you take a look at #1 and #2, you can understand why. No one likes to feel as though they have to work long hours just to catch up and then work more long hours to get it done, especially when they weren't expecting it. And most people working on a proposal don't have just one job. Most people working on a proposal have at least two. Even those of us who do proposals for a living. The people providing the technical solution usually have billable, "real" jobs to do, and the proposal is something they do in the "offhours" after the clock has stopped ticking for their customer's work. That means evenings and weekends. The people who do proposals for a living rarely get to work on only one proposal at a time. And even if they do, they have to manage the schedule, the other cranky people, feed the management chain the information for approvals, get in-house reviews done, write pieces of the documents, edit the documents, work the graphics to tell the story, and generally tell people they need everything done yesterday and perfectly. Like I said, more than one job.
And yet...there's a certain satisfaction that comes from working on proposals. Yes, people can be cranky, but often there's a spirit of "we can do this if we work together", which isn't always the case in every job. You don't get to stay in proposal world long if you're an "it's all about me" kind of person. Or a backstabbing kind of person. The residents will eat you up and/or kick you out.
And proposals are kind of a big puzzle. There's the "how are we going to get this done" part. There's the "what's the right solution part". There's the "what does this customer really want" part. There's the "oh my god, it's due in 2 days" part. Figuring out all the parts and getting a proposal together that looks good and smells right - well, it's a good feeling.
Proposal world also mean jobs and revenue. Shareholders appreciate that. Your boss appreciates that. Your fellow employees appreciate that.
If you do it right, you win more than you lose. If you do it really well, you get a pat on the back, even for just doing your job.
And who doesn't love a pat of the back for just doing their job.
Proposal world. It's an interesting place to live. Guess I'll stay here for a while.
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