One of the most recognized proposal processes is the Shipley Proposal Process. The Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) recognizes Shipley as a top process and offers certification on it.

While it is an excellent process used by many major organizations, for some smaller teams, Shipley can be overkill. If your team consists of only a handful of people (or maybe even just you) and you respond to fairly simple RFPs, then the full process may cause more pain than benefit.

That’s why we follow a simplified version to reap the benefits without having to fill out a robust team with more meetings than are needed.

Periscope S2G (BidSync): Is it really worth it?

Once you decide to start responding to RFPs, the first question you ask is “How do I find RFPs?” Consider using a bid aggregator, such as BidSync.

Proposal WritingDemi UtleyFebruary 28, 2025bidsync

13 Questions to Add to Your Go/No Go Decision

Whether you respond to RFPs or not, a clear Go/No Go process is essential to ensuring you don’t spend too much time on proposals that aren’t likely to win. Figuring out how to make that decision is the hard part, however. To help make it easier, here are thirteen questions you can ask to help you decide if you should send out the proposal.

Proposal Writing: Everything You Need to Know

Proposal writing is the act of creating a written pitch on a given subject. Good proposal writing requires a lot of forethought, understanding of your audience, and creative writing to persuade the reader.

Sales WritingDemi UtleyFebruary 25, 2025RFPs, Proposal Writing, sales content

Proposal Executive Summary Examples

If you’re searching for a proposal executive summary example, then you know that a compelling executive summary has the ability to engage your audience and inspire them to read your proposal in detail. Writing the content, however, is the hard part. We’ve included proposal executive summary examples here for inspiration to help with your writing.

Proposal Writing, Sales WritingDemi UtleyFebruary 25, 2025Proposal Writing, Executive summary, RFPs, rfp, B2B marketing

Proposal Letter Examples (with Writing Tips)

Developing a proposal is overwhelming, and creating a compelling proposal letter requires a lot of planning and strategy. It’s easy to think that your letter is simply a formality, but smart companies use the proposal letter as a way to position their solution against the competition.

Sales WritingDemi UtleyFebruary 25, 2025Proposal Writing, RFPs, sales content

Master Color Team Reviews: Pink, Red and Gold (+Alternatives)

Let’s say you responded to an RFP response that you were poised to win. You crafted the perfect answers, tweaked your pricing to be competitive, and checked off all of the compliance boxes. And yet, you still lost. You may have heard of the mysterious color team reviews that could help in this situation.

Proposal WritingDemi UtleyFebruary 4, 2025proposal team

Types of Proposal Writing Training

While we share tons of free information on our blog and YouTube channel, sometimes you need a bit more detail to help put some ideas into practice. Whether you’re brand new to proposals or looking to expand your existing skillset, there are plenty of trainings out there to help you grow.

Below is a compilation of a few different types of training that are perfect for proposal writers.

Your Most Common Proposal Challenges (and how to solve them)

Juggling RFP deadlines, stakeholder feedback, and customer questions can make it difficult (if not impossible) to reflect on your proposal approach and ways you can improve. To help you on this journey, we’ve compiled a few of the most common proposal challenges and steps you can take to solve them.

If your challenge is…

BTS: Creating a WINNING $400M Proposal

We talk a lot about proposal techniques and strategies, but today I’m sharing a little behind-the-scenes to show you how some of this can look in practice.

Today we’ll be covering a $400 million proposal that I led and won. This can give you some insight into what to expect as you pursue larger and more competitive RFPs.

What is a Proposal Strategy Meeting (and why you need it!)

When a customer asks you to send a proposal–whether it’s for an RFP or not–it’s easy to jump ahead to pricing and slap together a basic overview for your proposal.

But taking a moment to pause and think through your strategy can be the difference between winning the contract…or not.

That’s where the Strategy Meeting comes in.

BTS: Creating a WINNING Proposal Against an Aggressive Competitor

A couple years into consulting, I had a client approach me who was concerned about a very aggressive competitor who was pursuing a contract that my client had held for ten years. The contract was a huge part of their business, and the competitor had been doing all of the right things to win over the customer–holding frequent meetings, conducting demos, meeting with all types of stakeholders, etc.

My client knew that if they didn’t create an outstanding proposal, they might lose the contract and have to rework their business.

Add this to your process to always be compliant.

A lot of what we share here on the blog (and on YouTube) focuses on how to write your proposal and create a sound strategy.

But one of the biggest sources of anxiety we hear with RFPs comes not from the proposal itself, but from the requirements.

Sometimes responding to an RFP can feel like they’re intentionally trying to find a reason to deem your proposal noncompliant.

From page length requirements to hidden forms to requiring blue ink signatures, the list of requirements for what you have to remember for your proposal can stack up. And that’s not even including the proposal content itself!

Proposal WritingDemi UtleyApril 22, 2024proposal writing, Proposal Writing, RFPs, rfp, proposal management

Winning vs Losing Proposals: The Missing Piece

“How do I show buyers why we’re a better choice than our top competitor?”

When it comes to proposals, this question is asked again and again.

You may have done everything right. Checked off all of the boxes from the RFP. Met with the customer. Created engaging graphics. Developed a sound pricing strategy.

But for some reason, they continue to win while you continue to…not.

In these cases, there is often one main reason why your competitors are winning over you.

The Proposal Writing Secret Used by Your Top Competitors

The sales process is fraught with challenges.

From securing a meeting with an ideal client to determining the best pricing to creating a winning proposal, there always seems to be just one more step to be completed before contracts are signed.

But when it comes to sales, there is one secret that nearly every successful company uses:

4 Traits of Successful Executive Summaries

Executive Summaries are one of the most dreaded RFP sections. How do you summarize an entire proposal in just one page? (You don’t.) Will it even be read?

But once you figure out how to write Executive Summaries, they will likely become your favorite section! This part of the proposal is often the most read, and because of that, it requires a little more creativity and focus than other parts of the proposal. To help you on this journey, check out the four key traits of successful Executive Summaries below.

The Most Common Executive Summary Misconception

There are few proposal sections more talked about than the Executive Summary.

We get questions every week on this topic:

How do I write an executive summary? When do I include one? Do people even read it?

There are countless articles and videos out there sharing conflicting information about the Executive Summary, but there’s still one misconception that many people hold when they start drafting.

6 Popular Proposal Goals for Annual Planning

With the start of a new year, many of us are hard at work planning out where to focus our energy for the next twelve months. Below is a list of a few popular proposal goals to inspire your planning, with steps you can take to actually achieve them!

#1 Increase Win Rate

When to Introduce Your Company in the Executive Summary (It’s later than you think!)

Of all the most common proposal sections, the one that I’m asked about again and again is the Executive Summary.

Most Executive Summaries are only 1-2 pages long, yet they seem to strike fear in the heart of any writer, stalling typing and bringing up a new round of writer’s block. The reasons for hesitation vary–some people ask what exactly should be included. Others want to make sure they’re starting the proposal off with the right tone. I’ve heard concerns that this is the only section the client will read, making it even more overwhelming and difficult to craft.

Pandadoc for Proposals: Everything You Need to Know in 2025

One question a lot of companies ask is “what tool should I be using for my proposals?”

My answer to this question: it depends on your proposals.

So if you often send out non-RFP proposals, I’d like to share what I like about Pandadoc for proposals, what I don’t, and how to determine if it’s a good fit for your company.

RFP & Proposal Tips

If your challenge is…

#1 Increase Win Rate

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