Mastering Proposal Development

RFP responses can be a real challenge. They’re often slow and inconsistent due to scattered knowledge and manual processes. This was the case for a global consultancy that wanted to speed up how it brought its offerings to market. Sales teams struggled to access past proposals, relevant case studies, and client-specific context. This customer was an early Glean Agent adopter, and we’re thankful for their feedback along the journey. To address this challenge, they deployed a suite of Glean agents. The goal was to unify content discovery and streamline proposal workflows, pulling from their company knowledge bases, CRM systems, and external research to support end-to-end RFP generation. This was paired with a methodical approach to enablement and adoption. Some examples of agents they built: • A Client Need Triage agent that maps client requirements to standard service offerings • A Research agent to pull together industry and company-specific insights • A Historian agent to surface past engagements and account activity right from the CRM • A Proposal Helper agent to accelerate proposal creation with standardized, offering-aligned drafts This foundation delivered real business value: • Proposal development time dropped from 4 weeks to just a few hours. That’s a 97% productivity gain. • A heuristic metric of deflecting over $150K if a single point enablement Saas solution was chosen. By embedding agents directly into the sales workflow, the consultancy improved both speed and precision in proposal development. Now, they’re looking to apply the same agent-driven approach to other parts of the business, like managed services and engineering, to bring that same efficiency and intelligence everywhere.

Make writing a proposal for research funding easy. Here is how. There is a tendency to rapidly begin filling in the parts of the application form as soon as possible. With a deadline looming, I used to ask all the partners in a consortium project to state filling in their work packages right away after the first meeting. I had a sooner the better mentality. My plan would be that once we had work packages written I would piece them together. The result. Frankenstein projects. Work packages that did not align, and objectives that sounded like they were each describing different projects. It was a writing nightmare. I was trying sew different ideas together. Reviewers see stitches. Like a good scientific paper, a funding proposal has to have a good logical flow. I now realize that the panicked approach I took previously to funding proposal development is not how to do it. It is much better to be 100% certain of the concept. Then write. For some projects this happens very quickly. Other projects take much more time. Sometimes what you are aiming to do is just complicated and full of uncertainties. Take that time. For scientific papers an outline works. For funding proposals the first step is to get all those involved aligned on the concept. This is not to say you don't write anything at all. To the contrary writing is a way to think. But you need to build up the layers. 1️⃣ Describe the problem and what you will do on a high level. 2️⃣ Then the impacts, outcomes and outputs you intend to have 3️⃣ Then the methods. ➡️ Methods are where you often uncover subtleties and problems that were not apparent at first. You need to solve those problems and the accompanying doubts before you can really begin to write. 4️⃣ Then you can build a project plan. Not before. "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." -Abraham Lincoln Take the time to get the concept right, then write. 

Both my parents were teachers, so I grew up surrounded by lesson plans and stacks of acetates for the overhead projectors (yes, I'm that old). I swore I’d never follow in their footsteps. Yet, here I am—training teams, helping people learn and grow (though, thankfully, the tech has moved on a bit). The principles used for training are also used to develop winning proposals: 1️⃣ Backward Design In training, we start with the learning outcome. In proposals, we focus on the decision criteria. Every step guides the audience to the desired result—understanding and confidence. 2️⃣ Cognitive Load Theory Learners can’t absorb too much at once, and neither can evaluators. We structure content with logical flow, concise text, and visuals to simplify complexity. 3️⃣ Scaffolding Whether teaching new skills or writing a proposal, we build understanding step by step. We layer in details to reinforce the message. 4️⃣ Multimodal Learning Some learners thrive on visuals; others prefer text or interactive elements. Proposals are no different—we use formats like infographics and videos to connect with every evaluator. 5️⃣ Feedback Loops In training, feedback refines learning. In proposals, iterative reviews sharpen content and alignment so the final submission hits the mark. Proposals, like great training, aren’t just about information—they’re about creating an experience that resonates and persuades. What’s one learning-inspired strategy you’ve used in proposals? #LifelongLearning #ProposalProTips #StrategicProposals #ProposalManagement #ProposalWriting ‐-------------------------- 👋🏼 Hi, I'm Ceri Mescall 📄 Follow me and Strategic Proposals in North America for more great content 🏆 Hire us to help you win more and stress less

The best thing I ever added to my proposals was... less proposal. I used to send 20-page proposals. Detailed scope. Case studies. Testimonials. Team bios. Project timelines. Everything I thought a client needed before saying yes. My close rate was 23%. Today, my proposals are 2 pages. My close rate is 41%. The structure is simple: Page 1 • The problem we're solving • Our proposed solution • Timeline • Investment • Next steps Page 2 • What's included • What's not included • Payment terms • Signature section That's it. The biggest mistake I was making? Trying to impress people instead of helping them make a decision. Most clients don't want to read 20 pages. They're busy! The longer the proposal, the easier it is to put off making a decision. A short proposal gets opened and read immediately. A long proposal gets bookmarked for later. And "later" is where a lot of deals die. I also realized something else. The more I tried to explain everything, the less confident it looked. A proposal shouldn't be a sales pitch. The selling should already be done during discovery. The proposal is simply a summary of what was agreed. Since simplifying our proposals: • Approval times became faster • Questions decreased • We saved hours on proposal writing • More opportunities moved forward A proposal has one job: Get a decision. The easier it is to read, the easier it is to say yes. Sometimes the fastest way to close more deals is to write less. - - - ♻️ Repost, if this actually resonated with you. ➕ For more business growth insights, follow Zeeshan Mahmood

Most proposal teams are still copy-pasting from content libraries and hoping for the best. Meanwhile, Claude's skills framework is quietly solving problems we've been brute-forcing for years. Skills are reusable instruction sets that tell Claude how to do something — not just what to do. Think of them as codified expertise. You build them once, and every output after that follows the same quality standard. Here's why that matters for proposal work: A skill can encode your company's win themes, compliance formatting requirements, RFP response structure, and tone guidelines into a single repeatable process. Instead of briefing a new writer for two hours or reviewing fifteen drafts that all miss the mark, you build the skill and let it run. I've been building custom skills for everything from automated quality checks across 27+ documentation spaces to standardized project templates that pull from multiple data sources. The pattern is the same every time — capture the expertise, encode the process, eliminate the bottleneck. For proposal teams specifically, this means: → Consistent voice across every volume, every time → Compliance matrices that actually get checked against requirements → First drafts that need refinement, not reconstruction → Scalable output without scaling headcount → NO NEED TO PURCHASE SAAS TOOLING The teams that figure this out first aren't just going to move faster. They're going to win more, because quality at speed is the whole game in proposal operations. If you're still treating AI as a fancy autocomplete for your proposals, you're leaving wins on the table.

We won a $25k project with a 5-page proposal. Our competitor sent 47 pages and lost. See why. Why have we won the project? Not because we're better designers (though I'd like to think we are). But because we understand that clients don't buy complexity. They buy clarity. When I founded DesignLion, our proposals looked like everyone else's: • Endless pages justifying our existence • Complex process diagrams • Detailed breakdowns of every deliverable They took days to create and minutes for prospects to skim. Our close rate? A mediocre 34%. Then we radically simplified: Page 1: The client's specific problem (in their own words) Page 2: Our solution (focused on outcomes, not deliverables) Page 3: Timeline and investment Page 4: Next steps Page 5: Terms That's it. Our close rate jumped to 72%. But the real magic? These proposals take 90 minutes to create instead of 8 hours. Clients don't need to know every detail of how the website is made. They need confidence you understand their problem and can solve it. The same principle applies to your design work: 1. Simple portfolios outperform complex ones. 2. Clear messaging converts better than clever messaging. 3. Straightforward user paths beat intricate ones. Complexity creates confusion. Confusion kills conversion. Next time you're tempted to add "just one more section" to prove your worth, remember: In business, clarity isn't just kind. It's profitable. What could you simplify today?

This is for small business, with limited time and resources and who are responding to similar work in their proposals, going from one RFP to the other. ❓Do you have a bunch of proposals for pretty much the same work, but still have to write something brand new each time and RFP pops up? ❓Or are you combing through previously submitted proposals for the narratives and copying and pasting old, used, and possibly dated narratives, or God forbid, accidentally leaving in the wrong customer or program name? 👉There’s a simple solution. 👉Create ONE document, in your template with all the styles you use, and include all of the key sections you typically respond to, such as – Intro (include your focus box that calls out your qualifications and key, applicable metrics) – Recruiting/Retention – Management Approach – Technical Approach (this one can be tough, since the requirements change by RFP) – Risk – Staffing, most likely a table with a brief intro – Agile processes – Quality Etc. 👉Then take your most recent, winning, and well written narratives and drop them in the buckets you have created. ✅Where you would put the customer’s name and the program name, etc., put “CUSTOMER” and “PROGRAM”. This makes it easy to do a find and replace. ✅Now, spend some time polishing the language, check your grammar, punctuation, lingo, etc. and elevate the writing. ✅As you respond to RFPs, add new sections as needed and refine the other sections. I think you will find that you can respond much more quickly and efficiently if you are prepared. You’re still going to have to customize your narratives for each RFP response, but this document will help jump start your process. 👉You should also create single document past performance references, making sure to keep them up to date and capture kudos and CPARS or any accomplishments, tracking key metrics to include in your future proposals. 👉Don’t forget formatted resumes of the personnel you typically include in your proposals. Make sure they are current, too. 👉And graphics, of course – org chart, process flows, etc. (I use PowerPoint. It’s so easy to make changes on the fly.) All of this will prepare you to respond more efficiently, avoiding the dreaded burn out. Maybe even hire a writer to polish your vetted narrative. 🚫Nope, this isn’t AI supported, but it could be. 🚫Nope, we’re not talking about some huge folder tree on SharePoint. We’re talking a simple straightforward method to save you time and keep all of your good stuff in one place. Message me if you have any questions.

I once had a conversation with a Director of Sales that stopped me in my tracks. "I've got AEs spending more time editing proposals than on calls with prospects." Decided to dig deeper and do a bit of research. I asked 400 sales leaders from Fortune 1000 companies how much time, on average, their sales reps were spending each week on writing, editing, and sending sales proposals and similar content for prospects. The answer?   15 hours a week. That’s 15 hours a week that most account executives are not presenting to their opportunities, not messaging their prospects, not improving their game, NOT selling.  Let’s take a recent example from a company I spoke with: 127 proposals sent Average time per proposal: 7 hours Only 1 hours spent on actual deal strategy The rest? Formatting, copying data, chasing approvals Let that sink in. Your $150K/year AE is spending 6 hours playing "document designer" instead of: Having strategic conversations with prospects, working on deal strategy, expanding their pipeline, and the most important of all... Actually CLOSING deals Here's what we did to fix it: (1) Created a master content library mapped to proposal and document templates (2) Automated data population from the CRM and content library with a questionnaire using multiple levels of logic branching for even the most complex proposals with thousands of content variances (3) Built approval workflows (4) Automated pricing calculations as part of the document generation Results? Proposal creation time: ⬇️ Down 90% Pipeline growth: ⬆️ Up 20% Team morale: Through the roof 📈 What's your proposal process costing you?

After talking with hundreds of ops people at wealth management firms here’s exactly what we have seen work at a very high level consistently across the board.  Because the current reality is processes, or lack thereof are too slow, too manual and too risky. Here’s what we’ve seen be very effective. Step 1: Centralize intake > No email threads, no Dropbox links, no “can you resend that?” > Every external doc comes through one secure intake, tagged and categorized automatically. Step 2: Automate ingestion > Use AI to read everything, PDFs, images, excel, scanned statements, without format training. > No waiting on ops, no late-night excel cleanup. Step 3: Flag edge cases early > Run logic to catch mismatched tickers, valuation gaps, or missing account types before a human reviews it. > Clean data in = clean proposal out. Step 4: Route by complexity > Not every prospect package needs a senior analyst. > Fast-track the easy ones. Route the hairy ones to someone who’s seen it before. Step 5: Track time-to-proposal like a sales KPI If it’s taking 5 days to get a proposal out, it’s not just a back-office problem,  it’s a pipeline problem. Speed = trust Same-day turnaround. 99% accuracy. No format limitations. Because when a prospect shares their portfolio with you, the clock starts. Your systems should be ready.

"This looks great, can you send us a proposal?" I used to get SO EXCITED hearing this as an AE ($$$$$!!!) Then I'd send over a 12 page proposal, because more information = easier yes. And then that proposal went to die in someone's inbox. Because it looked like work and nobody’s got time for that. Now when I work with sales teams, here's what we change: 1. Stop treating proposals like closing documents Conversations close deals, not PDFs. The proposal should just summarize what you've already agreed on. If you're using your proposal to convince someone, you’re skipping steps. 2. Do not send a menu Just show exactly what this customer needs, with maybe ONE other option. Make it scannable The people you care about skim for three things: what they get, what it costs, what happens next. 3. Put features/benefits in their language Instead of "Advanced analytics," try "Run monthly reporting in 30 minutes (reduced from 8 hours)” 4. Include the implementation plan Show them exactly what happens in the first 4-8 weeks. Be realistic about what you can do, and what they will need to do. Most deals stall because buyers can't visualize the path forward or it’s not believable. 5. Build it together Share the proposal draft on a call before you send it. Get their input. Handle objections in real-time. Show them what they'll achieve, how it will happen, and what they need to do to get started. My clients are doing this in ~30 minutes per proposal. ————————— 👋 Hi, I'm Monica. I help B2B SaaS founders grow revenue from $1-$10M ARR. If this is you, send me a DM.