In a previous article, I discussed using the proposal overview to ensure compliance. This article discusses a second compliance tool: shell documents, or the “proposal shell.”

While participating on a review team for a recent client proposal, I heard another reviewer—a senior manager with our client firm—recommend that we omit the word “unmatched” from the proposal’s executive summary. He commented, “Words like this are meaningless hyperbole. They’re just a waste of space."

The 2009 Tour de France came to its conclusion this week in front of a record audience on the Champs-Élysées. I found it to be an interesting exercise to compare winning the Tour to winning federal business.

Proposal Director Mike Schutz writes about SF330 development: how A/E firms can separate themselves from the pack by handing this standard form properly.

In the rush to the Web over the last dozen years, much attention has been given to the website "user experience". To a certain degree, this extensive dialogue has been reapplied to print marketing pieces as graphic designers strive to combine traditional print design with visual elements familiar to web users.

Proposals bust be relevant to the concerns of the buyer. Don't fill in your proposals with boilerplate marketing material!

Here is an example of how the designer can help at a press check. I recently attended the press run of 25,000 4-Color books, which I had designed. After the job was set up on the press, I was called to look at the initial review sheets, and noticed that the registration (the 4 layers of overlapping process colors) was slightly off.

One of the features of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) is built-in Developer Tools, and one of those tools is the ability to emulate Internet Explorer 7 (IE7). This would ostensibly make life easier for the developer. In fact, in development experience at Trinity such has not proven to be the case.

During my (lustrous) career using ColdFusion, I have seen a lot change! One of the most important changes was the introduction of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) interface with ColdFusion 6 in the year 2002. This finally provided a logical way to separate functions and procedures into discrete bundles for reuse. More features and improvements to the OOP interface were found in subsequent ColdFusion releases, continuing up to the present.

If you want your competitive advantage to be matched with a winning proposal effort, Trinity is the best company to perform your proposal development. We make sure that your proposal is rigorously compliant, relentlessly focused on the buyer’s needs, and compellingly persuasive.

Trinity's graphic design process focuses intently on the client's need to communicate its message, mission, and unique benefits to its target audience.

Quality of coworkers, tools, and environment are three aspects of employee satisfaction that will occasionally often be neglected (to one degree or another) by employers. Yet, each has a major impact on staff retention.

Full lifecycle proposal development is the outsourcing of the entire RFP response process. This includes (as needed) win theme development, management, writing, team reviews, design, partner coordination, and production.

Choose a typeface, and you’ve made a design decision. If something “as simple as that” has a great impact on the effectiveness of your written materials—and it certainly does—what impact will “more significant” decisions have?

During 2010 the greatest potential threat to business network (i.e., computer) infrastructure is a "bot", a type of malware that allows an unauthorized individual to gain complete control over a particular computer or network of systems.

Education is the primary practical step to keep the network secure and business data safe. Employees need to understand that if an unauthorized individual has successfully infiltrated a computer, he or she can cause immense and often irreparable damage to the employee, as well as to the company.

In a recent online discussion, a senior proposal manager wrote that compliance is overrated. While the statement seemed surprising, it may be an often-unspoken perception that is shared by writers, subject-matter experts, and others involved in various aspects of proposal development.

How critical is the data you use every day? How important are the files on your network share? What would happen if suddenly some of that information was missing? Worse, what if the latest recoverable data backup was six months old?

Trinity's Art Director discusses part of the design process in the creation of the Supplier Management Council logo for the Aerospace Industries Association.

Understanding how the government solicits business and evaluates proposals is critical for those who want to win contracts. This was discussed in Trinity's recent Proposals Done Right workshop.

The two largest contributing factors to Trinity's success are (1) the character of our staff and (2) their drive to discover better solutions to problems/challenges.

To communicate proposal compliance to the buyer’s evaluator, most proposals should include a compliance matrix at the beginning of the submission. This matrix clearly identifies each major RFP requirement, states where in the RFP the buyer requests the information, and lists the proposal location where the requirement is addressed. This layout provides a concise reference for the evaluator to connect each RFP requirement with the associated response.

An important part of proposal development is ensuring that the submission complies with all RFP requirements. One tool that helps ensure compliance is the overview.

In previous posts, I described two tools for ensuring proposal compliance: the overview and the proposal shell. A third tool is the compliance review.

Choose a typeface, and you’ve made a design decision. If something “as simple as that” has a great impact on the effectiveness of your written materials—and it certainly does—what impact will “more significant” decisions have?

To ensure an efficient and effective proposal process, Trinity will provide you with an experienced proposal manager—bringing dedication, attentiveness, and rigorous day-to-day management to the proposal process.

Strong, decisive, carefully tailored to each different proposal—Trinity’s proposal writing delivers extremely high-value content: easy for your customer to read; even easier to reward with the contract.

Commercial graphic design is a coordinated process of mutual responsibilities between the client/employer and the graphic designer. This post is intended to be orienting, not comprehensive. However, if the following general principles are observed within projects, you increase the likelihood of getting a superlative design solution in the final product.

Beyond actually having the tools of the trade (or, the ability to produce excellent graphic design), being a good producer of graphic design solutions is about pursuing a true consultative approach.

I recently read an excellent book by David Travis, "The Fable of the User-Centered Designer". It's a short story about a young designer who learns the secrets of user-centered design from three clients of a designer he found in a nearby town. It is a very enjoyable read and the three little lessons learned are great reminders for any designer (or for any executive approaching a product/service design project).

The basis of Trinity's marketing theory is knowledge gained through self-discovery. The path of vision to self-discovery is directly through the eyes of your market.

Trinity's SharePoint demo highlights some key advantages for generating ROI through proper configuration, deployment, and training.

Movie buffs may be familiar with the 1965 classic The Agony and the Ecstasy, starring Charlton Heston as Michelangelo and Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II. If my memory serves me correctly, the movie portrays the painting of the Sistine Chapel, including the intellectual relationship between the two lead characters.

One of the unique challenges of business is to step outside of the usual operating mode in order to focus on your marketing message.

"If the customer wants the responses written in quill, printed on papyrus with a bow around it, please conform."

The proposal cover letter, properly constructed, is a vital part of the proposal that should not be neglected.

It can be a great benefit to have your veteran graphic designer attend the "press check"-the last phase of production for print communications.

Outside of Christian expression, the title "evangelist" is one that has been applied either in an official or unofficial manner to the professional product enthusiast.

I’ve been working with non-profit organizations for 14 years. In that time, I’ve compiled a matrix for non-profit formation built not only on my own experiences, but also on expert consensus. This structure, called the Non-Profit Best Practice Concurrence Matrix%trade; (The Non-Profit Matrix™, for short), was first composed in my thoughts and project notes, subsequently researched, and then finally assembled into structured document/presentation form in early 2009.

Trinity's fondness and sympathy for non-profit concerns stems primarily from one source: our staff, who genuinely care about the greater good, and desire to make the world a better place.

In business as in life, the space between the current situation and an improved situation can seem very far. I think it is important for business development consultants and their clients to keep this in mind: not everything needs to happen at once.

Commercial printing has not "gone away" as some cyber publishing enthusiasts predicted. Environmentally friendly inks, high efficiency paper recycling, and state of the art presses have allowed commercial printing to remain an invaluable business communications medium. So, how do you get an important communications piece designed and printed? You enlist a print-savvy graphic designer and engage the Print-Design-Production-Cycle.

The promise of Trinity’s marketing approach is that it is based in truth. There’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” marketing approach. Who are you? Who does your customer want you to be; i.e, what is the truth of your situation? That’s what dictates your proper approach.

One of the important ways in which Trinity helps clients is by developing a "language" which the client uses to express its vision of itself—including its core beliefs, competencies, and products/services.

The SEE part of “See, Transform, Act” presents a roadmap for growing business through an effective market approach. In the TRANSFORM part of the model, the company readies itself for this approach by applying necessary internal change.

Trinity Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Pablo Gomez, led a roundtable discussion titled "Doing business with the Federal Government". This first in a two-part series focused specifically on best practices in Business Development and Capture Management.

Trinity Proposal Director Ryan Callaghan led a roundtable discussion titled "Doing business with the Federal Government, Part II". This second part of the presentation series begun in December 2008, focused specifically on proposal development and management best practices.

Trinity Consulting, Inc. (Trinity) is holding a two day "meet the experts" event to welcome members of the business community to meet and learn from Trinity's experts in the Strategic, Design, Web, Information Technology, and Proposal solution areas.

Trinity Consulting, Inc. (Trinity) recently received an outstanding review from an Executive Director at a Fortune 1000 proposal development client.

Trinity Consulting’s Meet the Experts event on May 12, 2010 proved a success, as members of the Northern Virginia business community gathered to learn more about Trinity’s consulting philosophy, expertise, and experience.

Within each subcategory of the uber-category "Business Development" there are many professional business consultants providing an extreme variance in value accompanied by an extreme variance in pricing.

A truly effective proposal does not merely present your solution; it distinguishes your company and solution from the competition.

Web Development is about conveying a message not about looking good. Very often the primary goals of web projects are focused on improving look and feel.

The proverbially tough proposal writer should keep these observations in mind when going through intense periods of challenge in the proposal season.