Writing Business Bids and Proposals For Dummies. Cobb Neil

your points in interminable bullet lists. Tell your customer that you can do the work, how you’ll do it, and why you think it matters.

      For instance, evaluators may only care that you meet a particular quality standard, while quality processes may be something you think clearly differentiates you from your competitors. If you meet the standard and supply documented proof, you comply and that’s that. Going on and on about your quality team and processes may not help your score.

      

If you need to make your quality capabilities a discriminator, respond to the question with a visual and a caption that relays your strategic message, but keep the text as short as possible.

      ❯❯ Immediately and directly answer every question. The most important rule in Q&A-style responses is to ensure that the first sentence of every response directly answers the question. This rule isn’t always easy to follow, especially if compliance isn’t clear. But with a strong strategy and an understanding of which questions are the most important, you should be able to score well on the critical questions and establish enough separation between your company and others to remain competitive.

      Following the advice outlined in this section, as well as using the steps in the preceding section to gather your raw data, will help you to continually improve your responses to Q&A-style RFPs.