If we learn anything from reality television, it is you need to be firm in your beliefs but open to feedback. Lacking a core constitution is a death sentence – no one wants to hire or invest in someone who has no conviction. At the same time, inflexibility condemns many more candidates to the no pile. For example, in the 2022 series of BBC’s The Apprentice, the inability of finalist Jessica to listen to concerns and critiques over her fashion sense with her family pajama brand may have been the reason she came in second.
In proposal development, we need to be open to feedback and be willing to listen to our peers and others inside and outside our bid team. But how do we do so in the pressing environment of an individual bid? Here’s three tips on how to best consider and incorporate feedback into your bid and your professional career.
Tip 1 – Truly Consider Feedback. Proposal reviews are the primary way in which our teams receive feedback on their content. Properly organized and led reviews lead to high-quality, actionable inputs to guide the recovery process and make the document better. Unfortunately, we all still have to deal with poorly phrased, incomplete, and/or overly broad comments from reviewers.
No matter the type of feedback you receive, you need to keep an open mind and truly consider the comments received. Try to get to the heart of what the reviewer meant, even if it is not phrased in an overly helpful manner. Doing so may give you an idea or route forward that leads to a much better proposal product, even if it does not directly follow the advice provided.
My favorite example of this comes from Ed Catmull’s fantastic book Creativity, Inc. about the history of Pixar Animation. He relates a story from Brad Bird, the director of The Incredibles. In an early screening as part of the Brain Trust approach to content development, reviewers did not like a scene where the main couple, Bob and Helen, have a fight over Bob’s superhero moonlighting. They felt it came off as bullying. Bird didn’t see it that way, but after careful reflection he saw the size difference between the two led to that impression. So, instead of changing the dialogue, he changed the visual. Helen (whose superhero persona is Elastigirl), stretches to be taller and tower over Bob. The revised animation won over the reviewers and led to one of many memorable scenes in the film.
Tip 2 – If You Don’t Follow the Feedback, Explain Why. There are going to be many proposal comments that do not help make a better product. They may be off-topic, not timely, or just not productive to the overall process. However, we do owe ourselves and the reviewers the courtesy of saying why we have not addressed the comment. As I mentioned in the first tip, even poorly formulated comments might lead to good ideas. Explaining why you did not follow a comment could help improve the overall product in other ways.
Tip 3 – Be Open to Mentoring in Your Career From All Types. Getting feedback is not limited to a single proposal opportunity. We should be looking throughout our professional lives for input and feedback from those we look up to. I highly recommend having mentors who can give you feedback on all aspects of your professional life. I have multiple mentors to help with various aspects of proposal development, consulting, and entrepreneurship. Likewise, I look to give back to people when they ask me to help them with advice or mentorship.
Remember two things when working with a mentor. First, they are doing you a favor by being part of your support network. Second, their advice comes from a good place. Therefore, you should use the first two tips above when listening to and considering their feedback.
Conclusion. Our professional and personal lives, and our work product, can only be improved when we learn from our peers. Knowing how to incorporate that feedback in a positive, constructive way can be the difference between success and failure.
Without a strong solution, our proposals are doomed to fail. A good solution explains our solution, focuses our writers, and makes sure we provide value to the client. If we do not have a strong solution, we are basically a rudderless ship. However, we cannot just will a great solution into being. It takes hard work, patience, and a focused team to articulate what we will do and why we are the best fit for the client. So how do we develop winning solutions that gives our team the tools to succeed? Here are four tips for proposal professionals on how to ensure we are on the right page.