Three Key Tips to Make Your Corporate Experience Stand Out

A good corporate experience section does more than check a box. It provides the client with definitive proof you can deliver what you promise. As I focus on in my book, Keys to the Castle, the proposal is about the client and the need for our bids to make a clear connection with them. People buy from those they know and trust, and clear proof of past experience really helps build that trust factor. Here are three quick tips to make our corporate experience sections stand out from the rest.

Use the Client’s Language.

The first clue to making our proposal focused on our clients is to use their language. This applies throughout your proposal. There are standard definitions in the industry for corporate experience (what you have done) and past performance (how well you have done it). However, that distinction is not always clear to everyone. Sometimes, clients ask for “past performance” when they actually mean corporate experience. In these cases, do not fix their terminology – use their terminology.

We should also apply this as we detail our relevant experience. Focus on using terminology from the solicitation and statement of work to describe the work you have done. For example, facilities maintenance and management is called base operations support for the US Navy, but operations and maintenance by the General Services Administration (GSA). In these instances, we should use the terminology the solicitation uses when describing the work. In addition, minimize the jargon you use throughout the proposal. When this is not possible, explain the alignment between what you do and what they’re asking for clearly. Show the parallels clearly and concisely to ensure your evaluators know the work you have done aligns to what they’re asking for.

Highlight the Relevance.

Too often, people rely heavily on prior write-ups when putting together your corporate experience examples. When developing your submission, however, taking boilerplate and putting it in the proper format is not an option. Just copying and pasting in a generic list of work performed and achievements does not speak to the individual needs of the client. Therefore, besides just using the client’s terminology, you need to select the portion(s) of the work you are currently doing that are clearly relevant to the solicitation. I have my teams talk in broad strokes in the opening paragraph with a two to three line summary of the overarching contract. Then, I have them specifically state how it is relevant in terms of the evaluation criteria and work expected. For the former, often in Federal Government bids we are asked to write to size, scope, and complexity. For the latter, we want to show alignment to the work required (the performance work statement/statement of work). In either case, a nice summary table can work wonders. Include all the PWS/SOW requirements and allow for a checkbox or a meatball chart to show that alignment.

Then, in your write-up, only include the work you currently do that aligns to the work expected. The evaluators do not care about everything you’ve done on the contract – just how it maps to their work. Therefore, and continuing on from tip 1, use the PWS/SOW headings throughout to organize and align your experience.

As always, be specific. Provide metrics and details to ensure the alignment is clear and the experience you have meets the client’s requirements.

Be Honest.

As hard as our teams work to execute on all of our contracts, nothing is perfect. Things go wrong. Sometimes it’s something minor. Other times, it is a serious issue that results in escalation, cure notices, and egg on our face.

We should not run from these contracts, especially if they are (1) extremely relevant to the work we are doing and (2) if we have a great story to tell. My advice in these situations is to own the mistake and, more importantly, own the correction. Use the write-up to show how you’re stronger, what you’ve learned, and how you’ll avoid the mistake here. Describe how you have exceeded expectations since the incident. Most importantly, do not lie. Nothing kills credibility on a bid more quickly than a lack of honesty and transparency.

Conclusion.

Too many people view corporate experience as a cookie cutter exercise. However, much like resumes, these sections provide a chance for us to rise above the rest and really build a connection with our client. Using the three tips I’ve outlined above can take your corporate experience section from good to great.

For more examples on how you can make your proposals resonate better with evaluators, check out my new book, Keys to the Castle, available through Amazon now!