OUT NOW - Our newest book provides insight into developing empathetic proposals
Too many people look at proposals as either a technical or sales document. While there are components of each of these in a successful bid, this common logic leaves one critical point out. Since proposals are, at their core, about the client, shouldn’t our bids focus on the audience?
We need to focus on who the client is and the buying decision they are embarking on. As research shows, people may look to justify their decisions with logic, but they buy on emotion. Therefore, we need to think about proposals differently. We need to focus on making an empathetic connection to our audience and appealing to those emotions. To do so, we need to reframe how we think about proposals.
In his new book, Keys to the Castle: Building Empathy and Creativity into Bid Processes, award winning writer Kevin Switaj breaks down the bid process and realigns it to maximize team success. At its heart, this book looks to refocus the proposal process and its corresponding work product to promote creativity and empathetic writing. To illustrate how to do so, Kevin uses examples from the creative world, primarily from the most iconic creative brand out there, the Walt Disney Company.