Four Keys to a Successful Proposal Kickoff

A good proposal kickoff provides your team with the information and motivation to begin a winning effort. It sets up your team for success throughout the development cycle. A poor kickoff, on the other hand, delays content creation and results in more work later in the process. So how can you make sure your proposals start smoothly? Here are my four keys to ensuring your kickoff works.

1. hold it at the right time.

Too many proposal kickoffs are held within 24 hours of the release of the solicitation. While that might be the right path forward for a quick turn task order, it is counterproductive for longer, more complex efforts. Kickoffs should be held after everyone has had a chance to read and digest the solicitation. If people have not had the chance to even open the solicitation, they won’t be able to provide a meaningful contribution to the kickoff meeting.

For complex efforts, I like to wait 48-72 hours after the solicitation is released. This gives the core bid team (proposal manager, capture lead, solution lead, proposal coordinator) the chance to digest the solicitation, identify potential highlights and areas of concern, develop strong kickoff slides, identify the win themes and solution points that are still relevant given the requirements, and come up with key action items during and after the kickoff. It also increases the likelihood attendees have time in their calendars to attend the kickoff.

I send out the invite as soon as the core bid team identifies the time and location. This makes sure people know the schedule, and can clear time on their calendar if necessary. In addition, I provide the solicitation (or a link to its location on our proposal site) so the attendees can review the client documentation ahead of time.

2. make sure you invite the right people

So who should be invited to the kickoff? The short answer is anyone who could be involved in the effort. The core bid team, anyone contributing to the effort (writers, subject matter experts, graphic artists, resume/past performance experts, pricing, contracts), and any internal personnel being bid as key personnel (for example, the anticipated project manager) are mandatory. I always make sure we invite key senior leadership within the organization as optional attendees. That includes the head of the proposal team, the BD organization, the relevant line organization, and “C-suite” leadership. Finally, I invite any reviewers we have identified to date. This allows them to get a feel for the effort and understand our overarching approach.

Beyond that core group, other attendees depend on your effort. If it is a large, complex effort, you want to invite representatives from relevant internal organizations (security, HR, recruiting, quality, subcontracting, etc.). If your teammates will be engaged throughout the effort, you need to ensure you invite their relevant leads. For me, that usually is a proposal lead, technical lead, pricing lead, and contracts lead.

In short, anyone who is going to touch the proposal effort should at least be invited to the kickoff. This ensures everyone begins with the same starting point and can begin tackling their assignments quickly and with the knowledge necessary to succeed. It provides a strong foundation on which we can build a successful proposal.

3. have a clear agenda

People’s time is valuable. We want to be respectful of their schedules and other commitments. In addition, the longer the kickoff goes the less likely it is the attendees retain the key information. You do not want to overwhelm them with too much information. Therefore, having a clear, logical agenda works wonders to limit your kickoff to an hour or less.

The kickoff should, at a minimum, include:

• Introduction to core bid team
• Overview of the opportunity (client, contract type, period of performance, etc.)
• Overview of solicitation requirements (scope of work, instructions, and evaluation criteria)
• Overview of team members and what they bring to the table
• Top-level win themes
• Proposal outline, including writing/contributing assignments
• Proposal schedule, including all known reviews and anticipated stand-up time
• Action items (short-term), including timelines and responsible parties
• Parking lot (items that came up during the meeting but were not appropriate to cover at that time)
• Questions

4. provide all the required information, even if you do not talk about it

The kickoff meeting is just one component of the kickoff. The kickoff package for the writers should include additional, required documentation to ensure we give our contributors everything they need to hit the ground running. In addition to the slides from the kickoff, we should include the following in our kickoff packets:

• Client information (hot buttons, pain points, success factors, etc.)
• Win Themes (high-level and section-specific)
• Solutions Developed for Each Main Proposal Section
• Detailed Proposal Outline
• Detailed Proposal Schedule
• Link to the “Wall of Truth” that identifies key information (including how we refer to ourselves, the client, the team, buzzwords, abbreviations, etc.)

Providing this critical information to our writers up front, in a single location (preferably through a dedicated location in our collaboration tool), allows the writers to be ready to go and to develop their responses quickly and with the necessary or required background.

conclusion

The kickoff meeting provides the best starting position for our proposal response. Being well-organized and providing all the required information to those who need it minimizes or even eliminates future headaches and problems. Thorough kickoff planning helps us avoid sleepless nights and cranky contributors throughout the process.