1.5 Attending the Proposal Kickoff Meeting Proposal writers should be invited to the proposal kickoff meeting. An effective proposal kickoff meeting can help you understand the opportunity strategy and content, and the development schedule for the proposal. You learn and receive the following about the opportunity:
• Summary of the opportunity • Anomalies in the bid request • Win strategy (from the sales or capture lead) • Baseline design of the solution • Proposal format
• Proposal schedule • Writer (your) assignments • Security controls • Document storage site • Document version control • Publication operations
If you are conducting the kickoff meeting yourself, seek to provide the above information to your proposal team. Invite the following teammembers to the kickoff meeting:
• Writers, editors, desktop publishers, and SMEs • Key management, including those who make critical decisions on this proposal effort • Sales personnel connected to the opportunity and customer
• Key technical contributors • Color team reviewers, if known • Subcontractors/teaming partners, if desired
If you work directly with your sales personnel, collaborate with them to understand the win strategy. Win strategies perform four key functions:
• Leverage your strengths • Mitigate your weaknesses and risks • Neutralize your competitors’ strengths • Exploit your competitors’ weaknesses
These messages are critical to defining how your customer will benefit from your solution.
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See Proposal Strategy in the Shipley Proposal Guide .
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