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Casual Articles - The Power Of Storytelling - Tips To Make Your Next Proposal A Winning Read
Do you know of someone who’s unemployed? Do you find it difficult to support them? When a friend or relative is unemployed, we often don’t know the best way to support them or know the right thing to say. We try to be encouraging, and supportive, and sometimes end up saying the wrong thing and come across as being hurtful. Following are some tips on how you can help.If they had a job, they’d tell you – please don’t ask every time you see them. Be sensitive. Offer to have them over for dinner
These techniques have a cost reducing eff
Ever wonder why some shoe-string start-up businesses succeed wildly, while some well-funded ventures tank big time? Contrary to what you might believe, spectacular success does not require a huge advertising budget, celebrity endorsements, or an MBA. Here are the ten simple steps that will lead your business to spectacular marketing success: 1. Create a clear picture of your goals and what you're going to do to achieve them. You can't figure out how to get someplace without knowing w
The first written form of storytelling dates back some 6000 years - the early cave drawings soon evolving into complex hieroglyphs. Around 2500 years ago, Aristotle codified the art of storytelling by introducing ideas of plot, character and a three act structure. And only 2000 years ago Marcus Tullius Cicero demonstrated why the Roman Senate nearly always said ‘yes’ to his proposals by providing a structure for persuasive argument.
It is not surprising then that we are still very receptive to receiving information in story tale form.
“The storyteller creates the experience, while the audience perceives the message and creates personal mental images from the words heard and the gestures seen. In this experience, the audience becomes co-creator of the art.” - WikipediaYet the approach to the (relatively modern) phenomenon of written sales proposals rarely exploits the readers’ appetite for a story.
In the modern era we can look to Hollywood for inspiration. Before any film is made, the budding writer produces a script outlining essential elements of the story (stripped of everything that does not contribute to the story’s key message). Should the script gain buy-in it is then embellished by creating a storyboard to show how the film might look visually. The power of the storyboard is that it conveys different information to the various roles involved in making the film, e.g. casting, camera positioning, set making, identifying the props which will be required etc. The storyboard is used to help plan who needs to do what when producing the film. Finally, before the film is released it undergoes test screening to gain feedback from people not involved in its creation to assess how well the story is received and where, if necessary, it can be improved.
In proposal writing this can be applied as:
- Script = the customer requirement, your competition, your win strategy, your sales themes
- Storyboard = your proposal breakdown structure and a thumbnail for each section.
- Production = the bid plan
- Test Screening = proposal review (aka red team reviews)
These techniques have a cost reducing effe
When people or groups make a decision to purchase something, they go through the same decision cycle that an individual goes through to decide upon a personal change, or an employee goes through to change behaviors at a boss’s insistence.Until now, our communication rules have assumed that when we kindly or persuasively offer others good information that could solve problems and achieve successful results, or coach them toward making a much-needed change, or even just pitch a product they sorely ne
It is not surprising then that we are still very receptive to receiving information in story tale form.
“The storyteller creates the experience, while the audience perceives the message and creates personal mental images from the words heard and the gestures seen. In this experience, the audience becomes co-creator of the art.” - WikipediaYet the approach to the (relatively modern) phenomenon of written sales proposals rarely exploits the readers’ appetite for a story.
In the modern era we can look to Hollywood for inspiration. Before any film is made, the budding writer produces a script outlining essential elements of the story (stripped of everything that does not contribute to the story’s key message). Should the script gain buy-in it is then embellished by creating a storyboard to show how the film might look visually. The power of the storyboard is that it conveys different information to the various roles involved in making the film, e.g. casting, camera positioning, set making, identifying the props which will be required etc. The storyboard is used to help plan who needs to do what when producing the film. Finally, before the film is released it undergoes test screening to gain feedback from people not involved in its creation to assess how well the story is received and where, if necessary, it can be improved.
In proposal writing this can be applied as:
- Script = the customer requirement, your competition, your win strategy, your sales themes
- Storyboard = your proposal breakdown structure and a thumbnail for each section.
- Production = the bid plan
- Test Screening = proposal review (aka red team reviews)
These techniques have a cost reducing eff
A crisis, emergency or disaster can happen at anytime and anywhere.Just ask the residents of Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory.Imagine a late afternoon on Christmas Eve thirty years ago, and looking outside to see your street cloaked by heavy low cloud and your windows being rattled by ever stronger rain squalls and wind gusts.Two-hours after an eerie tropical sunset another check shows the winds are picking up sheets of corrugated iron and hurling them around like autumn leave
In the modern era we can look to Hollywood for inspiration. Before any film is made, the budding writer produces a script outlining essential elements of the story (stripped of everything that does not contribute to the story’s key message). Should the script gain buy-in it is then embellished by creating a storyboard to show how the film might look visually. The power of the storyboard is that it conveys different information to the various roles involved in making the film, e.g. casting, camera positioning, set making, identifying the props which will be required etc. The storyboard is used to help plan who needs to do what when producing the film. Finally, before the film is released it undergoes test screening to gain feedback from people not involved in its creation to assess how well the story is received and where, if necessary, it can be improved.
In proposal writing this can be applied as:
- Script = the customer requirement, your competition, your win strategy, your sales themes
- Storyboard = your proposal breakdown structure and a thumbnail for each section.
- Production = the bid plan
- Test Screening = proposal review (aka red team reviews)
These techniques have a cost reducing eff
With all the latest technology, do you ever feel like you are out of the groove? There are so many new advanced gadgets. We used to skate board on the side walk and now they skateboard on video games with hand held controllers. Business conference calls are a unique advancement that can take the business industry to a new level. Phones are no different than any of the other latest technologies. They have come a long way too, and business conference calls held in private rooms, could be a thing of the past
In proposal writing this can be applied as:
- Script = the customer requirement, your competition, your win strategy, your sales themes
- Storyboard = your proposal breakdown structure and a thumbnail for each section.
- Production = the bid plan
- Test Screening = proposal review (aka red team reviews)
These techniques have a cost reducing eff
Use a resume as a foot in the doorWhen you go to college, they don’t really teach you how to advance your career. In order to get the jobs you want, you need to know how to write an effective resume that will win you interviews. In order to be successful, you need to look at resumes as marketing brochures. Writing good resumes demands that you understand their purpose. They just need to have enough information to attract the recruiter and the hiring manager.People win jobs in an interviewtion, your win strategy, your sales themes
These techniques have a cost reducing effect on your proposal effort too. It is a lot cheaper to change your 'plot' at the scripting stage than at the production stage. Yet, many of us have experienced the late nights and the last minute rush caused by late changes to strategy. Scripting and storyboarding are excellent tools to help you visualise your offer in the eyes of the buyers. And remember, test-screening doesn't have to wait until you have the completed proposal. It is just as valuable to test-screen your script and your storyboard.
Have you ever lost a deal due to the quality of your presentation at the beauty parade? No matter how good your proposal is, you can (and will) still lose if the quality of the presentation does not match. The same scripting and storyboarding techniques can be used to develop your presentation too.
Give it a go - unlock the creative potential from your bid team - and have fun at the same time!
Good Luck
Andy Murray
p.s. please avoid the temptation to add 'credits' to your creative masterpieces. Your audience will have left the cinema by then!
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