PURSUIT NAME:
Varies – Included in most all SOQs and/or Proposals
FEATURE:
Proposal
TAGS:
Proposals, Resumes, Staff
Owners want to know who will build their projects, why they are qualified, and what unique value they bring. Typically resumes include a staff member’s name, proposed role, education, licenses/certifications/training, and relevant experience. But let’s face it: Resumes are not the most exciting reading material and when several teams submit a proposal, owners are faced with a daunting amount of resumes to review. So how do we strengthen our proposal resumes to stand out amongst the crowd? Marketing has been pushing the envelope on our recent pursuits to develop resumes that are visually interesting, contain meaningful content, and are client-tailored to spark unique interest. Below are a few strategies we’ve utilized to differentiate our resumes to stand out amongst the competition:
QUOTES BUILD TRUST AND ESTABLISH CHARACTER
On a recent proposal, Marketing included client quotes specific to each team member. These quotes attested to the proposed team member’s character, work ethic, and/or past success. By utilizing quotes, we provided the client a third-party opinion and proof that our EO’s are the best to work with. Don’t just take our word for it – hear what our clients have to say!
DETAILS AND RESPONSIBILITIES MATTER
Before an RFP was issued, we received feedback from an Owner that they don’t just want to know what projects staff work on but what their project-specific duties were. Once the anticipated RFP was issued, Marketing worked closely with Operations to develop tailored descriptions on the staff resumes to include detailed descriptions of what the staff member was responsible for on each project. The client scored our resumes significantly higher than our competitor’s resumes, which lacked this level of detail.
MAKE IT EASY TO FIND IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Formatting resumes with graphics and color blocks that call attention to important information can influence clients to score our proposals more favorably. On a recent proposal, Marketing clearly indicated which projects on a staff members resumes were also featured in the Experience Section of the proposal. While this might not be a requirement of the proposal, it draws attention to the fact that most all our proposed staff had relevant experience working together.
DRAW ATTENTION TO KEY STATS AND FACTS
Don’t let the good details go unnoticed. In this example, Marketing utilized a bold graphic on the second page of the resume to summarize why our Garney EO’s were most qualified to complete their project. The second page of a resume typically only lists project experience and could easily get overlooked, but by incorporating a unique graphic on our second page, we sparked interest in the reviewers eye.