Communicate, communicate, communicate
This is probably the most important aspect of being a good OPL. Make sure to stay in frequent contact with your Marketing Lead throughout the proposal creation process so that you’re both on the same page. Answer their emails and phone calls; don’t make them feel like a low priority to you.
Decide on reference projects upfront
Your Marketing Lead can help by providing customized reports generated from Cosential, narrowing down options based on RFQ/RFP criteria. Help them select the best projects to highlight in the proposal. Doing this early helps the Marketing Lead begin formatting project profiles, choosing compelling photos and captions, and filling out necessary project forms, which can take a lot of time.
Establish a timeline
During the kick-off meeting, discuss and agree to a schedule/timeline for the proposal creation process. Take note of any vacation or other commitments that may take time away from your focus on the pursuit.
Write narrative drafts on time
Send write-ups as early as possible to your Marketing Lead since it takes time for us to review, edit, and format everything sent to us. If you are having trouble with what to write about, reach out to your Marketing Lead, who can provide various tools to help.
Schedule, schedule, schedule
The entire proposal creation process is driven by a timeline initially created by your Marketing Lead. If you, or other members of the team, are not able to stick to your agreed-upon timeline, make sure to communicate with your Marketing Lead.
Decide on primary point-of-contact
Clarify upfront who is responsible for contact with the client for submitting questions and checking on any addenda. Drive the bus with partners. When it comes to managing any engineer, JV, or subcontractor partners, you have more clout with these contacts than any of us on the Marketing Team, so make sure they stick to agreed-upon deadlines.
Decide on key personneL
Decide on key team members and an org chart as early in the process as possible. Most proposals are driven by who is chosen to be the key personnel, so knowing this information early can help your Marketing Lead get a jumpstart on the proposal draft.
Provide constructive feedback
Review all drafts sent by the Marketing Lead and respond with feedback by the established deadlines. It helps us when you thoroughly review our team’s work and suggest improvements to wording, layout, photos, etc.