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Rescooped by
Jeremy Pollard
from Best Story Wins
onto Shipley Asia Pacific |
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When I was a kid, one of my sales managers pointed out I had two ears & 1 mouth. "Use them in that ratio, you can't go wrong" said he
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How to avoid eight common grammar errors, such as using "amongst" and "whilst" instead of "among" and "while".
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Why send customers proposals you know have mistakes?
It is hard to #WinWork. The effort and investment in long lead times for Business Development - build relationships, building trust. Helping scope solutions, and requirements.
Then, doing something few of us trained in - clear, persuasive business writing.
So, why is it so hard to make the decision to hire a pro-writer?
Over the decade's clients have us help them with a 3 x part quality assurance process for critical, #MustWinBids
You can hire writers. You can invest in a great editor. However, they can only help you with Part 2 and Part 3.
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TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript: Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership -- starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers ... | ToK Essays May 2016
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Bid Management is a tough gig.
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Jeremy Pollard's insight:
At Shipley we've helped clients #WinWork well before RFP or RFT (because most deals and negotiations are decided before then) with Capture training & coaching that includes many of Neale's ideas. Key is in the preparation, in fact Neale even uses the same 'iceberg' metaphor we've used with Shipley clients for years. Getting under the water to understand both the stated/public and unstated/privates drivers for a deal makes a big difference to your customer focus. Just don't forget to do the same thing for your own issues, needs and drivers to ensure you get your needs met. What she adds you might find helpful are the ideas on 'Mindset' - psychologically preparing yourself to win. As for the 'Asking' - well that's what good salespeople have been doing for many decades
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Chinese search engine and news outlet Toutiao is using an artificial intelligence known as Xiaomingbot to publish articles on the Olympics. The bot was able to write a total of 450 articles during the 15-day event.
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Jeremy Pollard's insight:
OK - this is tricky. You may already know that many HR departments have BOTS (short for robots) read job applicant CVs. To what extent are you aware of the extent to which the same technology is being applied to reviewing your proposals and tender responses? And how to best get through such a review. While the first pass is mostly going to be checking your bid for compliance, this article provides some clues as to how to survive the BOTS in your future
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From
www
The ability to pay attention is a skill that's increasingly hard to find. Check out what recent research has to say on the subject.
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Doing good work needs focus. Multitasking is NOT your friend. Getting into a productive state of 'flow' requires blanking out distractions. For example I should doing invoices right now, but my Twitter feed just beeped at me, and I've read this great article... So I (normally) use a tool called VitaminR 2 to blank out distractions, and cut down or eliminate my multitasking. I'm going to turn it on NOW!
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From
www
Most people instinctively avoid conflict, but as Margaret Heffernan shows us, good disagreement is central to progress. She illustrates (sometimes counterintuitively) how the best partners aren’t echo chambers -- and how great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to deeply disagree.
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
We are loving Lean Bidding. Work in small groups, draft fast, share with others, be open to feedback, iterate quickly.
We have participants in our workshops getting out first draft Win Themes in just 4 minutes!
But Capture #WinStrategy is harder. Conservatism, fear and the status quo, plus a lot of 'sunk-cost' bias can get in the way of diverse ideas and opinions being heard.
As leaders we can be uncomfortable with conflict, and especially challenges from new ideas. Heffernan's great TED talk highlights the gift of disagreement. Well worth a listen if you feel your team may have some shut-down tendencies.
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Words can dictate the success or failure of any brand in any market. These highly-actionable copywriting hacks will help you improve your website right now.
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Your website is a proposal. Use these hacks to also improve your actual proposals to #WinWork
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From
qz
Google wants to know the secret to building a more productive team. The tech giant charged a team to find out. The project, known as Project Aristotle, took several years, and included interviews with hundreds of employees and analysis of data about the people on more than 100 active teams at the company. The Googlers looked har
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
OK - so it's Monday morning - let's keep it simple. Play nice to #WinWork - just like your parent said.
Only now Google, after years of research (Why didn't they just Google this?) have concluded that in a collaborative world - like winning bids for example - the effectiveness of teams relies on securing useful input from as wide range of sources as possible.
Makes sense. But if the shiny suits and big voices are booming - other points of view and great ideas can get shut down or blocked out.
And the new ideas or alternate solutions can be lost unless the group, team or organisation provides 'physiological safety' - e.g. it's ok to speak up about things are aren't reality or better ways to do things.
In other words, play nicely.
Let others have their turn, listen, do not shut them down if their ideas are not the same as yours.
Your parents and kindergarten teachers were right.
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Data visualizations that don't communicate a larger story don't succeed. Here's how to balance your data, design, and messaging.
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From
www
Working too much can be counterproductive and even hazardous to your health. You've been warned.
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Working late on big deals? Poor BD processes can do more than lose the bid, they can kill you
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Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Our most popular Shipley AP workshop starts with the fact that the best deal (according to the buyers stated criteria) on average is still only chosen in 48% of bid decisions. Improving your win rate requires a BD and Capture process that builds your understanding of the buyers un-stated needs. And this article by Deepak Malhotra is a timely reminder that many of these needs are emotional, and not necessarily about the content or subject material of the deal.
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Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Winning in deals & bids starts with winning at work with your team Great ideas for are winning 2016
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The weekend before a TED conference, each speaker rehearses their talk in the TED theater. It’s a chance for the speakers to get to know the space, for our curators to give last-minute suggestions ...
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
You've written your proposal - now you have to present your proposal. Some are more comfortable than others at this - for the rest of us, here are some really practical tips from a coach TED speakers spend time with before they go on stage...
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From
align
What are the best B2B marketing tactics? The essence of this is not particularly surprising, but what we don't want to prioritize might surprise you.
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There are ways to figure out if a company will be a good fit for your work style before you accept an offer.
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Fitting in to be effective? Even more so for consultants! This smart article by Molly Petrilla has good advice for potential employees, but we'd suggest it is just as critical for part-timers and consultants.
Why? Well unless you are stuck just accepting everything that comes your way, the better, busier consultants get to pick and choose their work. Good BD consultants, or great Bid Managers are in high demand. And we all know how hard to is to secure a top technical or proposal writer to help you #WinWork
So as a consultant, many talk about the added value of a good working environment, especially in the high-pressure, high-stakes, often under-resourced and badly planned world of BD & Bids.
So do your homework in the manner suggested in this article. If you are going to put your heart and soul; your years of experience into a role on a 'must-win' deal, surely it makes sense to ensure you will get more than just dollars back?
And hirers of consultants, ask yourselves the extent to which your organisational culture attracts or drives away crucial external resources? And what could you do about it?
How mature is the structure and discipline of your #BDLifecycle ? Are your bid team always stuck in panic loops, with executives changing there mind on #WinStrategy and theme statements?
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Jeremy Pollard's insight:
New or just overlooked?
Funny how we often search relentlessly for the latest 'new' thing - an idea or approach we've never seen before, that is going to change our world.
And yet often, most of what we need to learn, is actually something we need to remember, or check if it's already been thought of or understood.
(Maybe the problem is no-one can make money teaching us this...)
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Trying and doing are two different things. Learning about this distinction is the key to success. Here's how you can do it for yourself.
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
“No. Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Yoda - you have incredible power in your use of language. We talk a lot about active Vs passive language with clients wanting to build trust with their customers. But you also have an impact on yourself and your colleagues with language. Just stop using the word 'try' for a while. See what I did there? I said 'stop' - not 'try' - because - altogether now.... "There is no try" Use Yoda to #WinWork
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All things being equal, speed will determine whether your company succeeds or not. Here's how to make it core to your culture.
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Speed is the key to @ShipleyAP #LeanBidding to #WinWork So we love this great post on how to consider speed, apply the principles of speed, and well, be speedy
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Is job-hopping really OK? Do you still need a cover letter? We talked to the experts to find out what matters in hiring.
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
How lucky are we that there are so many sales metaphors that also apply to proposals? And that winning a job is just like #WinningWork
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Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Everyone tells stories. But writing them down is harder. Stories in business are everywhere. Who hasn't told or heard a story about a problem, the journey to resolve it and the 'happily ever after' ending? But come time to plan and write a winning proposal, and it seems many forget this oral skill and revert to bureaucratic descriptions of themselves and their solutions. Even attempts at describing a previous customer story become sanitised as 'look-at-us' case studies Do yourself a favour - do this workshop. Film-makers can be some of the most powerful storytellers n the world - well, the good ones anyway - so going back to basics at this workshop and mapping the key concepts of story to other forms will serve you well to help you #winwork
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Are you guilty of these bad habits that are hurting our productivity at work? If so, it's probably time to cut it out.
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From
www
Can Handwriting Make You Smarter? Students who take notes by hand outperform students who type, and more type these days, new studies show
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The secret mind tricks that keep you from getting stuff done.
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Winning Work has some hard deadlines - bids & proposals have fixed due dates. So understanding and dealing with procrastination can relieve a lot of deadline stress. But the earlier efforts to win work are just as important - setting up and validating Capture Strategy is vital - and can be just as subject to procrastination as the hard deadlines of bids. So this article can help the entire BD team, not just the obvious candidates in the bid team where the ticking of the clock is loudest...
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This article from the Nonprofit Quarterly is a treasure trove of examples of how 26 small organizations respond to the challenges and constraints they encounter with their uses of social media for organizing and engagement.
Jeremy Pollard's insight:
Why share 'Social for Small Non-Profits' instead of big company examples? Because much social media advice is either for B2C or global B2B with big budgets and teams of specialists. For Asia Pacific B2B organisations, especially those without large marketing or even large Business Development (BD) teams, or budgets, I believe there are three lessons directly applicable from small nonprofits.
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Compassion - is it just hearing (really hearing) someone elses story?
Active listening is actually really hard work. What's active listening?
Well, it's the opposite of what most people do. For most people listening is that act of waiting until the other party stops talking so they can say what they been wanting to all along.
Net result, especially if that is also what the other party is doing? It's not a conversation. No information is actually being exchanged. To an observer, the two sides of the exchange, the two 'channels' appear totally disconnected.
And in asking both parties what they heard, what they felt, what they learned, the answer would probably be 'not much' or 'they sure don't listen'
So I love this article (there's that L word again) for what it will hopefully encourage - any improvement in the quality of listening, and the art of asking great questions.
As a tip - try waving in the suggested 6 questions over the course of your early time with anyone new. Not for any particular purpose or effect. Just because you really, truly want to listen, to really know something about someone else.