Bob Frey has once again demonstrated his mastery of the Federal proposal space with his latest offering, Successful Proposal Strategies On-The-Go! Bob has produced the most comprehensive, single source of valuable, practical, and applicable knowledge of Federal proposal development I have encountered over my 47-year career in the Federal space. His approach provides a highly integrated perspective on proposal development enabling both the novice and the experienced an easy-to-follow play book by which they can significantly increase their proposal probability of win by following his pragmatic tutorial on best practices. One of the strengths of Bob’s approach revolves around his ability to present theory, application, and proof with relevant vignettes covering each of his topics presented. Bob also confronts modern technology issues and their effects on securing business through the proposal process. He acknowledges the insufficiency of technology to overcome a paucity of knowledge, thought, and customer value needs. One of the more gratifying aspects of Bob’s work focuses on practical application of simple, validated concepts to increase proposal quality and probability of win. He presents many tools in the book ready for adaptation and use by any individual or organization to improve their proposal performance. This alone delivers excellent value to the reader. For some, Bob’s latest book is an affirmation of what we believe and know to be the path to proposal success. We can read his assertions and his customer-related stories with a deep appreciation of why some win consistently and others lose consistently. Want a quick competitive advantage? Buy Bob’s book and apply the principles he espouses.
Bob Frey has written the most comprehensive study on the government proposal strategy process that I have seen in my forty years in this market. This book is for primes, subs, teams and JVs and covers all of the "ins and outs" of our arcane and often obtuse market. It includes 14 pages of the acronyms we use in government contracting, which itself is a valuable asset. Filled with insights and stories from the front line, this is a "must read" for companies that want to win in the government market. It is in my library and it should be in yours as well.
Early on in my career, I worked for a small, woman-owned business and purchased Bob’s “Successful Proposal Strategies for Small Businesses” to gain a better understanding of how the application of best practices and conversion of lessons learned led to winning proposals. As a certified proposal and knowledge management professional who has coached and trained several thousand colleagues through classic capture and proposal development processes, I’d relied on exacting course syllabi and the development of learning objectives to produce beneficial outcomes. Positive workshop feedback always stated that the instructor’s knowledge and use of real-world scenarios had the greatest impact on their ability to learn and go back to their job and apply what worked.
In “Successful Proposal Strategies On-the-Go!,” Bob’s real-world vignettes are easily digested. Seeing BD, capture development, proposal development, and knowledge management through a different lens provides the necessary guidance needed for you to put renewed energy in your time-worn, structured processes helping you to (re)build and sustain a winning culture.
Chapter 6 – “Moving Beyond Compliance” is where I started since my primary focus over the last several years was being a “fresh set of eyes” for proposal teams. I felt Bob’s pain as many of the examples given I’ve either experienced myself or witnessed over a 25 year period in the business.
Even though I have built an extensive, business development library already, I added Bob’s newest publication to my bookshelf. Few related publications have the reach and passion that “Successful Proposal Strategies On-the-Go!” does. One doesn’t have to read front-to-back to gain useful insight that is readily applicable. Each chapter stands on its own and can be tailored to small business as well as corporate giants, whether in the private or public sector. “Successful Proposal Strategies On-the-Go!” even includes Bob’s own list of helpful proposal publications (Chapter 12.7). To learn what a winning proposal looks like, start with Chapter 7.
Dr. Frey's new book is a good read, and a must have for anyone in the business development, opportunity capture, and proposal development fields. There are so many solid guidelines to help you win more business in this book to mention, but one of the first stories from Bob's career described a pre-proposal meeting where everyone on the team, from all the companies involved, got to know each other and the opportunity better prior to embarking on the proposal development. My very first proposal involved such an activity, and I remembered how valuable it was later on. This is one of of many real-life examples Bob provides in the book that many may find to be familiar situations.
I also appreciated the parallels he draws between the BD, capture, and proposal development processes and the Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), a link that I have also understood, and one that is mostly overlooked by my fellow proposal professionals. But we all know that there is an art to proposal development, not just this science, and Bob makes that clear with practical examples.
Whereas the book is predominantly geared to proposals for federal government opportunities, Dr. Frey provides guidance also for academic grant writing, etc., and the basics in this book apply to all proposals. Definitely recommended.