If you've written an effective RFP, the next step in winning business is to deliver a successful finalist presentation. So, how do you connect with an audience in person, conveying both your technical skill AND relatability? Can you develop qualities of executive presence like warmth and confidence, even if they don't come naturally? What can you do to increase your influence and deliver a winning presentation?

Dr. Sharon Lamm-Hartman is the founder and CEO of Inside Out Learning, an award-winning consulting firm dedicated to transforming individuals, teams, and companies, helping them become better than their past best. With more than 25 years of experience in leadership, team and organizational development, Sharon supports her clients in improving organizational health and winning billions in new business.

Today, Sharon joins us to explain how to carry out a successful finalist presentation. She shares the HORSE formula for developing the body of your presentation and discusses the qualities of executive presence your audience is looking for. Sharon speaks to the significance of knowing your audience and offers advice on creating clear, concise visuals that enhance your presentation. Listen in for insight around increasing your influence and learn Sharon's proven formula for presentation success!

Inside Out's mission to help leaders show up as their authentic selves

Sharon's formula for presentation success

1. Tailor message to audience
2. Attention-getting opening
3. Provide executive summary

Why it's crucial to provide your audience with an agenda to follow

The HORSE formula for developing the body of your presentation

Sharon's insight on developing the qualities of executive presence

The importance of presence in landing a job or contract

How to adapt to where your audience is/where they want to go

Who should be part of the live presentation

The mistake people make around not knowing their audience

Sharon's tips for nailing your finalist presentation

• Assess environment ahead of time
• Be aware of body language
• Be careful of filler words

How to increase your influence with meaningful personal stories

Sharon's 5X5 rule for creating clear and concise visuals

Inside Out Learning

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Call (480) 822-9939

Email [email protected]

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Central Phoenix Women

The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek

What is the #1 mistake proposal writers make when it comes to incorporating graphics in RFPs? According to Mike Parkinson, we fall short in crafting a clear message BEFORE we start work on the visuals. So, what is the best approach to determining what you want to say first—and THEN tailoring an image to communicate that message? How do we create bid-winning proposal graphics that look professional AND deliver powerful content?

Mike is a sought-after visual communication and proposal expert and partner at 24 Hour Company, a top graphic design firm focused on serving business development professionals who bid on contract work. He has spearheaded multibillion-dollar projects and helped clients win billions of dollars in business through RFPs. Mike is also a bestselling author and professional trainer, and his Build-a-Graphic software empowers proposal writers to create professional graphics despite limited experience. He is a CPP APMP Fellow and one of only 34 Microsoft PowerPoint MVPs in the world.

Today, Mike joins us to explain how he blends art with science to build bid-winning proposal graphics. He shares the value of visuals in an increasingly at-a-glance society and discusses why we owe it to reviewers to communicate our solution clearly and succinctly. Mike offers insight on using the psychology of motivation and decision-making to develop a message—and tailor the graphics accordingly. Listen in for Mike's advice on marrying quality aesthetics with powerful content and learn how to create professional graphics, with or without prior experience!

How Mike blends art and science to build winning graphics

The value of visuals in an increasingly at-a-glance society

How to clearly communicate what differentiates your solution

Why Mike suggests opting for powerful content vs. aesthetics

How to develop a clear message and tailor your graphics to it

• Benefit (speak to pain, gain or fear)
• How (tap into trust, ego + VALUE)

The statistics on gut instinct in corporate decision-making

Mike's advice on creating professional graphics

1. Custom graphic asset library
2. Leverage tool like Build-a-Graphic
3. Upskill current team with training

24 Hour Company

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Billion Dollar Graphics

Build-a-Graphic

APMP

APMP Certifications

The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek

We do business with people we know, like and trust. But how do you build trust with a potential client through the RFP? Yes, it's easy to connect with people in person, but how do you cultivate rapport in a written document?

Today, I'm sharing my top five strategies for building trust on paper. I discuss the danger in lying or exaggerating your abilities and the immense value in coming across as your authentic self. I explain how storytelling puts a human spin on traditional case studies and offer insight around substantiating any claims you make in the RFP.

I also speak to the significance of providing solid references, describing why we tend to trust the companies that fix their mistakes over those that sweep missteps under the rug. Listen in to understand the importance of building a multidimensional culture around responding to RFPs and building trust both before the RFP hits the streets—and through the proposal itself!

The 5 obstacles to making a sale

1. No need
2. No money
3. No hurry
4. No desire
5. No trust

The power in building relationships before an RFP hits the streets

5 strategies for building trust in a written document

1. Do not lie or exaggerate
2. Be authentic
3. Tell stories
4. Substantiate claims
5. Provide solid references

My method of leveraging dictation to sound more authentic

How storytelling puts a human spin on traditional case studies

How people tend to trust companies that fix their mistakes

Why it's necessary to build a culture around responding to RFPs

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The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek

"There's no such thing as doing business with the federal government.

There's only doing business with people."

We all understand the concept of doing business with people you like and trust. But what if your aim is winning federal contracts? How do you get the government to like you? How do you build a relationship with a bureaucracy? Well, you can't. But you CAN build relationships with the contracting officers who award federal business!

Judy Bradt is the founder of Summit Insights, a firm that helps businesses get in front of federal buyers and win more contracts. Judy has 30-plus years of experience in the field, helping 7,000 diverse clients earn $300M in federal business. She has been featured in Business Week, Entrepreneur Magazine and Fortune Small Business, among many other publications, and she is the award-winning author of Government Contracts Made Easier.

Today, Judy joins us to share the 'dirty secret' about her sales skills and how she finally learned to reframe sales as an opportunity to make friends. She discusses the four drivers of success in the federal market, what to research before you submit an RFP, and why past performance supersedes certifications. Listen in for Judy's insight around getting in front of a federal contracting officer and learn why relationships are crucial to winning federal business.

Judy's 'dirty secret' around making sales calls

How to reframe sales as making friends

Why you should break big goals into small pieces

Why relationships are crucial to winning federal business

The 4 drivers of success in the federal market

1. Commitment to market (part of growth strategy)
2. Provide product/service government needs
3. Established business with past performance
4. Willing to invest in long-term commitment

Judy's 7 steps to success in federal business

1. Strategy
2. Focus
3. Process
4. Competition
5. Relationships
6. Teaming
7. Marketing

What to research before you bid on a federal contract

How to get in front of a federal contracting officer

Why past performance supersedes certifications

Summit Insight

Call (703) 627-1074

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Government Contracts Made Easier by Judy Bradt

Judy's Upcoming Live Webinars

Building Blocks of a Winning Proposal Course

The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek

Emotional connection builds trust, and trust leads to sales. But what is the best way to establish that emotional connection? The answer lies in storytelling. Stories help us make sense of technical concepts, illustrate the ideas we want to express, and serve to substantiate our claims. Not only that, stories told well actually produce a bonding hormone that facilitates trust. So, how do we incorporate storytelling in the RFP writing process?

Sandra Younger is a reporter, magazine editor and author with more than 30 years of professional experience. She is also the founder of ComeBACK Solutions International, an organization that works with disaster survivors and emergency leaders, and Strategic Story Solutions, a firm that helps individuals and businesses discover their own stories. Sandra is best-known for her Amazon bestseller, The Fire Outside My Window, a memoir of her experience with the catastrophic California Cedar Fire of 2003.

Sandra is back on the RFP Success Show to share her take on storytelling as a kind of cultural currency, explaining why we are creatures of story and how stories help us make sense of facts and figures. She offers insight around the three types of stories every business should have, discussing how 'sticky stories' can be used to illustrate the benefits of your product or service. Listen in to understand how a little vulnerability lends to business success and learn how to leverage the narrative arc to earn trust in an RFP!

Sandra's take on story as a kind of cultural currency

How stories help us make sense of facts and figures

Why needs and pain points are considered stories

How metaphors are stories that allow us to visualize

The 3 kinds of stories every business should have

1. Signature story
2. Case studies
3. Testimonials

How a signature story gives your business credibility

How sticky stories illustrate the benefits of a product

How success stories serve in substantiating claims

The narrative arc and its function in building trust

Sandra's Website

Email [email protected]

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The Fire Outside My Window: A Survivor Tells the True Story of California's Epic Cedar Fire by Sandra Millers Younger

The ComeBACK Formula: A Resilience-Building Guidebook by Sandra Millers Younger

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Brené Brown

The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek

What is the most frustrating aspect of writing an RFP? For many, the most difficult part of the process is simply getting started. So, what can we do to liberate our inner writer and set up a protocol that works for us? How can we take the pressure off and remember that writing is just talking on paper? What strategies do career writers use to get in the zone and generate a first draft?

Sandra Younger has 30 years of professional experience as a journalist and storyteller. Her Amazon bestselling memoir, The Fire Outside My Window, tells the story of her experience during the catastrophic California Cedar Fire in 2003. Sandra leveraged what she learned from the fire to found ComeBACK Solutions International, an organization that works with disaster survivors and emergency leaders to build resilience and transform disaster and loss into opportunity and legacy. She is also the founder and Chief Story Strategist with Strategic Story Solutions, a firm that helps individuals and businesses discover the meaning, message and mission in their own stories.

Today, Sandra joins us to explain why getting started is the most frustrating part of the writing process and offer strategies on establishing a writing protocol that works for you. She describes how storytelling creates emotional connection and builds the trust necessary to drive sales. Sandra also shares the value in knowing your audience, asking headline questions of attraction, and writing in a way that is both professional AND conversational. Listen in for Sandra's insight on liberating your inner writer to generate a winning RFP—and learn how to build a strategic argument in favor of your unique ability to meet the client's needs!

The unique perspective in Sandra's book on the Cedar Fire

Why getting started is the hardest part of the writing process

How emotional connection builds the trust that drives sales

Why storytelling is the #1 way to create emotional connection

The importance of using case studies in your RFP response

Sandra's tips for writing to make the sale

1. Know your audience
2. Leverage storytelling
3. Ask for sale with CTA

Sandra's insight on leveraging headline questions of attraction

How to write in a way that is professional AND conversational

Sandra's tips for initiating the writing process

• Remove distractions and establish protocol
• Put self in here and now
• Write without censoring (set timer)
• Use mind mapping or talking to plan

Why your first draft should NOT be perfect

The concept of liberating your inner writer

How to develop a strategy for persuasion through writing

The value of knowing the rules and regulations of grammar

Sandra's Website

Email [email protected]

Lisa's Website

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The Fire Outside My Window: A Survivor Tells the True Story of California's Epic Cedar Fire by Sandra Millers Younger

Anne Lamott on Facebook

Brené Brown

Grammarly

The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek

In 2018, I wrote a book, started this podcast, filmed a reality tv show, rebranded my business AND doubled my revenue. Curious what productivity hacks I use to get so much done—in so little time?

On this episode of the RFP Success Show, I'm sharing the top ten strategies I use to get things done fast. I explain why it's crucial to know where you're going and what you want and how that allows me to trust my intuition and make decisions quickly. I describe the Do|Ditch|Delegate system I use to prioritize responsibilities and discuss how establishing focus hours supports me in completing tasks that don't come easily to me.

I also offer insight on breaking big projects into small chunks in order to drive action and making the distinction between high standards and perfection. Listen in for advice on leveraging radical honesty and faith over fear to stay motivated, boost your productivity and accomplish more in 2019!

Why it's crucial to know where you're going and what you want

How I use Do|Ditch|Delegate to prioritize important tasks

How to leverage focus hours for tasks that don't come easily

How grouping like tasks together builds momentum

How radical honesty helps me decide what to take on

The value in understanding when you need creative space

How I use intuition and trust to make quick decisions

How to drive action by breaking big projects into small chunks

The distinction between high standards and perfection

My mantra around having more FAITH than FEAR

The importance of understanding what motivates you

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The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek

RFPs suck. If you are soliciting bids for an asphalt company, for example, a great deal of research is required. You have to learn enough about the industry to know what questions to ask. You have to hunt for local vendors who are qualified to do the job. And then you have to determine who can provide the best solution based on their RFP response. What if you had a consistent process complete with scope-of-work templates that eliminated most of that difficult work?

Matt Wolach is the President of Synlio, a software company that automates the bidding process for clients in the real estate industry. Synlio is ideal for both property managers and vendors who service buildings and facilities, connecting buyers and sellers so that both have the opportunity to grow. Matt has a background in HOA and community management as well as software solutions, making him uniquely qualified to lead Synlio.

Today, Matt joins us to explain how the Synlio Team became known as 'The RFPs Suck Guys' and how their RFP automation software supports both property managers and vendors. He walks us through the process of calculating—and evaluating—the ROI for a software package and discusses how to design a consistent, reliable process for generating RFPs. Listen in for Matt's insight on creating RFPs with the appropriate level of detail and learn why vendors should respond to RFPs 'every single chance they get.'

Matt's background in community management and software

How Synlio's RFP automation software helps buyers and sellers

How to calculate ROI in terms of time, money and resources

The value of a consistent, reliable process for generating RFPs

Matt's advice around committing to the RFP process every time

How Matt and his team became known as 'The RFPs Suck Guys'

How creating scope-of-work templates facilitates efficiency

The danger in creating RFPs with too much or too little info

The mistake vendors make in NOT responding to RFPs

How Synlio introduces companies to a new network of vendors

Synlio

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Synlio's RFP Workshops

Synlio's RFP Audit

The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek

The overarching goal of any business is to generate revenue, and an RFP win does just that. So, does your organization make RFPs a priority? Is the RFP process an integral part of your strategic plan? Or are RFPs just another item on a too-long list of to-dos?

Katina Koller is a licensed Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) implementer, Vistage Chair and Executive Coach with the Foundry Community. She is passionate about optimizing organizations to achieve strong and sustainable financial performance AND align with their vision and purpose. Katina was the CEO of Northwire, Inc. for nine years, leading her team to the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest growing privately-held companies for two consecutive years. She also serves as a Business Mentor for Tech Launch Arizona.

Today, Katina joins us to discuss the value of an outside perspective in developing a strategic vision and explain how EOS helps leaders align their team to a single, concise plan. She describes the parallels between good leadership and good parenting, speaking to the value of vulnerability and transparency in promoting 'radical candor' in an organization. Katina also offers insight around setting realistic goals and focusing on greatness rather than scale. Listen in to understand why RFPs are crucial in increasing the value of your business and learn how to prioritize the RFP process as an important part of your company's strategic plan!

The value of an outside perspective in developing strategic vision

How EOS helps leaders align their team to a single, concise plan

Why RFPs are crucial in increasing the value of your business

How to develop alignment of priorities through your value chain

The parallels between good leadership and good parenting

Why vulnerability and transparency are crucial leadership skills

Why many business leaders fail to implement their big ideas

How to prioritize RFPs and eliminate distractions

Katina's insight around being great vs. being BIG

The top mistakes leaders make that prevent business growth

• Taking on too much, unrealistic goals
• Distracted by other opportunities

Email [email protected]

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Gina Catalano on The RFP Success Show

Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott

Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time by Susan Scott

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni

Rita Gunther McGrath

Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big by Bo Burlingham

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek

To run a successful business in the modern world, it is crucial that you operate from a growth mindset, cultivating a willingness to evolve and adapt in order to stay relevant. But change isn't easy. So, how do you help your team overcome an 'it can't be done' mindset and communicate the value in making a change?

With a 20-year background in training and leadership development, Donna Warrick is an expert in the realm of customer service, conflict management and professional development. She serves as the President of Jamesson Solutions, a leadership development, talent management and selection firm based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Donna has extensive experience supporting clients across many sectors, including manufacturing, financial services, property management and biotechnology.

Today, Donna returns to the podcast to get into the nitty gritty of change management. She reviews the concept of operating either above or below the line, describing how curiosity and open-mindedness pay off in terms of influence and innovation. Donna explains how a fear of the unknown makes many resistant to change and how to overcome the 'it can't be done' mindset. She also shares the value in communicating personal benefits to team members and finding internal advocates to help drive the message for change. Listen in for Donna's insight around recognizing the risks and rewards of change—and remembering that human beings are involved!

The concept of operating either above or below the line

How operating above the line builds trust and influence

Why the human brain is wired to operate below the line

How to develop self-awareness of where you're operating

Donna's definition of change management

How fear of the unknown makes us resistant to change

How to overcome the 'it can't be done' mindset

How to frame change in terms of current/future state

What leadership needs to communicate about change

The value in finding advocates to help drive the message

The significance of building a case on 'what's in it for you'

How team discussions reveal what you didn't consider

When it's appropriate to reconsider making a change

The need for leadership to consider the risks and rewards

Jamesson Solutions

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The RFP Success Book by Lisa Rehurek