Managing the proposal process when there are multiple teammates and writers, not necessarily co-located, is a challenge for a company of any size. Proposal “tag-ups” are an effective tool for proposal managers. A tag-up is a brief (15-30 minute) meeting which can be accomplished by telecon to keep all the wheels moving in the same direction. These tag-ups may be conducted 2-3 times a week during the initial proposal preparation period and increasing to daily as the submission deadline approaches.
The purpose of the meeting is to share new information that any member of the proposal team has learned, to identify problem areas that need further discussion, and status the progress of the various proposal volumes/sections against the proposal schedule. Lengthy discussions should be taken offline for the parties who are directly involved. If managed properly, the tag-up should not take long and will keep the team focused on the end-goal.
Best time of day for tag-ups is mid-morning, after everyone has had a chance to get their coffee, check their email, and deal with urgent issues that arose after the end of the prior workday. Catching them before they get too involved in other activities serves to remind them of the proposal schedule and tasks to be accomplished, and keeps the proposal in their focus as they plan their day and go on to other meetings. Keeping them at the same time makes it easier for proposal team members to schedule around them.
The agenda for a tag-up might be something like this:
- Proposal schedule –
- Ex: “This is day xx and we have yy days to submission” The yy can be an eye-opener!
- Schedule changes
- Schedule conflicts (proposal team availability – vacations, etc.)
- Upcoming proposal meetings/reviews
- RFP Changes/Amendments
- Teaming Status
- Intelligence/Competition
- Proposal Writing Status – by Volume/Section
- Concerns
- Next Scheduled Tag-Up
I have seen information revealed in a tag-up that was critical to proposal success which might never have been shared with all team members otherwise. The larger the team, the more important they are. The tag-up of course is not the place to share proprietary information like pricing especially if multiple companies are participating. Consider your audience!
Keeping the tag-ups short and productive will encourage participation and collaboration.