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VIII: THE ART OF WRITING WELL

A few miscellaneous and useful ideas
acquired over the years.

NOTES
WHAT DOES "WRITING WELL" MEAN?

Writing well, contrary to what appears to be the
conviction of many who profess to teach the art of
writing, is not really a matter of grammar and
punctuation nearly so much as it is a matter of
information and organization. Weaknesses in the
mechanics of using the language are easily shored
up by the editing processes. Weaknesses in inform-
ation and presentation are fatal, beyond the heal-
ing powers of even the most capable editing.

TIPS ON WRITING WELL

Some of the most valuable tips on writing well
have been given already: stick to nouns and verbs,
and minimize the use of adjectives and adverbs;
shun hyperbole; quantify as much as possible and
do not round off numbers; and be specific, rather
than general, by making positive statements and
offering as much detail as possible. But the real
principle underlying much of this advice has been
presented, but not yet linked up with the act of
writing well. It is this: The ability to provide
specific information, details, and quantified
information is excellent evidence that you know
what you are talking about, just as the inabili-
ty--or, at least, the failure--to do so suggests
that you do not know what you are talking about,
but are only being glib--trying to "wing it," in
the hope of muddling through somehow.

AN OPERATING PRINCIPLE

That same principle applies to writing itself: by
far the most common cause of bad writing is not
the inability of the writer to find the right
words and/or to organize the information, but
reflects the lack of information or, at best, an
inadequate understanding of the information. Ex- NOTES
perience has shown that when someone with an ample
facility in speaking and reading the language is
unable to write acceptably well--write a clear
exposition, that is--more often than not the prob-
lem is that the writer has not done adequate
research and/or has not really thought the matter
out. And with either or both of these deficien-
cies, a writer cannot organize the material well
or sum up its significance. In short, you cannot
write what is not in your head, nor explain or
present something you yourself do not fully under-
stand. Unfortunately, however, we humans find it
even easier to deceive ourselves than we do to
deceive each other: It is quite astonishing how
easily we persuade ourselves to believe that we
understand something when, in truth, we most cer-
tainly do not.

PUTTING THE PRINCIPLE TO WORK

In practice, you can (and should) reverse this
principle in application, so that when you find
yourself having great difficulty in writing some-

thing--and especially in organizing and presenting
the subject--stop and consider introspectively
whether you are yet 4ready5 to write. For therein
lies much of the problem: Professional writers are
far less prone to that kind of self-deception, and
do things to get ready to write.

GETTING READY TO WRITE

Professional writers go through various stages of
preparation for writing, somewhat along these
lines:

* Basic idea. Think out basic idea: what are
you trying to achieve (exposition, persuasion,
how-to explanation, entertainment, etc)?

* Research. Gather, read, study available
information. (Includes library research, inter-
views, other investigation and data-gathering.)

* Rough planning. Preliminary outlining.

* Detailed outlining. Develop outline in far
more depth and detail.

* Searching for lead. (May be in addition to
or alternative to outlining, according to writer's
own work habits.) Writing--and discarding-- many
leads, searching for "right one."

NOTES
PROPOSAL OBJECTIVES

Applying that procedure to your work in writing
proposals, you should start from the premise that
in the macroscopic view, the "basic idea" of the
proposal is one of persuasion--persuasion of a
customer-prospect to belief in a program or proj-
ect you are proposing. The major objective of the
proposal is to be implemented by making the right
promises--those that will have great appeal to the
customer--and backing them up--presenting accept-
able evidence, along the lines discussed here.
Whatever it is that you are writing must necessar-
ily be in direct pursuit of one or both of those
objectives, and you must keep that clearly in
mind, as you plan your writing and execute it.

DON'T START WRITING TOO SOON

A most basic problem with many proposal writers is
starting to write too soon--before doing all the
necessary planning, research, outlining, thinking,
etc. However, this is not to say that you should
not be making notes or even rough--but certainly
preliminary--draft, while carrying out these acti-
vities, preparatory to beginning serious writing.

Be sure the outlines you prepare are not lists of
what you plan to write about, but are explanations
of what you plan to say in your writing. Not, for
example, "Troubleshooting methods," but "Visual
observation of symptoms, instrument observations,
logical analysis," etc.

If you have trouble getting this specific--listing
in your outline what you plan to say in your
section of the proposal--take that as an indica-
tion that you are not yet ready to begin serious
writing, but must gather more information and/or
do more thinking about the subject.

REWRITING

A second fault of many writers who are not profes-
sionals is their unwillingness to rewrite. Only
tyros truly believe that their first drafts are
adequate; professional writers know that they are
not, know that (in an old writer's cliche), "all
good writing is rewriting."

Classically, a great many writers prepare a com-
plete draft of whatever they are working on, and
then go back to rewrite it into a second draft
(and quite commonly into third, fourth, and fifth
drafts). However, that is not the only way to NOTES
rewrite. It is possible to rewrite as you go, too,
if that is the writer's preference--to prepare
first and successive drafts of each section or
chapter, before going on to the next one. It's
largely a matter of working habits and personal
choices, but the principle is the same: Get the
ideas/information down in the first draft, revise,
reorganize, clear up ambiguities and other prob-
lems, and polish in successive drafts. Accept this
as a must, as standard procedure, if you want to
turn out good writing.






















































IX: CREATIVITY IN PROPOSAL WRITING

It takes courage, as well as imagination, to
be creative.

NOTES
WHY CREATIVITY IN PROPOSAL WRITING?

Proposal writing is not generally recognized by
its practitioners as a creative act. Unfortunate-
ly, far too often it is not a creative act. That
is primarily why so many proposals fall by the
wayside--fail even to get serious consideration.
In the typical proposal competition, for example,
two-thirds of the proposals are summarily rejected
on the first round, some without even a complete
reading That is a rather clear indication that the
presentation was somewhat less than inspiring.

Whatever you regard the proposal as being, it is,
in fact, a sales presentation. It embodies a pro-
posed program, almost always a custom program,
designed to satisfy the customer's need and to win
a contract award. And, like all sales and market-
ing efforts, it is, or should be, based on some
main or "capture" strategy. And that, in turn, is
based on at least four strategic elements--four
distinct strategies, in fact:

* Technical (program design) strategy

* Presentation (proposal design) strategy

* Pricing (cost) strategy

* Competitive (competitor neutralization) strategy

The mere assumption that strategy is necessary and
is to be used automatically recognizes the need
for creativity, for the development of strategy
does indeed strongly imply creative activity.
There are those several strategic elements that
must be considered, and sometimes there are also
other factors that call for the exercise of at
least some creative imagination in the typical
proposal effort. However, what is advocated here NOTES
must be prefaced with two disclaimers:

1: Aping something done elsewhere or
earlier--even aping your own earlier effort--is
not creativity. By "creativity," we refer here to
new and different ideas.

2: There is nothing to be gained by being
creative merely to be new or different. The use of
the term means to create something that offers
some benefit as a result of being new or differ-
ent.

There are numerous opportunities for creative
effort in any proposal. Here are some of the areas
and problems to consider as suitable candidates
for creative thinking and new ideas:

* The design of the proposed program. It requires
little discussion to demonstrate that this is
inevitably a creative act: all design work is
inherently creative--unless the designer chooses
deliberately to be non-creative by making an exact
copy of something already existent.

* The design of the proposal--the presentation--
itself. This is again a design that ought to have
at least some original elements. No two procure-
ments are ever exactly the same as each other. Why
should the proposal not be tailored to the indi-
vidual requirement? But aside from that, there is
the matter of the special impact your proposal
ought to make, and it can make that special impact
only if it is somehow different, but different in
the right way: not bizarre, but distinctive and
even innovative, while still dignified and com-
pletely professional. That is a challenge to cre-
ativity that must be met.

* Getting attention. When there are many proposals
submitted, as is often the case (it is not unusual
for some proposal requests to draw as many as 40
or 50 responses), it is easy to have your own
overlooked or, at least, not noted especially. (On
at least one known occasion this single factor
cost the proposer an opportunity to negotiate and
possibly win.) This is really part of the question
of presentation design, and even of competitive
strategy, but important enough to merit separate
discussion. It is an article of faith in adverti-
sing that getting attention is a critically impor-
tant first step, although obviously it is also
necessary to hold attention thereafter.

* The analysis of the RFP and definition of the NOTES
problem or requirement (especially finding that
main "worry item") upon which to build a main
strategy. Anyone experienced in the proposal field
has learned by now that it often requires distinct
and considerable effort to determine the true need
and the true concerns of the customer, since RFPs
are often considerably less than crystal clear on
the subject. That often turns out to be itself an
act that requires creative imagination.

* The pricing or cost estimates. While cost may
not be the most important consideration in many
cases, it is never unimportant. But cost is not
always simply a set of numbers, and there are many
cost strategies possible. Many proposals can be
costed creatively, and should be.

* The creation of one or more effective worry
items, when existing ones cannot be spotted in the
RFP or elsewhere. Many successful marketing prog-
rams are conducted on this basis, and many propo-
sals have won major contracts on this basis.

* Responses to stated evaluative criteria. The
customer does not call for direct responses to
statements of the criteria upon which the evalu-
ation of the proposal will be based, but the
shrewd proposal writer will respond to those cri-
teria definitions nevertheless. That is an area
calling for some imagination.

* Coping with competitors. Obviously, you will not
have the field to yourself: proposals are submit-
ted and evaluated on a competitive basis, and you
must always assume that your competitors are cap-
able opponents. They will not go away as a result
of being ignored; you must do something positive
to combat competition; hence, the need for stra-
tegic ideas here too.

* Communication effectiveness. This could be also
put as "writing creatively," were it not for the
fact that this term is generally used to refer to
the writing of fiction, and the writing of fiction
in a proposal is a hazardous step and is not
recommended here. This is, again, logically part
of the question of presentation design and getting
attention, discussed separately, but this is an
element that deserves its own discussion.

Obviously, then, there are ample opportunities for
creativity in proposal writing, as there are ample
requirements for that characteristic. But it is
necessary to analyze the quality itself.

WHAT IS CREATIVITY? NOTES

More than a few studies of creativity have been
made, in an effort to understand the process and
to see if it cannot be learned--if one cannot
somehow become creative through some discipline,
study, or methodology. In many ways, the results
of the various studies appear to arrive at the
same essential principles, as far as the process
itself is concerned.

CREATIVITY REQUIRES EFFORT. One lesson to be
learned from the studies is that creativity is
rarely an accident. What may appear to be serendi-
pity--accidental discovery--is often the result of
prolonged creative effort or is, at least, almost-
accidental discovery by someone who is prepared to
recognize the discovery for what it is--by the
prepared mind, that is. But another way to explain
this is to paraphrase Thomas Edison. He remarked
that, "Genius is one percent inspiration and nine-
ty-nine percent perspiration." Substitute "creati-
vity" for "genius." It requires great effort to
develop new ideas and new ways of doing things.

THE THREE PHASES OF CREATION. Many studies have
turned up the same evidence that creative people
appear to draw many of their ideas from their
subconscious minds. There are three steps or
phases reported over and over in the studies:

1: CONCENTRATION (Extended and intense con-
scious effort to create something or find a solu-
tion to a problem.)

2: INCUBATION (Abandoning or suspending the
effort, after exhausting possibilities and sponta-
neous conscious ideas, and turning to other mat-
ters.)

3: INSPIRATION (Suddenly gaining the needed
insight or new ideas, usually while relaxing at
something and making no strenuous mental effort of
any kind.)

THE RATIONALE. The rationale for this is, as ex-
perts explain it, that the subconscious mind has
many more answers than the conscious mind does,
for it never forgets anything nor has any great
tendency to "block out" things, as the conscious
mind does. (This explains neatly why many people
can provide answers under hypnosis that they can-
not provide otherwise.) However, we have the prob-
lem that there is no easy direct link between the
two levels of consciousness in our minds. (Again, NOTES
the need for hypnosis to communicate with the
subconscious.) The intense concentration of the
conscious effort is an indirect method that re-
sults in passing the problem to the subconscious.

During "incubation," the subconscious is working
on the problem, and one day, usually when the
individual is relaxing, the subconscious passes
the answer to the conscious mind. (Apparently the
communication requires that the conscious mind be
totally relaxed, to open the link to the uncon-
scious, and hypnosis is based on this.)

This explains why when we can't think of a name or
something else we ought to remember easily (when
we "block" out some memory, for some reason), and
we abandon the effort and go on to something else,
something totally unrelated, in fact, the sought-
after item will suddenly pop unbidden and unex-
pectedly into mind. It explains, too, why we get
sudden inspirations unexpectedly, such as on awak-
ening, usually about some matter we have been
pondering consciously.

ANOTHER VIEW OF CREATIVITY

Many of us observe that "there is nothing new
under the sun," and the French have their own,
often-quoted way of saying the same thing. ("The
more it changes, the more it remains the same.")
And that applies to creativity, too, for creativi-
ty adheres far more to the engineering dictum of
"evolution, not revolution" than it does to any
idea of radically new discoveries. The fact is
that probably no invention and no idea is com-
pletely and totally new and different; what is new
and different is some new pattern--some new combi-
nation of ideas.

Many of our new inventions illustrate this graphi-
call. Explosives and rockets have been known to
humankind for at least 60 centuries, although jet
engines and rocket engines are modern develop-
ments. (Both are related to rocketry, with jet
engines being "air breathers," using atmospheric
oxygen to burn its fuel and rocket engines sup-
plying their own oxygen in the fuel and thus able
to travel in space, where there is no atmosphere.)
So they are new, and yet they are not new.

But radar, TV, personal computers, and laboratory
oscilloscopes are an even better example. All are
based on the electronics that predate even Edison,
although he made significant contributions, but
that is not the only link. All use "video" and NOTES
cathode ray tubes to display the video. All have
amplifiers and many other circuits in common, such
as those required to synchronize signals. All are,
in fact, the result of combining basic devices and
ideas in different ways, with relatively minor
technological differences, but radically different
final results.

Creativity, then, is far more often a new and
different combination of already known and recog-
nized ideas and methods than truly new basic ideas
or methods. But it may be simply a slight altera-
tion in the usual way of doing things. Quite often
slight alterations can have beneficial effects far
out of proportion to the cost and effort of making
the alteration, as in the case of radar, TV,
personal computers, and oscilloscopes.

THE RIGHT MENTAL SET

The biggest obstacle in the path of creativity is
knowledge. Ironically enough, studies show that
the more highly educated the individual, the more
resistant he or she is to new ideas and, especial-
ly, to creative instincts. Presumably this is due
to knowing all too well how things have been done
in the past, and the prevalent human tendency to
resist change. Change--new ways and new ideas--
entail some risk or an implied threat, while there
is far greater security in the known, familiar
ways and ideas. Obviously, then, the less one
knows of how things "have always been done," the
less they tend to regard new ideas as change.
However, the important thing here is to recognize
that it takes a certain degree of courage to think
differently--to think independently and to be
unafraid to conceive and--even more risky--to
actually try new ideas.

The right mental set, then, is to recognize that
"how it's always been done" or how "we always do
this" is not an argument; it's an excuse for
avoiding the hazardous business of actually think-
ing. It is necessary to recognize that (1) conven-
tional wisdom is almost always obsolescent by the
time it becomes conventional wisdom: the ways in
which "it's always been done" are probably badly
out of date already; (2) there is absolutely noth-
ing under the sun that cannot be improved on; and
(3) it is not necessity, but dissatisfaction that
is the mother of invention. Learn to be dissatis-
fied and look always for better ways.












X: A FEW THINGS TO BE WARY OF

Remember that proposals are also contractual
commitments.

NOTES
SPECIFICATIONS: WHO SUPPLIES THEM?

At least twice before in these pages the question
of quantifying information and the desirability of
doing so from the viewpoint of credibility has
been raised. But there is one other reason for
quantifying, at least in that section of your pro-
posal where you pledge service and results: that
pledge represents commitment, and if you fail to
quantify how much you pledge, you have laid the
groundwork for a future dispute, one you would al-
most surely lose. (It's always difficult to win in
disputes with customers.) Whether what you are
pledging is measured in hours, pages, pounds,
illustrations, or other units, specify how much
you pledge to deliver or make available.

In the final analysis, no matter what the project
is, something is delivered to somebody, even if it
is only a report or a service to a third party (as
in the case of many federal projects). You will
submit a cost proposal, pledging a price. But that
price must have been based on something that you
quantified in estimating the job. Document that
estimate in describing deliverable items and/or
end-results pledged.

Unfortunately, the government and others often
furnish solicitations in which the specifications
are vague, and sometimes even non-existent. Propo-
sers often, unfortunately, interpret that as mea-
ning that the customer will accept whatever the
proposer chooses to deliver later, after being
awarded the contract. Alas! it is not so. Unless
you can later point to the proposal (which is
usually incorporated into the contract by refer-
ence and is therefore part of the contract) and
tell the customer that this/these quantity/quanti-
ties is/are what the two of you contracted for,
you are going to have a dispute which you will NOTES
lose. But if you have quantified whatever it is
that the customer is buying, you will be pro-
tected. (If the customer demands more than the
specific quantities, that is a change in scope and
is negotiable for more money.)

In general, make sure that your proposal does
contain specifications, even if you have to supply
them as proposed specifications. (In some cases,
it may be the customer's intent and a deliberate
effort to require you to propose specifications.)

COSTS

In general, you, the designer of the program pro-
posed, determine what the costs are to be, when
you estimate hours, pounds, pages, etc. Your comp-
troller only translates your costs into dollars
and cents, with whatever are your company's fact-
ors for overhead, G&A, fees and profits, or other
cost centers.

In most companies today, labor is the largest
cost, and in service companies it is often nearly
all the direct costs. Obviously, it is you who
design programs who determine those direct labor
costs and other direct costs, such as travel,
telephone tolls, and perhaps other items, because
it is you who decides what is needed to do the job
and how much of each item is needed.

The accounting people add the indirect factors and
fees. But to a large extent you are also responsi-
ble for overhead, if you do not so design and
operate projects so that all costs that are in
actuality direct costs are handled as direct
costs. The way to do this is to go to the trouble
to keep track of all direct costs--all costs, that
is, that can be attributed to specific projects:

* Keep telephone logs and record all calls
made in behalf of specific projects or contracts.

* When indirect people--clerks, secretaries,
messengers, and other such personnel--lend a hand
on a job, keep track of those hours and charge the
project with them.

* Be sure to keep track of travel and other
costs that can be charged to specific contracts,
and charge them accordingly.

It is far less trouble to charge all miscellaneous
items to overhead, which is probably why many
companies get careless about this and permit over- NOTES
head costs to get out of control, much to the
dismay of government contracting officers, who
hate high overhead rates and often consider them
to be evidence of inefficient contractors. (They
have been heard to refer to such contractors as
"high-cost producers.")

The fewer the dollars charged to indirect expense
pools--overhead, fringe benefits, G&A, etc--the
lower the indirect rates, and the more competitive
you can be for contracts. Estimate those "other
direct" costs in advance, and charge them accord-
ingly, if you want to minimize your indirect rates
and maximize your opportunities to be cost-compet-
itive, as well as to present a more attractive
company image to contracting officers.

SCHEDULE PROBLEMS

The government and other customers issuing solici-
tations can be just as unthinking about schedule
requirements as they are about specifications
generally. Schedules may call for actions so many
"days after award," for example. The problem is
that they often fail to specify whether these are
calendar days or working days, and that makes a
considerable difference. As in the case of speci-
fications, if the customer does not offer adequate
definitions, you make your own definitions clear.

Beware also of the trap of promising some specific
date or DAA (days after award) to finalize some-
thing the customer promises to review by some DAA.
The customer may not make good on that promise,
putting you in the position of justifying your
non-adherence to the proposed schedule. To avoid
this, make the promise of your reaction to the
customer's review so many days after the customer
completes the review.
















XI: A FEW ADDED ITEMS FOR GENERAL REFERENCE


A RECOMMENDED PROPOSAL FORMAT

Some RFPs mandate a proposal format, and some companies have a standard format
specified for their proposal, either of which you will of course follow, in
such case. In the absence of these, the following format is recommended as
being straightforward, logical and suitable for most applications.

1: FRONT MATTER

Copy of Letter of Transmittal
Executive Summary
Response Matrix
Table of Contents

2: SECTION/CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

About the Offeror: Brief introduction to your firm, thumbnail sketch of
your company and qualifications, reference to details to be found later,
other opening statement.

Understanding of the Requirement: A brief statement of your understanding
of the requirement, in your own language (don't echo the RFP), leaving
out the trivia and focusing on the essence of the requirement, providing
a bridge (transition) to the next chapter.

3: SECTION/CHAPTER II: DISCUSSION

Extended discussions of the requirement, analyzing, identifying problems,
exploring and reviewing approaches (with pros and cons of each). Include
similar discussions of all relevant matters, technical, management,
schedule, other important points, including worry items. This is key
section in which to sell the proposed program, make the emotional appeals
(promises), explain the superiority of the proposed program, and
demonstrate the validity of the proposer's grasp of the problem, of how
to solve it, of how to organize the resources, and otherwise sell the
idea. Should culminate in a clear explanation of the approach
selected, bridging directly into the next chapter. Include graphics, as
necessary, especially functional flowchart, explaining the approach and
technical or program design strategy employed.

4: SECTION/CHAPTER III: PROPOSED PROJECT

This is where the specifics appear--staffing and organization (with
organization chart), resumes of key people, either here or later in this
chapter, but at least introduced here by name.

Project management: Procedures, philosophy, methods, controls;
relationship to parent organization, reporting order; other information
on both technical and general/administrative management of project. (May
be separate chapter or even separate volume, for larger projects.)
Labor-loading: Explain major tasks and estimated hours for each principal
in each task (use tabular presentation), with totals of hours for each
task and totals of hours for each principal staff member.

Deliverable items: Specify, describe, quantify, as explained.

Schedules: Specify, as explained. (Use milestone chart, if possible.)

Resumes: Resumes of key staff, prepared for project.

5: SECTION/CHAPTER IV: COMPANY QUALIFICATIONS

Description of company, past projects (especially those similar to one
under discussion), resources, history, organization, key staff, other
resumes, testimonial letters, special awards, other pertinent facts.

6: APPENDICES

RESPONSE MATRIX

A response matrix is designed to help the reader verify the total
responsiveness of your proposal and so maximize your technical score. In
general, it is a table in which are listed the requirements specified in
the RFP (and derived from the checklists prepared earlier), and assuming
the general form:
_______________________________________________________________________
| | |
RFP/SOW | DESCRIPTION | PROPOSAL | NOTES
page/par | | page/par |
__________|_______________________________|___________|________________
| | |
| | |

THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

Under the provisions of FOIA you are entitled to view information that is not
protected by either the Privacy Act--information, that is, which is personal
and/or proprietary--or by considerations of national security--classified
information. If, for example, you want to see a copy of a winning proposal
submitted by someone else, the government will excise from it all information
that the proposer has declared personal or proprietary, and which appears to
justifiably so declared.

Ordinarily, you are always entitled to know the "bottom line"--what the
government has paid or is paying for given services or products.

Be aware that your own proposals are subject to scrutiny by others, under this
law, and therefore be sure to insert the proper proprietary notices in your
proposal, where such notices are justified.

In some cases, government officials will release information on simple
request, whereas in other cases you will have to state specifically that you
are invoking your rights under the Act. Too, some officials will accept a
verbal request, while others will require a written request. Some will comply
promptly, others will stall. Etc. You must cope with each situation
individually.

A TIP OR TWO ON GRAPHICS

A good illustration requires little explanation, and that is the way to test
the quality of any illustration: Does it require explanation, And if so, how
much?

Is the illustration clear or is it "clever"? Forget about clever devices and
artistic considerations; the purpose of an illustration is to communicate
information accurately and efficiently. If the reader has to puzzle over the
meaning or study the illustration to understand it, the reader will probably
set your proposal aside with a sigh, and go on to the next one. Basic rule:
make it as easy as possible on the reader. Cleverness is all too often the
death of meaning and understanding, and therefore the death of the sale.

For function charts, use the WHY? HOW? technique to generate the chart and to
test it. Going from left to right (or from top to bottom, if you prefer that
progression), ask WHY? of each box, and the answer should be in the next box.
Going the other way--in reverse--ask HOW, and the answer should be in the next
box. If the answers are not very clear, consider adding boxes (for more
detail) or changing the wording in the boxes. (Charts, like text, should go
through drafts, editing, reviews, and revisions.)

USE OF HEADLINES, GLOSSES, AND BLURBS

Proposals are not exciting literature, and at best are fatiguing to read in
quantities, as customers are compelled to do. Anything you can do to make it
easier for the reader will help you, in the end, in more than one way: 1) it
will help you get your own messages across and pierce the consciousness of
readers who may be reading mechanically, and without full appreciation, by the
time they get to your opus; and 2) you will earn the reader's gratitude, which
can do nothing but help your case. There are there are at least three devices
that will help:

HEADLINES. Use headlines--sideheads and centerheads--as freely as you
can, as often as you can. Use them to summarize messages, to telegraph what a
paragraph or page is about, what the main message is. But use them also to
4SELL5. That is, use the headline to summarize promises--benefits--and
proofs. Use them to remind the reader of the benefits and reinforce the
proofs.

GLOSSES. A "gloss" is a little abstract in the margin of a page that
summarizes the text next to it. Usually, there is at least one gloss on a
page, and often there are several. Like headlines, glosses can and should be
used to help sell the proposal by focusing on benefits and proofs.

BLURBS. A blurb is very much like a gloss, except that it is not used as
frequently, and is thus somewhat broader in scope and, usually, of greater
length. A blurb generally appears after a major headline (usually a center
head) or chapter title. Like headlines and glosses, blurbs should be used to
sell, as well as to sum up information and communicate generally.




BOOKS BY HERMAN HOLTZ

ANYONE CAN DO BUSINESS WITH THE GOVERNEMNT, Government Marketing News, 1976
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS: Proposalmanship and Winning Strategies, Plenum, l979.
THE $100 BILLION MARKET: How to do Business with the Government, AMACOM, l980.
PROFIT FROM YOUR MONEY-MAKING IDEAS: How to Build a New Business or Expand an
Existing One, AMACOM, 1980.
PROFIT-LINE MANAGEMENT: Managing a Growing Business Successfully, AMACOM, 1981.
THE WINNING PROPOSAL: HOW TO WRITE IT, McGraw-Hill, 1981.
DIRECTORY OF FEDERAL PURCHASING OFFICES, Where, What, How to Sell to the
U.S.Government, John Wiley & Sons, 1982.
THE SECRETS OF PRACTICAL MARKETING FOR SMALL BUSINESS, Prentice-Hall, 1982.
HOW TO SUCCEED AS AN INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT, John Wiley & Sons, 1983.
HOW TO SUCCEED AS AN INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT (tape cassettes), John Wiley, 1987
2001 SOURCES OF FINANCING FOR SMALL BUSINESS, Arco, l983.
SUCCESSFUL NEWSLETTER PUBLISHING FOR THE CONSULTANT, The Consultant's
Library,1983.
MAIL ORDER MAGIC, Surefire Techniques to Expand Your Business by Direct
Mail, McGraw-Hill, 1983.
PERSUASIVE WRITING, Getting Your Message Across in Business, McGraw-Hill, 1983.
BEYOND THE RESUME, How to Land the Job You Want, McGraw-Hill, 1984
HOW TO BUY THE RIGHT PERSONAL COMPUTER, Facts on File, 1984
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR MICROCOMPUTER, John Wiley, 1984
WORD PROCESSING FOR OFFICE PUBLICATIONS, McGraw-Hill, 1984
COMPUTER WORK STATIONS, Chapman & Hall/Methuen, 1985
THE BUSINESS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING For Executives, Consultants, Authors, and
Trainers, John Wiley, 1985
THE CONSULTANT'S EDGE: Using the Computer as a Marketing Tool, John Wiley,
1985
HOW TO SELL COMPUTER SERVICES TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, Chapman & Hall/
Methuen, 1985
HOW TO BECOME A MORE SUCCESSFUL CONSULTANT WITH YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER, The
Consultant's Library, 1985
UTILIZING CONSULTANTS SUCCESSFULLY: A Guide for Management in Business,
Government, the Arts, and Professions, Quorum Books/Greenwood Press, 1985
MARKETING WITH SEMINARS AND NEWSLETTERS, Quorum Books/Greenwood Press, 1986
ADVICE, A HIGH PROFIT BUSINESS, A Guide for Consultants and Other
Entrepreneurs, Prentice-Hall, 1986
THE CONSULTANT'S GUIDE TO PROPOSAL WRITING, How to Satisfy Your Clients and
Double Your Income, John Wiley, 1986
THE DIRECT MARKETER'S WORK BOOK, John Wiley, 1986
THE BUSINESS WRITING PROBLEM SOLVER, Dow Jones-Irwin, 1987
THE CONSULTANT'S GUIDE TO NEWSLETTER PROFITS, Dow Jones-Irwin, 1987
EXPANDING YOUR CONSULTING PRACTICE WITH SEMINARS, John Wiley, 1987
THE CONSULTANTS'S GUIDE TO WINNING CLIENTS, John Wiley, 1988
HOW TO WRITE READABLE USER MANUALS, Dow Jones-Irwin, 1988
GREAT PROMO PIECES, John Wiley, 1988
HOW TO SUCCEED AS AN INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT, Second Edition, John Wiley, 1988
CHOOSING AND USING A CONSULTANT, John Wiley, 1989