Chapter 9

Analyzing Customer Requirements

The proposal development phase begins once you receive a draft or final RFP. During this phase, you integrate your bid strategy with customer requirements and transform the product into a winning proposal.

A clear understanding of customer requirements is a prerequisite to winning. Customer requirements come in two flavors: informal and formal. Informal requirements are the needs, desires, and fears of your customer bounded by the specific need being solved. They are determined through marketing efforts and pre-proposal contact with the customer. Formal requirements are those defined by the RFP. They take precedence over informal requirements. Nonetheless, both should be combined and used to develop your ...

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