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[Music Intro]
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>>Hi. I’m Devon Dean, content director here at ProjectManager.com. Today I’m going to
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teach you how to help sell your project using a project proposal. A key thing to remember
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is that people buy from people. Don’t expect the project proposal document that you put
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together to be taken up by the decision makers in an organization in isolation of any communication
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you’ve had with them and award funding and resources and mindshare to that project. It’s
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important to remember this because you can write the best project proposal document but
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without that people interaction you have a slim to no chance of getting your project
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funded.
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While you’re preparing the project proposal document it’s really important for you,
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your project sponsors and the champions of your project to go out there and actively
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lobby the decision makers of your organization about your project. Use those lobbying sessions
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and those one on one meetings to actually refine and hone your understanding of what
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the problems are in your organization and the benefits that your project can actually
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realize, that strike a chord with those decision makers. In developing your project proposal
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document I highly recommend in tandem going out there and actively seeking the feedback
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of those decision makers so that feedback help you refine and forge the sales pitch
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you put together in your proposal document.
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Your decision makers are going to make the decision whether to thrill or kill that project
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within the first five minutes of picking up your project proposal document so it’s really,
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really critical that you make a big impact right at the start of that project proposal
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document. The way you do that is in stating that problem statement. You really need to
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paint a bleak picture of your organization that shows or depicts the problems that you’re
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having in the organization which could be overcome had your project been in production
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when those problems occurred. Highlight some specific examples of where opportunities were
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missed or where risk or costs were incurred that your project could have prevented or
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could have gained access to in terms of opportunities if your project had delivered by the time
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of that event.
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Efficiency gains or general skills uplift are not the messages you want to communicate
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in terms of looking for those problem benefits. By saying that Sally works 50 hours a week
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and your project is going to solve that problem is really not going to strike a chord for
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those decision makers. Look for those specific examples of where your company missed an opportunity
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or incurred costs because your project wasn’t in place. Put those in your problem statement.
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Now the vision statement is a section that needs to tie your project to the company’s
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long range strategy and vision and long range goals. Without tying your project in to your
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organizational strategy and vision you run the risk of having your project being looked
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upon as a rogue project: it’s out there in the distance, it really doesn’t fit with
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what we’re doing so you run a risk of not having your project being funded because of
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that reason. You need to tie your project into your company’s organizational strategies
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and vision.
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Benefits further expand upon the vision that your project will have, that you paint the
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picture of that vision. You’re going into a bit more specific details on what are the
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things your project will deliver, what new capabilities or what costs you’re going
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to avoid by having the project deliverables in place. Be very specific about the benefits
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and make sure they’re things that are measurable.
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The deliverables section further goes into another level of decomposition about what
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your project is going to deliver. It talks about the artefacts which your projects will
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deliver and how those will be delivered in terms of what the users can expect. A deliverable
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might be, for example, for a call center project you’re delivering new computer telephony
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integration. That would be a deliverable when that call center has that equipment.
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Success criteria are very important to outline in that project proposal. You need to be able
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to have smart success criteria which mean it’s specific, measurable, achievable, realistic
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and time bound. These success criteria, once they’re met, give the project owners, the
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decision makers and the stakeholders 100% confidence that your project has achieved
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success. It’s important that you list out those criteria which everyone is looking at
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your project to deliver.
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The next section is talking about how your project is going to achieve the deliverables
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and success criteria and benefits. In here is where your deadlines are listed, where
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the project plan comes together and what the approach to delivery might be for your project.
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Are you going to use external vendors? Are you going to use internal staff? Are you going
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to use an agile approach to delivering that project or are you going to use a more traditional
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waterfall method to enable your project to deliver on its deliverables?
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Lastly, of course, the cost and the budget. Here’s where you pull it together and you
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show the funding plan for that project and how it’s going to achieve its deadlines
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against those deliverables and for the dollar value.
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Now if you find in the first section that you’re getting into quite a lot of detail
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that runs past, let’s say, two pages I think it’s really important to take the time and
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consolidate all the high points from these into an executive summary for that document.
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Put the high level problem, visions and benefits in that exec summary. As I mentioned before,
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decision makers will take about five minutes looking at your proposal to make sure that
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it’s something they’re going to fund or decide that they’re not going to fund it
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in this year. Ensuring those messages are concise is really critical and by putting
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these elements into executive summary if you find them going long is a really important
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way for you to quickly communicate those ideas.
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It’s important to remember the flow of the document in the proposal. You need it to flow
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like a fiction book. You need to tell a story and paint a picture and leave no stone unturned
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for your decision makers to ponder. Everything needs to flow from the start of the problem
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down to the cost and benefits in terms of the key themes of your project need to be
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expounded upon, need to be mentioned at the start and then further drilled down upon throughout
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the rest of your project proposal. If you have items that you’re introducing in your
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deliverables, for example, that don’t fit in with solving the problems you’ve identified
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up here or fit in with the benefits that you’re going to realize your decision makers will
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look at that and it will cause them to think a little bit more about your proposal in terms
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of does this proposal really communicate in a tight way the objectives that it’s going
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to achieve for the organization. It needs to flow. All the items here need to mesh with
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one another and not introduce any new topics or any new items as you go along in the project
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document.
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Your project proposal is one key way for you to communicate your project’s vision and
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benefits to the organization but a project proposal in itself is not going to sell your
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project and get it funded and resourced. Only you can do that. Only your champions and your
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sponsor can do that. Like I said in the start, the proposal will help you sell your project
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and get it funded and resourced but really you need to be there actively lobbying for
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that project and getting it off the ground.
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For more project management tips and tricks and to try out our software come join us at
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ProjectManager.com.