By Mark Davies on Wednesday, 25 September 2024
Category: Blogs

The art of simplifying bid content: TGV

Here are some highlights taken from Tim and Graham's occasional TGV video series

This content was taken from the second episode of TGV—Tim and Graham Verbalise. In this episode, SP's Tim and Graham dived into a common challenge faced by bid and proposal teams: simplifying content written by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).

Often, we receive content that's clunky, clumsy, and difficult to read. It doesn't flow well and lacks clarity. So, how can we make bid text more accessible and easier to read? Let's take some content that perhaps an academic might write about proposals…

"Our proposals must reflect the profound depth and intricate nuances of our knowledge. This requires strategic deployment of a lexicon enriched with esoteric terminology."

A bit complex perhaps? While you can understand the words and the grammatical structure, it's a bit stodgy. May be too complicated? Let's try again…

"This is where the artistry of lexical selection comes into play. By integrating layman's terms and elucidating abstruse concepts, we make our knowledge more palatable to the uninitiated."

Recognise the style? Yes, the classic SME-type content where we're trying to sound clever when we don't need to be. It doesn't need to be that difficult to follow.

Good news: there's another way, and it involves recognising common pitfalls. Many of these can be quick and easy fixes. Here's a few ideas…

1. Awareness

 By being aware and scanning your text as you write, you can chop out unnecessary words. There's nothing more satisfying than cutting down on word count, especially when facing character limits. ​

2. Say it out loud

 Well perhaps not out loud. Don't walk around the office reading out your answer to question 76. But once you've written something, play it back in your head as if you're imagining presenting it to an audience of non-technical people. That's a great way to spot where you've overcomplicated it. ​

3. Spot (and remove)

 Spot (and remove) ​the common phrases like "according to our understanding" or "we believe". These are almost always superfluous. Usually, all you need is the statement that follows. Removing these words makes the text simpler, shorter, and more direct. Using these phrases feels like you're caveating. It's implied that the document reflects what you believe and understand. There's no need to state it explicitly. ​
By simplifying our language and being more direct, we not only make our proposals more accessible but also more persuasive. By default, say what you need to say in as few words as possible, using simple and conversational language. ​

Watch the podcast here.

Strategic Proposals helps hundreds of bid specialists every year to improve their skills through in-house, tailored training programs to APMP certification workshops. To read more about how we do this, look here. 

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