How Making Proposals Easy to Score Will Improve Your Win Rate

Ashley (Kayes) Floro, CPP APMP • February 24, 2026

Winning proposals don’t just happen because the solution is strong—they happen because the proposal is structured to earn points. Too often, teams focus solely on what they want to say, rather than how evaluators will read, interpret, and ultimately score their response. If you want to increase your probability of win, you must first understand how proposals are evaluated and then write with that scoring process in mind. By aligning your content to evaluation criteria, highlighting clear strengths, and making it easy for evaluators to assign high ratings, you can transform a compliant submission into a high-scoring, competitive proposal.


Understanding Proposal Evaluation


Before we can really understand how to make proposals easier to score, we have to understand how proposals are being evaluated. The first thing to understand is that proposals are typically first reviewed for compliance with the requirements as outlined in the proposal instructions. Next, the proposals are scored based on the evaluation criteria. Customers frequently assign strengths, weaknesses, and deficiencies to back up their scores. To receive an “Exceptional” score, your strengths have to outweigh any weaknesses, and no major deficiencies can be present. When using this scoring method, a deficiency is typically defined as a material failure of a proposal to meet a customer requirement or a combination of significant weaknesses in a proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance to an unacceptable level. A weakness is defined as a flaw in the proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance. And significant strengths are defined as aspects of an offeror's proposal that have merit or that exceed specified performance or capability requirements in a way that will be advantageous to the customer during contract performance. In our proposals, we want to minimize any weaknesses and deficiencies and maximize our strengths and significant strengths.


Organize Content So It’s Easy to Score


Understanding that proposals are scored, it makes good sense that when we’re writing proposals, we need to present the information in a way that is easy for evaluators to score. Most evaluators do not volunteer for the job and do not particularly enjoy it. It takes time away from their regular job, so they want to get it over with as quickly as possible. Therefore, we should aim to make the evaluator’s job as easy as possible. To make your sections easy to score, structure your response to the proposal instructions and the evaluation criteria. Next map in other requirements, as required (e.g., elements of the statement of work). To facilitate evaluation, consider including relevant RFP references in your section heading titles; this helps evaluators understand the logic of your organization and map your responses back to their evaluation scoresheet.


Use RFP Language


When writing proposals, you should also strive to use the language in the RFP to make the evaluation easier. For example, if the RFP asks for a Program Manager, you should use the title, Program Manager, not Project Manager. You should also strive to use the customer’s terminology and lexicon in our proposal to gain the customer’s confidence. By knowing your customer and speaking their language, you demonstrate that we understand them, and you begin to establish trust. What’s more, your customer evaluators often do key word searches to find what’s important to them in your proposals. To support them in this endeavor, you should make sure all sections include key words from the instructions, evaluation criteria, and the statement of work.


Theme Statements


Another way to help evaluators to score you higher is to include theme statements or strength statements consistently throughout your response. Theme statements set the stage for the section and grab the evaluator’s attention because they address an issue that is important to them. The ideal theme statement not only presents a solution feature that addresses a customer hot button, it also articulates clear, quantified benefits. I recommend including a theme statement for every first-level section and second-level subsection and formatting those themes to stand out from the rest of the text. If you theme effectively, the theme statements will show up as identified strengths in the evaluation debrief from the customer.


Callout Boxes


Another way to arm evaluators with the ammunition they need to give you a high score is to use callout boxes to help your major proof points stand out. Be sure that your proof points not only highlight quantified metrics, but make sure to provide the “so what?” statement as well. For example, it’s not enough simply to state: “We have used our proven staffing process to staff programs with 3-, 7- and 14-day turnaround times, including the MNOP program, where we staffed 15 FTEs in two weeks.” Ask yourself, “So what? What does this mean for my customer?” This might prompt you to add, “Leveraging this staffing process, we provide Customer ABC with low-risk task order start-up and delivery for large, small, short-term, and long-term requirements.”


Feature and Benefit Tables


Feature and benefit tables are another great way to help evaluators find proposal strengths. Similar to theme statements, feature and benefit tables highlight major solution features—that ideally address customer hot buttons—and articulate clear, quantified benefits. Typically, customers want things cheaper, faster, and/or better, which we might express as low cost, low risk, high quality, efficient, and/or effective. Use feature and benefit tables in each major section introduction to highlight the key elements of your approach. This could be every first-level section for shorter proposals, but it may be extended to each second-level subsection for longer proposals.


Articulate Benefits Throughout


As touched on previously, benefits tell the customer why they should care about our solution or its features; they articulate the “so what?” But, it’s critical to remember that benefits should be things that the customer cares about. For example, if the customer doesn’t care whether the transition is completed in three weeks or six weeks, then expedited timeline is not a benefit to that customer. It’s also critical to remember that benefits should be highlighted throughout the proposal narrative. It’s not enough for benefits to show up in theme statements, callout boxes, and feature benefit tables—these benefits need to be articulated and reinforced throughout the proposal narrative as well.


Make the Response About the Customer


Another critical way to score higher is to make sure you are focusing on the customer. Two key signs that your proposal writing lacks customer perspective include: (1) the proposal mentions your company or team name more than the customer’s name; (2) the proposal is about your company’s offer instead of the solution and benefits the customer will receive. A great proposal is about the customer and the benefits they receive from the proposed solution.


One of the easiest ways to make our proposal content more customer focused is to put them first—literally. Instead of saying, “Team ABC’s solution delivers a low-risk transition,” flip the construction and write, “Customer A receives a low-risk transition with our comprehensive transition approach.” The two sentences convey the same overall message, but by putting the customer first in the sentence, we shift the focus onto what the customer is receiving rather than what we are delivering.


Another easy way to make your proposal content more customer focused is to use the customer’s name more frequently than your company or team name. To validate whether you are doing so, you can try this quick test: hit Ctrl-F and search for the number of times you mention your company and/or team name; then search for the number of times you mention the customer’s name. You should aim to mention the customer’s name more times than yours. If you find that you have mentioned the customer far less frequently, you should revise our text to focus more on the customer and the benefits they will receive by choosing your solution.


Final Thoughts


In this world of bids and proposals, we all certainly want to win more. However, there are so many factors that impact a company’s probability of win, and a number of things throughout the opportunity lifecycle can impact a company’s chances of winning (both positively and negatively). Although the capture phase has the greatest potential to positively impact your chances of winning, you can certainly take steps to help your proposals score higher during the proposal writing stage. These actions include organizing content so it’s easy to score; using RFP language, theme statements, callout boxes, and feature and benefits tables; articulating benefits throughout the response; and making the response about the customer. These critical components during the writing phase can go a long way in facilitating the evaluation process and increasing your overall score—and a higher score can easily translate to a higher probability of win!




From Submission to Success: How Lessons Learned Drive Better Proposals

By Ashley (Kayes) Floro, CPP APMP • March 30, 2026
When was the last time your team truly examined why you won—or lost—a proposal? Every submission your team makes, win or lose, contains a roadmap for doing better next time. Yet many organizations treat each proposal as a standalone event, moving quickly from one bid to the next without pausing to reflect on what worked, what didn't, and why. This is a costly mistake. A structured lessons learned program, built into every stage of the business development lifecycle, is one of the most powerful tools a company can use to sharpen its competitive edge. Conducting Lessons Learned Conducting lessons learned after each proposal submission is a critical part of the business development lifecycle. It helps companies understand where they are excelling and where they need to improve. To ensure the experience is fresh in everyone's mind, each member of the proposal team should document their impressions — both positive and negative — within the first week after submission. Sample questions to consider include: Was the proposal development schedule reasonable and realistic? Why or why not? Were there any bottlenecks or major issues? If so, what were they, and how could they be mitigated in the future? Did the team work well together? If not, how could team dynamics have been improved? How effective was communication among the team? What went well? What could have been improved? Did any unexpected problems occur during proposal development? If so, how could they be mitigated going forward? Did the team stay within its B&P budget? If not, what could have been done differently? What worked best during the capture and proposal effort? What areas require improvement? A practical way to gather and analyze this feedback is to send a survey to each team member using an automated tool, which makes it easier to collate and compare responses. After Action Report Once the results are in, the Proposal Manager should review the feedback and prepare an After Action Report that details lessons learned and recommended next steps. This report should be shared with the full proposal team to ensure that insights are carried forward into future efforts. Lessons Learned Session Additionally, after contract award is announced, the team should conduct a formal Lessons Learned Session to document and discuss observations, findings, and conclusions — win or lose. By understanding where the team encountered roadblocks, and where the customer found gaps in the response, the team can address those issues and strengthen both the process and the final product on future efforts. Equally important: identify what the team is doing well and make sure those practices are preserved and repeated. Analyzing Trends and Updating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) Conducting lessons learned after each proposal is valuable, but the benefit compounds when you step back and look at the bigger picture. On an annual basis, review your After Action Reports and lessons learned debriefs as a body of work, and analyze them for recurring themes and patterns. As the year wraps up, whether you follow a corporate fiscal year or the calendar year, ask yourself: What challenges keep surfacing? Where does the team consistently perform well? Sharing these trends with your team creates a culture of transparency and accountability, and helps focus improvement efforts where they matter most. More importantly, translate those findings into action by updating your business development and proposal SOPs. If internal feedback shows the team is consistently scrambling during production, adjust your SOPs to launch the production process earlier. If customer debriefs repeatedly cite a lack of customer understanding, take a hard look at your capture process and strengthen your call plan execution. Continuously refining your processes in response to real data is one of the clearest paths to improved performance—and more wins. Final Thoughts Every organization in this industry wants to win more, and win rates are often cited as the headline measure of a business development organization's health. While they are a useful starting point, win rates alone don't tell the whole story. Too many variables influence any single outcome. What matters more is building the discipline to learn from every effort, regardless of the result. A consistent lessons learned program, paired with annual trend analysis and a willingness to update your processes, creates a feedback loop that makes your team sharper over time. The companies that win consistently aren't just the ones with the best writers or the biggest budgets, they're the ones that treat every proposal, win or lose, as an opportunity to get better.

Six Strategies to Tackle Tight Page Limitations

By Ashley (Kayes) Floro, CPP APMP • March 25, 2026
Tight page limitations are continuing to be a challenge as contracting officers streamline their acquisition processes. When faced with tight page restrictions, we often find ourselves struggling with trimming five pages of material into two pages of allocated space. However, sometimes the content we are working with is so long because it is simply overly wordy. In this article, I present six tricks for eliminating waste. 1. Use Active Voice With active voice, the subject of the sentence comes first and performs the action in the sentence. Active voice is more straightforward and concise than passive voice. It typically results in shorter, sharper sentences. So not only does it take up less real estate, it flows better and is easier to understand. Passive: It was decided by the Program Manager to streamline the program. Active, Strong Verb: The Program Manager streamlined the program. 2. Eliminate Redundancies Remove redundancies that take up extra space and don’t add value. I present some examples below.
icons demonstrating how to write clearly

Write Clearly: Why “More” Isn’t Always Better

By Ashley (Kayes) Floro, CPP APMP • March 23, 2026
In the world of proposal development, there’s a persistent misconception that longer writing signals deeper thinking. Teams sometimes feel pressure to fill pages, add more qualifiers, or expand explanations in hopes that additional words will make their message more persuasive. However, the opposite is often true. Clear writing is powerful because it makes it easy for the reader to understand, evaluate, and remember your message. The goal should be clarity, not volume. The most effective writers know that concise, direct language carries more impact than dense paragraphs and complicated phrasing. In this article, we present seven practical tips to help you write more clearly and effectively. 1. Break Up Long Sentences and Paragraphs Long sentences are one of the most common causes of unclear writing. When a sentence stretches beyond 25–30 words, it is easy for readers to lose track of the main point. Instead of packing multiple ideas into a single sentence, break them into shorter, focused statements. Each sentence should communicate one main idea. Example Less clear: Our team will implement a comprehensive data management framework designed to enhance reporting capabilities while also improving accessibility for users across multiple departments. Clearer: Our team will implement a comprehensive data management framework. This approach improves reporting and makes data more accessible across departments. Shorter sentences reduce cognitive load and help readers absorb information quickly. Similarly, large blocks of text can overwhelm readers. Each paragraph should focus on a single idea or topic. If a paragraph begins to cover multiple points, consider splitting it. Shorter paragraphs make it easier for readers to scan and process information. 2. Avoid Nominalizations Nominalizations occur when verbs are turned into nouns, often ending in -tion, -ment, or -ance. While they are sometimes necessary, they can make writing more abstract and wordier. Whenever possible, convert nominalizations back into strong verbs. Example Wordy: The implementation of the solution will result in the improvement of operational efficiency. Clearer: Implementing the solution will improve operational efficiency. Strong verbs make writing more direct and easier to understand. 3. Choose Strong, Specific Verbs Weak verbs like make, do, provide, conduct, or perform typically require additional words to explain what is happening. Strong verbs communicate action more clearly and concisely. Example Weak: Our team will conduct an analysis of system performance. Stronger: Our team will analyze system performance. Replacing weak verb phrases with precise verbs makes writing sharper and more confident. 4. Remove Unnecessary Words Many phrases in proposal writing add length without adding meaning. Words like very, really, quite, and in order to clutter your sentences. Look for opportunities to tighten phrasing. Examples In order to → To Due to the fact that → Because At this point in time → Now The goal isn’t to eliminate detail, it’s to eliminate filler. 5. Use Active Voice When Possible Active voice makes it clear who is responsible for an action and typically produces shorter sentences. Passive voice can be useful in certain situations, but overuse can make writing vague and indirect. Example Passive: The report will be completed by the team next week. Active: The team will complete the report next week. Active voice improves clarity and accountability. 6. Use Lists When Appropriate When presenting multiple related items—steps, benefits, features, or requirements—lists can improve readability. Lists allow readers to quickly understand key points without digging through dense paragraphs. They also highlight structure and make complex information easier to follow. Final Thoughts When readers can quickly understand your message, they are far more likely to absorb your ideas and act on them. Remember: strong writing isn’t measured by how many words you use. It’s measured by how clearly those words communicate your message.