By Sheri Lytle, CF APMP (she/her) 2016 was a transformative year for me. I was in the best shape of my life, I ran my first (and last) half marathon, reached my weight loss goal --- and was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’ll spare you the gory details. A year of surgery, chemo, and radiation later, I was ready to tackle 2017 and make some major life changes. Life was too short and I w...

Dear GMC,  I started my new job a year ago and haven’t worked a single day in the office. Not that it matters-- I work almost entirely with offices in another region. I have decided to move to another state in about six months, a state where my firm doesn’t have an office. The firm has been unwilling to make a post-COVID WFH policy, so I’m terrified I’ll be let go. How -- and when-- shoul...

By Heather Finch, CF APMP Dear GMC,  I am currently studying for the Foundation Level Certification exam. Do Continued Education Units (CEUs)  earned before certification count towards the requirement? For example, I recently attended an APMP webinar, and the credit doesn't appear in my CEU Journal. Should I enter this manually? Sincerely, C.E. Unit Dear C.E., Congratulations on...

By Heather Finch, CF APMP Dear GMC,  Is the opportunity assessment the same as the go/no-go decision? What’s the difference between win strategy and price to win? How do these work with commercial proposals? Sincerely, Nichole and the GMC Certification Study Group Dear Nichole and the GMC Certification Study Group, Definitions abound in the proposal industry. According to the AP...

By Nichole L. Reber The proposal experience is a vast one. It starts with selecting clients to pursue and eventually winds its way through business development and to us in proposals. Yet for some of us proposal managers, the churn-and-burn of our work leaves little time for entertaining thoughts about a proposal’s travels before it lands in our laps. Sometimes we’re ships passing in the night...

By Heather Finch, CF APMP Dear GMC, I have a large RFP that requires the response submission to be put into a “slide deck proposal” rather than a standard Word or Excel proposal response. Do you have an example or template for this type of “slide deck proposal” submission? (I checked the APMP resource site with no luck.)  How do I even begin to do this without ending up with a 500-slide ...

By Heather Finch, CF APMP Dear GMC, I recently lost my job and am back out on the ol’ job market. One proposal manager position I applied for required a writing sample. I’ve never really been sure what to do in this position. Do I hand over a proposal I worked on, even if a lot of it wasn’t new content that I personally wrote? Can I even provide something I worked on for another company? Is...

By Karen Kosloff We are in a pivotal and historic moment. As I write this from my home in central New Jersey, just a stone’s throw from the epicenter of the Covid-19 crisis in New York City, with protests raging across the country, as we lumber toward the most contentious and divisive presidential election in modern history, I find myself struck by – of all things – hope. Hope for the future. ...

By Becky Petty, CP APMP So you have experience managing virtual teams and landed a remote proposal position. You can count on quickly encountering basic pros and cons. Working from home comes with some sweet benefits: Great coffee (I’m currently sipping a cold brew with oat milk)Lax dress code (fuzzy bunny slippers anyone?)It is easier to work those non-standard office hours We can’t ...

By Andrea Dunger, CF APMP We’ve all been in those situations where drama from another source….be it an outside influence or someone on the proposal team…tries to overshadow the good work you’re trying to do for your client and derail the process. However, as a proposal lead, proposal manager, project manager, whatever your title may be, YOU are the conductor of your proposal train. To keep you...