Tuesday, July 13, 2010

proposal writing why people struggle


Proposal Writing can pose a struggle to many sales people. And, because of that, they waste a lot of time, become frustrated, and do not get the results they want or expect.Let me share with you several reasons why so many business professionals struggle with writing.Let's talk about "how" we communicate.We communicate in only two ways - verbally and nonverbally.The word "verbal" means written and spoken. A lot of people think the word "verbal" only means spoken.That's not true. The word "verbal" means written and spoken.The verbal part includes the words you use and the tone you project with your words. If people do not understand those words, that communication will go nowhere.If your raders understand those words, then the tone you use - how you say it - might become more important than the words.The nonverbal signals we send with our body language reveals much more than the actual words we use. When we slam doors with frowns on our faces and let out exasperated sighs of disgust, we are letting people know we are not happy. We don't say a word, but people get the message.Another example of nonverbal signals is eye contact.Have you ever walked into someone's office and said "Hey Joe. I've got a great idea."Joe responds in a low, monotone pestered sounding voice, "Yeah, go ahead, tell me about it."And, Joe never looks at you. He continues looking down at the pile of papers he was working on.Or, he gets up from the desk by placing both hands flat on the desk to push himself up. Once he's up, he folds his arms behind his back. (I guess that's so he doesn't hit you.)Then he starts pacing. While he paces, he checks the floor, checks the ceiling tiles, looks out the window to see if anyone stole his car, and finally checks his watch to make sure he brought it with him.All this while, he never looks at you. Does that mean he's not listening? No!He hears every word you say. How does that make you feel?Right! About one inch tall.What is communication?Communication is caring and sharing. Do you get the feeling Joe cares about you? He is showing you that he cares about himself, not you. He is not sharing any of himself with you.Volumes of evidence show how nonverbals affect communication. Let's focus on how the nonverbals affect your proposal writing.When you write a proposal, do you have the benefit of these nonverbal signals? No.We've wiped out more than half your ability to communicate.Now do you understand why writing becomes so difficult?We have grown so accustomed to communicating by using the nonverbals of our body language. We become frustrated when we cannot communicate as effectively on paper or on the screen.This is also why some people would prefer to talk to someone, rather than write them a memo or letter.In speech, you have the benefit of reading that person's nonverbals or having them read yours.In writing, we must rely on words and tone. That's it - words and tone.You do have some nonverbals. If you wrote an important letter to a customer in pencil, wrinkled it while putting it in the envelope, spilled coffee on it while you were writing it, misspelled the person's name, and sent it four weeks late, I think that's nonverbal.For the most part, when you write, you do not have the benefit of nonverbal signals. That's why writing is so tough.We can only rely on the words and the tone when writing. That's one reason why people fear and dread writing. And that's why they struggle with writing and are not getting the results they want.

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