Module 1 · Week 4 — The Pre-Proposal Move

The problem

By the time the RFP arrives, the value conversation is usually over

Most proposals compete on price because the client framed the work as a commodity — a scope, a deadline, a number. If the first time the client hears from us is in the proposal, we're answering a question someone else already shaped.

The firms that win the good work change that conversation before the proposal — in a deliberate pre-proposal interaction that reframes the project around value, not just price. That move is the capstone of pursuit, and it's where everything in Module 1 comes together: the economic model that tells you what an hour is worth, the Go/No-Go that said this pursuit was worth the bet, and the forecast that set the revenue and the odds.

If we only talk to the client through the proposal, we compete on price. The pre-proposal move is how we compete on value instead.

What you'll be able to do

1Distinguish price, cost, and value — and explain why winning work depends on shifting the client from one to the next.
2Name the Marketing-Lead and Technical-Lead roles and what each owns in a pursuit.
3Run a value-focused pre-proposal interaction that reframes the project before the proposal is written.
4Carry a raw lead all the way to a logged, trustworthy opportunity.

The distinction

Price, cost, and value are three different numbers

We use them loosely in conversation; in pursuit they pull in different directions. Getting them straight is what lets you steer a conversation away from a bidding war.

What we charge

Price

The fee on the proposal. It's what the client compares across bidders — and the only thing they can compare if we've given them nothing else.

What it takes us

Cost

Our loaded effort to deliver — the hours, at the rates from Week 1. Price below cost and a "win" becomes a loss. This is the floor.

What it's worth to them

Value

The outcome the client actually gets: risk avoided, time saved, a problem solved for good. Value is set in conversation — and it's the only one of the three we can grow.

A client fixated on price is comparing numbers. A client who understands value is comparing outcomes — and that's a comparison we're built to win, because as owners we deliver work we're accountable for. The pre-proposal move is simply the act of raising the value conversation before price hardens into the whole story.

Who runs the pursuit

Two leads, one pursuit

Pursuit isn't a solo act. Weston & Sampson runs it as one team, and two roles carry it — each owning a different half of the same goal.

Technical Lead

The technical champion — and a backup designee. Owns the substance of the pursuit.

Approach, scope, schedule, and fee
The revenue and effort forecast, and the win-probability call
The value story: why our solution beats a cheaper one
Delegating technical tasks — not doing everything alone

Marketing Lead

Proposal writer, coordinator, and graphics — owns the packaging and the process.

Cover letter, personnel, experience, qualifications, forms
The internal schedule and lead-time discipline
A reader-friendly, persuasive, properly formatted proposal
Keeping the pursuit on track to the deadline

The handshake between them is the kickoff meeting: together they set the proposal focus, win themes, schedule, and responsibilities. The pre-proposal move is mostly the Technical Lead's to initiate — but it only works when both roles know what the pursuit is really selling.

The move

Reframe before you respond

A value-focused pre-proposal interaction isn't a sales pitch. It's a short, deliberate conversation — a call, a site visit, a question at a pre-bid meeting — with one job: surface what the client actually cares about, so the proposal answers that, not just the RFP.

1Ask about the outcome, not the scope. "What does success look like a year after this is done?" moves the conversation from deliverables to value.
2Surface the hidden risk. The thing that keeps the client up at night is rarely in the RFP — but it's where our expertise is worth the most.
3Listen for the differentiator. What can we do that a low bidder can't? Anchor the proposal there.
4Plant the value frame. Leave the client thinking in outcomes, so price lands as one factor among several — not the whole decision.

The whole pursuit, in one line. Qualify it, forecast it honestly, reframe it around value, and log it clean — a raw lead becomes data the firm can trust.

Before we meet

Your pre-work

Do this before the live session

This is the Module 1 capstone. You'll bring one pursuit through the full arc and run the pre-proposal move live. Come prepared with the following.

Pre-work · about 25 minutes

Prepare a pursuit and a value question

Read the sanitized mock RFP we've sent with this module.
Run it through the lens of the whole module: would it pass the Go/No-Go? What's your honest revenue, effort, and win probability?
Identify the value frame: what outcome does this client really care about, beyond the scope as written?
Draft two questions you'd ask in a pre-proposal conversation to surface that value. Bring them — you'll use them in a live role-play.

In the room

What we'll do together — 45 minutes, live

We'll role-play the pre-proposal move on the mock RFP, in Technical-Lead / Marketing-Lead pairs, then debrief what reframed the conversation — and what didn't.

1Set the frame. Each pair states the pursuit's value story in one sentence — the outcome we're really selling.
2Run the move. Role-play the pre-proposal conversation with a "client." Surface the hidden risk and the differentiator.
3Close the loop. Log the opportunity — clean revenue, honest win probability — and name what changed because of the conversation.

Challenge question

“Think of a pursuit you won or lost on price. What one question, asked before the proposal, might have changed the conversation to value?”

That completes Module 1. You've seen the machine, decided which bets to place, forecast them honestly, and reframed them around value. The pursuit you've shaped becomes the scope in Module 2 — where disciplined pursuit turns into a project plan the firm can deliver.