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Weston & Sampson
Module 1 · Week 4
The Pre-Proposal Move
The Pre-Proposal Move
Session Slides · Module 1, Week 4 · Module 1 Capstone (45 minutes)
Facilitator-only. Scroll through the full deck below at any zoom — each panel is the exact slide shown on screen during the live session. The original PowerPoint is no longer the source of truth for this session — this page is.
Weston & Sampson
Module 1 · Project Pursuit · Week 4 · Live Virtual

The Pre-Proposal Move

From a raw lead to a logged opportunity — and from a price conversation to a value one.
45-minute capstone session · cameras on · pre-work required
Developed by AEC LEAD LLC, Produced by Zweig Group
The One Idea

Reframe the work before you respond to it

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.
This is the Module 1 capstone: the economic model, the Go/No-Go, and the forecast all come together in one deliberate conversation — before the proposal is written.
Weston & Sampson
Weston & Sampson · Module 1, Week 4
Cold Open

The value conversation is usually over before it starts

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.
"Think of a pursuit we lost on price. Did the client ever really understand what they were buying?"
Weston & Sampson
Weston & Sampson · Module 1, Week 4
The Distinction

Price, cost, and value are three different numbers

PRICE
What we charge
The fee on the proposal — the only thing the client can compare if we've given them nothing else.
COST
What it takes us
Our loaded effort to deliver, at the rates from Week 1. This is the floor — price below it and a win is a loss.
VALUE
What it's worth to them
The outcome the client gets: risk avoided, time saved, a problem solved. The only one of the three we can grow.
A client comparing price compares numbers. A client comparing value compares outcomes — a comparison we're built to win.
Weston & Sampson
Weston & Sampson · Module 1, Week 4
The Move, In One Picture

Shift the conversation before price hardens

PRICE
the pre-proposal move →
VALUE
A value-focused pre-proposal interaction isn't a sales pitch. It's a short, deliberate conversation — a call, a site visit, a pre-bid question — with one job: surface what the client actually cares about, so the proposal answers that, not just the RFP.
Weston & Sampson
Weston & Sampson · Module 1, Week 4
Who Runs The Pursuit

Two leads, one pursuit

Technical Lead
Approach, scope, schedule, and fee
The revenue & 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
Cover letter, personnel, experience, qualifications, forms
The internal schedule and lead-time discipline
A reader-friendly, persuasive, well-formatted proposal
Keeping the pursuit on track to the deadline
The handshake is the kickoff meeting: focus, win themes, schedule, and responsibilities — set together.
Weston & Sampson
Weston & Sampson · Module 1, Week 4
Skill Practice · Pairs · 15 Min

Run the pre-proposal move

01
Ask about the outcome
"What does success look like a year after this is done?" — moves from deliverables to value.
02
Surface the hidden risk
The thing that keeps the client up at night is rarely in the RFP — and it's where our expertise is worth most.
03
Listen for the differentiator
What can we do that a low bidder can't? Anchor the proposal there.
04
Plant the value frame
Leave the client thinking in outcomes, so price lands as one factor — not the whole decision.
Technical + Marketing pairs role-play on the mock RFP with a "client." Use your drafted questions. Rotate the client role.
Weston & Sampson
Weston & Sampson · Module 1, Week 4
The Whole Pursuit

From a raw lead to a trustworthy opportunity

Qualify
Week 2 · Go/No-Go
→
Forecast
Week 3 · revenue, effort, odds
→
Reframe
Week 4 · the value move
→
Log it clean
trustworthy data
Qualify it, forecast it honestly, reframe it around value, and log it clean — and a raw lead becomes data the firm can stake its staffing and hiring on.
Weston & Sampson
Weston & Sampson · Module 1, Week 4
Close The Loop · Debrief · 8 Min

What changed because of the conversation?

Each pair reports back in two moves:
A
State the value frame
One sentence — the outcome we're really selling. If it names a deliverable, it's not a value frame yet.
B
Log the opportunity
Clean net revenue and an honest win probability — would you bet your own money on it now?
C
Name what changed
What will the proposal emphasize that it wouldn't have without the conversation?
Weston & Sampson
Weston & Sampson · Module 1, Week 4
Close & Bridge

Module 1 complete

You've seen the machine, chosen which bets to place, forecast them honestly, and reframed them around value.
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?
Next — Module 2 — Scope Development. The pursuit you've shaped becomes the project plan the firm can deliver.
Weston & Sampson
Project Management · Module 1, Week 4
Developed by AEC LEAD LLC, Produced by Zweig Group