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Winning Federal

Government Contracts

Through

Fact-Based Storytelling

by Robert S.Frey,M.A.

We adults tend to think of stories as fluffy artifacts from childhood. We assume that analytical is good,

and anecdotal is bad.

1

But current academic research and ongoing applications in corporate settings

demonstrate something very different for business in general, and for the Federal Government market

space in particular. Proposals fashioned as fact-based, knowledge-sharing stories generate positive dif-

ference between your company and your competitors. Stories infuse authenticity and uniqueness into

otherwise very similar proposal documents. And stories help to convey passion, a critical ingredient in

proposal success.

Are you open to writing a brand new success story for your company?

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Article: Winning Federal Government Contracts Through Fact-Based Storytelling

Setting the Stage

I

n the Federal Government support services market

space, people buy from people and people buy emo-

tionally.

2

All contractual transactions are very per-

sonal, a point underlined by the growing importance of

Customer Relationship Management, or CRM. For these

and other critical reasons, fact-based storytelling should

be considered the cornerstone of successful proposal de-

velopment. Proposal storytelling builds in part on the

concept of “Experiential Marketing,” as articulated by

Dartmouth’s Kevin Lane Keller (2003, pp. 230-233) and

Columbia Business School’s Bernd Schmitt (1999, p. 53).

Storytelling as an art form and practice—coupled with

quantitative, technical, and scientific validation in the

form of both customer-centered and benefits-driven narra-

tive and graphics—constitutes an intensely powerful and

highly cost-effective framework for developing and con-

veying proposal solutions. The real-world implications

of this approach for today’s and tomorrow’s high-velocity

business environment are substantive and tangible. Ef-

fectively conveying proposal solutions can,in turn,lead

to winning significantly more new and recompeted

contractual business with the Federal Government.

And importantly, corporate organizational performance

as it relates to business development, capture manage-

ment, and the management of bid and proposal (B&P)

dollars can be optimized.

Currently, the total Federal Government acquisition

spending level stands at a monumental $250B. The U.S.

Government is indeed the world’s largest buyer of goods

and services. Competition for these federal contract dol-

lars continues to grow more intense. For example,recent-

ly the Federal Government received 430 proposals from

private industry in response to one high-profile Depart-

ment of Commerce (DOC) services bid opportunity.

3

In

today’s extraordinarily competitive performance-based

federal marketplace,the delta,or difference,between win-

ning and coming in second borders on the microscopic.

Given this level of competition, it becomes imperative

for federal contractors of all sizes and levels of business

maturity to apply proven processes to increase the win

probability associated with their federal proposals.

Proposals are complex contractual and legal entities.

In addition, they can be legitimately viewed as “knowl-

edge products,”that is, the synthesis of relevant technical,

programmatic, past contractual performance, and cost-

ing knowledge coupled with a detailed understanding of

government customers and stakeholders, industry com-

petitors, specific government contracts and programs,

and current and emerging structured processes

4

and

technologies. Furthermore, proposals can correctly be

considered as “sales products”—focused on completing

the sale to the Federal Government that began during

the marketing phase of a private-sector company’s overall

business development lifecycle for a specific government

procurement opportunity.

Proposal storytelling is ideally suited for conveying

complex,non-linear concepts,relationships,and solution

sets—in effect, for sensemaking. As such, it is a power-

ful transformational tool that can be applied to increase

knowledge transfer to the Federal Government through

the medium of proposal documents.

5

Additionally, it can

contribute directly to an increase in proposal win rate

and, therefore, an enhanced revenue stream.

Enter Storytelling, Stage

Right

This is precisely where the art of fact-based storytelling

becomes so important as the tool of choice by which to

convey solution sets. Solution sets are fact-based, quan-

titatively validated articulations of the framework in

which a federal contractor will approach providing ser-

vices and/or products to the Federal Government. This

framework should address exactly how four key elements

of a contractor’s repertoire of enterprise-wide corporate

assets—namely, people, processes, knowledge, and tech-

nology—will be deployed, implemented, and leveraged

to the direct benefit of the customer given the contractor’s

understanding of the government’s operational envi-

ronment, program-specific requirements, agency-level

mission, and decision makers’ sentiments,

6

as well as

the Request for Solution (RFS) or Request for Proposal

(RFP) requirements.

7

The “customer” will most likely

include the specific Federal Government agency, its users,

customers, and stakeholders.

This is also precisely the point at which the majority

of companies—both large and small—fail in their capture

management and proposal development strategies and

efforts. Compliance-oriented and process-driven cap-

ture management and proposal development approaches

alone cannot and will not produce winning proposal

documents and stellar oral presentations on a sustain-

able basis. The often-cited “answer-the-mail” model for

The story is a “marketing

strategy”— a “powerful tool

to differentiate products and

services.“ Once upon a time

businesses could ignore story.

Doing that today, though, could

spell the end.”

—Forbes magazine, Feb. 28, 2005

Fact-based storytelling is the

cornerstone of successful

proposal development.

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responding to Federal Government RFPs and RFSs is nec-

essary, but certainly not sufficient for long-term success

and competitive advantage in the federal market space.

Fact-based storytelling is the knowledge-transfer and

communications mechanism that constitutes the core of

proposal solution development. Research suggests that

sharing experiences through narrative (i.e., storytelling)

“builds trust,” “transfers tacit knowledge,” and “gener-

ates emotional connections” (Sole & Wilson).

8

Stories

help create a shared experience between people

9

—in the

case of proposals, between contractor and government

evaluator. Solution development, in turn, refers to the

critical activity of building and articulating fact-based

storylines or story arcs that convey a federal contractor’s

specific approaches to providing meaningful,measurable,

achievable, and risk-aware outcomes for its Federal Gov-

ernment customer. Robust solution sets must encompass

such proposal areas as technical (Statement of Work

[SOW], Statement of Objectives [SOO], or Performance

Work Statement PWS]), program management, staffing

approach, contract transition and phase-in, and past/

present contractual performance. The storylines must

draw together such major elements as “Understanding the

Customer Environment,” “Technical and Programmatic

Approach,” and “Measurable Outcomes/Value Proposi-

tion” in a manner that ensures continuity of major sales

messages, or themes. More to the

point, these storylines convey both sense

and sensibility to the Federal Government customer.

They convey the overall “experience” that your customer

can expect during the actual performance of the contract

that results from a company’s winning proposal.

Embedding storytelling into the proposal process can

help articulate and deliver meaningful and positive differ-

ences between a company and its competitors. Through

well-articulated stories augmented with appropriate and

quickly comprehensible graphics and photographic im-

ages,federal proposal evaluators as well as federal custom-

ers and stakeholders can come to understand“possible fu-

tures”(Sole & Wilson) that a company’s suite of solutions

will provide. Evaluators can visualize how doing business

with a given company will advance their federal agency’s

mission and programs. They can also see how that com-

pany will advance their own careers. As the U.S. Govern-

ment migrates toward more performance-based federal

pay

10

for its leaders, effective and efficient acquisition de-

cisions and contractual oversight in accordance with the

President’s Management Agenda (PMA)

11

are becoming

more critical to the success of federal executives.

In your proposal story, your company becomes the

“hero”; your customer and her mission is the important

“cause.” In your story, you focus on the “people you have

helped,”“the money you have saved,”“the schedules you

have met,” your “deliverables that have exceeded expecta-

tions,”and the “effective innovations that you have imple-

mented.”

Fact-based storytelling is

effective in building trust and in

generating emotional connections

with your customer.

Address the four key elements of a contractor’s

corporate assets: people, processes, knowledge, and

technology to highlight the customer’s direct benefit.

Article: Winning Federal Government Contracts Through Fact-Based Storytelling

The winner is the prime, as

evaluated by the customer,

whose proposal is demonstrably

different and superior when

evaluated against the customerʼs

stated and unstated criteria.

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Foundational Basis of Storytelling

Stories have the ability to “touch people intellectually,

physically, emotionally, and spiritually”(Silverman, 2004,

p. 48) in ways that a “just the facts,” linear approach to

communication (Tyler, 2004, p. 121) is unlikely to do.

New Mexico State University’s David M. Boje

12

asserts

that “storytelling is the preferred sensemaking currency

of human relationships . . . .” (Boje, 1991, p. 106). Just as

dollar bills and coins are valued as a means of exchange

between buyer and seller from an economic perspective,

so too are stories the fundamental means of exchange in

human interactions. Why? Because stories are “elegantly

simple” and “streamlined” (Sole & Wilson). Stories

are also “portable” and “tell-able”

13

(Sole & Wilson).

Knowledge-sharing stories such as those embedded into

proposals offer the government evaluators a “surrogate

experience” (Sole & Wilson). It allows the evaluators to

envision as well as feel the positive “experience”described

in the proposal narrative—the positive “experience”

of responsive support, timeliness of service delivery,

problem-solving capacity, and proactive followthrough

on corporate commitments. The deep sense of peace of

mind that comes from validated customer satisfaction for

other government customers on programs of similar size,

scope, and complexity.

Since ancient times, stories have transmitted com-

plex ideas in clear and easily understood terms. The

sheer power of stories in both oral and written form

is awe-inspiring. Stories can function as a compel-

ling call to action. On Sunday, March 20, 2005, the

CBS News program 60 Minutes aired a segment called

“Sea Gypsies See Signs in the Waves” (http:

//www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/18/

60minutes/main681558.shtml). Unlike

tens of thousands of Thais, Sri Lank-

ans, and Indonesians who perished

in the devastating tsunami that

overwhelmed Southwest Asia in

December 2004, the Moken peo-

ple—who live precisely where the

tsunami hit the hardest—suffered

no casualties at all. Why? Because

of verbal and symbolic stories about

the sea and its patterns and behaviors

that have been passed from generation to

generation among the Moken people. These very

stories allowed them to envision what was about to

happen when they observed the profound changes in

the sea prior to the tsunami. They were able to move

to higher ground in time to save their own lives and

those of their children.

Conveying stories can convey

oneʼs trust-worthiness, as well as

signal oneʼs trust in others.

—Dr. Deborah Sole,

Harvard University, 2002

Article: Winning Federal Government Contracts Through Fact-Based Storytelling

ProposalManagement

53

In your proposal

story, your com-

pany becomes the

“hero,” you focus on

the “people you have

helped,” “the money you

have saved,” “the schedules you

have met,” your “deliverables that

have exceeded expectations,” and

the “effective innovations that you

have implemented.”

The sheer power of stories in

both oral and written form

is awe-inspiring.

Stories can function as a

compelling call to action.

There is a pivotal dynamic

associated with proposal

storytelling.

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As illustrated in Exhibit 1, there is a pivotal dynamic

associated with proposal storytelling (Tyler, 2004, p.

153)—the important connectivity among the story, the

storyteller, and the reader (in the case of written propos-

als, and the listener, in the case of oral presentations as-

sociated with proposals).

Storytelling puts learning into context through specific

examples that also demonstrate some of the outcomes.

Knowledge + Context + Benefits = Greater Relevance +

Greater Probability of Learning.

14

In addition, stories

“act as maps, helping people make sense of unfamiliar

situations by linking them to familiar ones, making the

unexpected expected, hence manageable” (Digh, 2001).

15

In the proposal arena, contract transitions present un-

expected situations for federal customers. Will there be

full continuity of operations? Will the intellectual capital

now resident on my program be retained? Will my re-

quirements continue to be met? All of these issues trans-

late into increased RISK. Fact-based stories that illustrate

how your company successfully handles contract transi-

tion will go a long way to assuage your federal customer’s

concerns and therefore mitigate perceived risk. Your

story should include as many of the following elements as

are applicable for, and representative of, your transition

experience:

• Transition leadership

• Incumbent recruiting success

• Development of performance metrics in conjunc-

tion with the customer

• Subcontract agreements finalized

• Security clearances transferred

• Facility leases negotiated

• Government-furnished equipment (GFE) and

contractor-furnished equipment (CFE) invento-

ried

• Training conducted

Research suggests that “storytelling is far more con-

vincing . . . than rational arguments, statistics, or facts”

(Kaufman, 2003, p. 11). “Assimilating stories involves

both the right and left sides of the brain working in

partnership to process, retain, and then apply the story”

(Tyler, 2004, p. 128). However, proposal stories must also

answer the questions, “How and why is this solution or

approach of direct benefit to the Federal Government

customer?”and “Why should the federal agency select my

company and not my competitor?”

Article: Winning Federal Government Contracts Through Fact-Based Storytelling

Exhibit 1. A three-part dynamic relationship brings stories to life—ready to influence sentiment and generate action.

Stories are “natural units of

memory” that allow us to

encapsulate complex

ideas and relationships in

easily remembered and

retrievable form.

Research suggests that

“storytelling is far more

convincing...than rational

arguments, statistics, or facts.”

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Article: Winning Federal Government Contracts Through Fact-Based Storytelling

Stories are “natural units of memory” that allow us to

encapsulate complex ideas and relationships in easily re-

membered and retrievable form. Fundamentally, people

don’t want more information. In this Information Age,

they are up to their eyeballs in data and information.

They want trust—trust in you, your goals, your suc-

cess, in the story you tell. Trust needs a story to sustain

it—a meaningful story that inspires belief in you and your

company. A story that renews hope that your ideas do

indeed offer what you promise.

16

Storytelling Applied Within Federal Agen-

cies

The Federal Government itself recognizes the value and

power of storytelling. Take NASA, for example. NASA’s

Academy of Program and Project Leadership (APPL),

under the leadership of Dr. Edward J. Hoffman and Dr.

Alexander Laufer, helps our space agency’s managers and

project teams accomplish today’s missions and meet to-

morrow’s challenges. How? In part through a Knowledge

Sharing Initiative that includes ASK Magazine. The sto-

ries that appear in ASK are written by the “best-of-the-

best” project managers, primarily from NASA, but also

from other government agencies and industry. These

stories contain genuine “nuggets” of knowledge and wis-

dom that are transferable across projects.

It is precisely these same kinds of “nuggets” that bring

proposals to life. They make the solutions, experience,

knowledge, and lessons learned from one set of circum-

stances on a given program transfer to the new program

being competed.

Best-of-Breed

Implementation

Approaches

Imagine that your

proposal is a mirror. A

mirror in which your

customers can see them-

selves, their career, their

staff, their program, and

their agency’s mission. In order

for government evaluators to see and

place themselves into the fact-based stories

contained in your proposal, you will have

to leverage the marketing intelligence that

your company’s Business Development

staff gained from face-to-face interactions

and professional relationships nurtured

and sustained over time. You will need to

engage your readers and listeners in your

stories (see Exhibit 1), and the stories must

be authentic.

Trust needs a story to sustain it—

a meaningful story that

inspires belief in you and

your company.

Use storytelling to put your customer’s fears

over transition to rest. Make sure to answer

all of their major hot-button issues.

Imagine your proposal is a

mirror. A mirror in which your

customers can see themselves,

their career, their staff,

their program, and their

agencyʼs mission.

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Effective proposal stories build on several important

elements (as adopted from Tyler, 2004, p. 92):

• Characters (who?)

• Action and interaction (what?—in effect, the

“plot”)

• Setting/context (when? and where?)

• Conflict or tension (why?)

• Pleasant surprise

• Resolution of the conflict or tension (how?)

Consider the example of a powerful proposal story on

the next page.

Finally, repetition is an important structural tool that

facilitates recall of the storyline. Tag lines (also called

“take-aways” or “bumper stickers”) in oral proposal

presentations (as in the example on page 58) are one ex-

ample of how the repetition tool draws listeners further

into the presentation storyline.

Empirical Validation of the Proposal

Storytelling Paradigm

The validity of this innovative fact-based storytelling

approach for proposal development has been established

empirically during the past 61⁄2 years. Staffing levels

within this now-graduated 8(a) federal support services

contractor increased by a factor of 12.8 to nearly 1,800

within that period, and revenues increased by a factor

of 20.6 to $320M. In addition, the scholarly literature

review also provides a defensible theoretical basis for the

foundational planks of my storytelling approach.

Article: Winning Federal Government Contracts Through Fact-Based Storytelling

Important and Highly

Relevant Questions

Ask yourself these important and highly

relevant questions as you build your fact-

based proposal stories.

Q

: Are the stories contained in your proposal

documents relevant to the experiences,

hopes, fears, and biases of the govern-

ment evaluators, the human beings who

will be reading and responding to your

proposal?

Q

: Will the readers of your proposal be able

easily to connect the people, events, and

plot described in your proposal stories to

their current requirements, work, and inter-

ests?

Q

: Are your stories rich in details (Tyler, 2004,

p. 79) that convey authenticity and reliabil-

ity, and also establish the context for the

events and outcomes that you describe?

Will these stories engage and capture the

evaluators’ imaginations?

Q

: Are your stories engaging? Do they reach

out and establish human-to-human con-

tact with the folks who are evaluating your

company’s proposal?

“The cost-benefit ratio of

storytelling can be terrific.”

—Dr. J.A. Tyler, 2004

Taglines in oral proposal

presentations are one example

of how the repetition tool

draws listerners further into the

presentation storyline.

Staffing levels with this contractor

increased by a factor of 12.8 to

nearly 1,800; revenues increased

by a factor of 20.6 to $320M.

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A Powerful Proposal Story

Article: Winning Federal Government Contracts Through Fact-Based Storytelling

During the course of many face-to-face meetings both this year and last, we listened

carefully to the strengths, constraints, and future direction of your organization’s

operational environment. We recognize that tomorrow’s enterprise success factors

have changed from technology-centric ones to those premised upon “business +

planning,” “business + security,” “business + enterprise architecture,” and “business +

capital planning.”

This is precisely where Mr. Bill Williams (who?), our Team’s fully accountable, on-the-

ground Program Manager, will be of significant benefit to your entire organization.

Three years ago (when?), Mr. Williams spearheaded a team of 135 technical and

business-savvy professionals which faced the major challenge of optimizing the return

on investment (ROI) of one critical defense agency’s information technology (IT) portfolio

(the plot). And that was only one of the major challenges.

Another was that this agency’s IT assets were geographically dispersed throughout four

states in the Southwest United States (where?).

With tremendous enthusiasm and endurance, Mr. Williams and his management team

worked hand-in-hand with their government counterparts to increase ROI by 8% and

drive total cost of ownership (TCO) down by 11% over the course of 2 years (how?).

In fact, Mr. Williams and his team worked 65% of all weekends and holidays during that

time period to ensure that all performance requirements were met fully.

Was our customer pleased? The 99.9% award fees are solid evidence that they were.

Because Mr. Williams’ role on that highly successful contract is now complete, he will

bring to bear his passion, programmatic knowledge, and people leadership skills to

support your important program requirements and your Agency’s mission. By the way,

Mr. Williams and his core management team received a Group Achievement Award for

their outstanding support of our defense customer.

But Mr. Williams was not there the day the Award was made (surprise). He was on

site in Charleston, South Carolina, making sure that an extensive IT asset inventory

process was being conducted in accordance with FAR 45 and with new DoD property

management guidelines.

Why that level of programmatic oversight? Because property management takes

on added criticality in an operational environment with aging, hard-to-replace, and

extremely expensive equipment located across thousands of square miles.

You can look forward with confidence to this level of above-and-beyond customer

care. Expect it. We will deliver it.

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References Cited

Boje, D.M. (1991). The Storytelling Organization: A

Study of Story Performance in an Office-Supply Firm.

Administrative Science Quarterly,Vol. 36, pp. 106-126.

Denning, S. (May 2004). Telling Tales. Harvard Busi-

ness Review,Vol. 82, pp. 122-129.

Digh, P. (August 2001). Global Success Through Sto-

rytelling: A Key to Understanding Culture. ASAE Global

Link. Retrieved from http://www.asaenet.org/asae/cda/

index/1,1584,PID16052,00.html

Kaufman, B. (April/May 2003). Stories that Sell, Sto-

ries that Tell. The Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 24,

pp. 11-15.

Keller, K.L. (2003). Strategic Brand Management:

Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity (2

nd

ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Pink, D.H. (February 28, 2005). A Story Goes With It.

Forbes,Vol. 175, p. 30.

Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential Marketing. Journal of

Marketing Management,Vol. 15, pp. 53-67.

Silverman, L.L. (November 2004). Strategic Story-

telling: A Timeless Tool Makes Its Way into Association

Management. Association Management, Vol. 56, pp. 41-

44, 46, 48.

Simmons, A. (2001). The Story Factor: Secrets of In-

fluence from the Art of Storytelling. Cambridge: Perseus

Publishing.

Sole, D. (April 2002). Sharing Knowledge Through

Storytelling. Learning Innovations Laboratories, Har-

vard University Graduate School of Education. Retrieved

from http://www.providersedge.com/docs/km_articles/

Sharing_Knowledge_Through_Storytelling.pdf

Sole, D. & Wilson, D.G. Storytelling in Organiza-

tions: The Power and Traps of Using Stories to Share

Knowledge in Organizations. Retrieved from http:

//lila.pz.harvard.edu/_upload/lib/ACF14F3.pdf

Tyler, J.A. (April 26, 2004). Strategic Storytelling:

The Development of a Guidebook for HRD Practitioners

Implementing Storytelling as a Business Strategy for

Learning and Knowledge Transfer. Unpublished doctoral

dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University.

(Footnotes)

1

Stephen Denning, former Program Director of Knowl-

edge Management at the World Bank.

2

The fact that emotions are embedded deeply within the

federal acquisition process is borne out time and again,as

evidenced by the enduring and widespread negative im-

Article: Winning Federal Government Contracts Through Fact-Based Storytelling

When people ask me what I do for a living, my response is that I’m a “fact-based storyteller.”

Because people buy from people, and stories are the most foundational form of human communication, it follows that

stories—when crafted carefully and applied appropriately—constitute a powerful communications tool for winning

business through written proposals and oral presentations.

—Robert S. Frey

Repetition, repetition, repetition! Use taglines in your oral presentations to further emphasize your message and draw your

audience into your story.

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Article: Winning Federal Government Contracts Through Fact-Based Storytelling

pact of poor technical performance, schedule control, or

cost containment; lack of corporate visibility during the

course of a contract lifecycle; and interpersonal issues and

challenges among contractor staff and their government

counterparts, to list but several issues. These perceived or

actual issues often color and calibrate government deci-

sion makers’sentiments regarding a particular contractor

during the proposal evaluation and award determination

processes.

3

This DOC bid opportunity was the COMMerce Infor-

mation Technology Solutions (COMMITS) Next Genera-

tion (NexGen) Government-Wide Acquisition Contract

(GWAC). This 10-year GWAC vehicle has a combined

ceiling of $8B. Ultimately, 51 companies across 3 size

tiers were selected for award.

4

Structured processes include ISO 9001:2000; Carnegie

Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Capability

Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) processes;Informa-

tion Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standards,

which are increasingly popular British standards for

managing information technology services; and Institute

of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards.

5

Increasingly, proposals are provided to the Federal

Government in electronic form through a Web-based

business opportunity portal, or BOP site, as well as via e-

mail or CD-ROM. Often both hardcopy documents and

electronic files in MS-Word or Corel WordPerfect and

PDF format are required.

6

These are the “unstated criteria.” “Customer senti-

ment” is a term employed by proposal expert, Mr. Hy

Silver.

7

Conversely, these are the “stated criteria.”

8

Both Sole and Wilson are with Harvard University.

9

See http://www.bizstorytellers.org/1a_Storytelling.htm

10

See the report by the Human Resources Management

Panel of the National Academy of Public Administra-

tion entitled, “Recommending Performance-Based Fed-

eral Pay,” (May 2004), http://www.napawash.org/Pubs/

Broadbanding5-04.pdf. Also see Stephen Barr, “Com-

plaints About NASA Raises Follow Switch to Perfor-

mance-Based System,”Washington Post, March 2, 2005.

11

Launched in August 2001, the PMA (http:

//www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2002/mgmt.pdf)

reflects President George W. Bush’s vision for govern-

ment reform, which is guided by three important prin-

ciples: (1) citizen-centered, (2) results-oriented, and (3)

market-based. The PMA was launched as a strategy for

improving the management and the performance of the

U.S. Federal Government. Importantly, federal agencies

have been held publicly accountable for adopting the

disciplined approaches of the PMA through a govern-

ment-wide color-coded scorecard system (GREEN—

YELLOW—RED). GREEN indicates that a given agency

has met all of the established Standards of Success under

the PMA, or that that same agency’s implementation is

proceeding according to plan.

12

Dr. Boje is Professor of Management in the College of

Business Administration & Economics at New Mexico

State University in Las Cruces, NM.

13

Scholars would refer to this aspect of stories as their

capacity to be verbally or orally “mediated” (Sole & Wil-

son).

14

This qualitative “equation” was presented in a Web-

based article entitled, “Tales of the Unexpected—The

Journey of a White Paper” (2001), which was prepared

by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the

United Kingdom.

15

Patricia Digh is one of the authors of Global Litera-

cies: Lessons on Business Leadership and National Cultures

(Simon & Schuster, 2000), a book that was selected by

Fortune magazine as a “Best Business Book”for 2000.

16

Adopted and modified from Annette Simmons. The

Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion

Through Storytelling. Jonesborough, TN: International

Storytelling Center. http://www.storytellingcenter.net/

resources/articles/simmons.htm

Robert S. Frey, M.A., serves as the Vice President

of Knowledge Management and Proposal Develop-

ment for RS Information Systems, Inc. (RSIS®). He

brings a proven 18-year track record of proposal

winning. During his professional career, he has suc-

cessfully managed proposals that have resulted in

more than $1.25B of funded revenue. That record

is authenticated by a sustained 66% win rate with

RSIS during the past 6 years in the highly competitive

information technology (IT) marketplace. In 2004

alone, RSIS crafted 52 proposals and had a win rate

of 68.29%. Mr. Frey has published four editions of a

well-received book on proposal development for small

businesses entitled, Successful Proposal Strategies for

Small Businesses: Using Knowledge Management to

Win Government, Private-Sector, and International

Contracts (Boston and London: Artech House, 2005).

The Fourth Edition of this volume is available

through www.Amazon.com or www.artech-

house.com.

Mr. Frey teaches proposal development and knowledge

management at UCLA in Westwood, California, as

an Adjunct Professor. He is a regular contributor of

business and proposal-related articles to Corporate

Corridors magazine and the Kansas City Small Busi-

ness Monthly. Mr. Frey holds a B.S. degree in Biology

and a Master’s degree in History. In May 2005, he will

earn his Master of Science in Management (MSM)

with a focus in Marketing through the University of

Maryland.