Spring is Blossoming and So are Proposals

April 29th, 2008

As evidenced by the pollen caked on the back window of my car, spring is officially here. Though with the sloppy weather of the last couple days it feels more like fall.

Regardless, it’s suddenly seems like everything is waking up around us, and in terms of New Business Development, everyone.

After a very brief lull, proposals have kicked backed up again with a vengeance. This means the majority of my days at DDA are now being spent on conference calls, e-mails, preparing proposals, internal meetings and discussions, and returning calls.

It is a very time consuming and involved part of my job. A large reason for this is the way DDA handles inquiries and every job it does — whether it’s web development, video, animation, graphic design, etc. — as I know I’ve written about before, in a very customized way.

There’s a process to determining what the best strategy for any project is — and it almost always begins with a conference call. This is where we connect with the client and really flush out what it is he or she is looking for.

From that, one of the department heads — website, video, graphic design, or programming — will prepare a time estimate. As we pride ourselves on being as cost efficient as possible and always staying as close to possible within the perimeters of the estimate, this can be tricky, and often requires several revisions and changes.

As one of four professional writers on staff, it is my job, as well as that of the other writers, to take the time estimate and turn it into a quote.

As you can imagine, with so many inquires flooding in as of late, this little process takes up quite a deal of time. But it’s a critical piece to retaining the customized and detail-oriented approach that makes us DDA.

Entry Filed under: Copywriting, Toni