Where the Points Are

On my most recent proposal effort, my client wanted to include both an Executive Summary at the beginning of the technical proposal, and some kind of closing summary at the end. He asked me what I thought about this.

I have never really been a big fan of Executive Summaries. To my mind, all they really do is take up space that you can use for proposal sections that have evaluation points attached to them. Some RFPs/RFAs require Executive Summaries, but most don't. Sure, it's kind of a nice way to start off a proposal, but reviewers are supposed to evaluate or score proposals in accordance with the specific evaluation criteria set forth in the RFP. And it's rare to see any evaluation criteria that relate to an Executive Summary.

So my view is to first write to where the points are. Then, if you've got some space and time left over, you can prepare an Executive Summary. I can't count the number of times that an already-written Executive Summary has been deleted from a final draft because the proposal exceeded the page limits and something had to go.

I have the same opinion about closing summaries. Many of us are aware of the old saying that goes "tell them what you're going to say, say it, then tell them what you said." I suppose that one could use this to make a case for a closing summary, but I don't buy it when it comes to a proposal.

These are just my own personal opinions, of course, and many people feel differently. But I say -- go where the points are!