Good Writing Alone Does Not Win Awards episode artwork

EPISODE · May 22, 2026 · 20 MIN

Good Writing Alone Does Not Win Awards

from Winning Government Contracts · host Rick Porterfield

Most losing proposals are not terrible. They’re just neutral. Polished and professional and still losing - because they gave evaluators nothing specific to score. In this episode, I break down the single biggest misunderstanding in proposal development: most companies treat proposals as a writing problem. They focus on sounding professional, telling their story, and making a great impression. But proposals are not scored on how impressive they sound. They are scored against evaluation criteria. And those are not the same thing. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:Why evaluators are building a scoring record — not reading for entertainment What neutral content is and why it costs you contracts you were qualified to win The difference between a paragraph that describes your company and a paragraph that earns a strength The one question to ask about every paragraph in your next proposal draft Why winning proposals are built — not written SHARE THIS EPISODE: If this episode made you think about your proposals differently, share it with someone on your team who needs to hear it. There are a lot of companies working hard on proposals that are losing for reasons that are completely fixable.The Book — A Field Guide to Winning Proposals: Nine steps that turn proposal writing into easy "bite size" chunks that result in higher scoring proposals. A complete method — from RFP to a proposal that scores. Click here to get it on Amazon Available in Paperback and for Kindle. 

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published May 22, 2026

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Most losing proposals are not terrible. They’re just neutral. Polished and professional and still losing - because they gave evaluators nothing specific to score. In this episode, I break down the single biggest misunderstanding in proposal development: most companies treat proposals as a writing problem. They focus on sounding professional, telling their story, and making a great impression. But proposals are not scored on how impressive they sound. They are scored against ...

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Good Writing Alone Does Not Win Awards

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This episode was published on May 22, 2026.

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