PART 2
Proposal Psychologics

Now that you’ve completed Part 1 on proposal logics, you may believe that your more logical presentations and proposals will win far more often, and they might. But logics provide you only the base—the necessary but not the sufficient—because I buy for psychological as well as for logical reasons. I want to feel comfortable with you, to trust you, and to sense with confidence that you understand my situation, my risks, and, perhaps most important of all, my potential rewards—the benefits I will receive from the project you propose.

So your task now is to combine the logical with the psychological, the head with the heart, and to combine your analysis of my situation and what you will do to support me with how I feel about you. I want to be confident about your ability to deliver on your promises to meet my objectives. I want a relationship based on trust and founded on rapport.

In Part 2, therefore, I assume that your logics are in place and that relationships or “psychologics” are now critical to your success. Accordingly, I show you how to align yourself with me and the other members of the buying committee and how to position yourself favorably against the competition. Finally, I show you how to use that alignment and positioning to develop themes—important messages that you will weave throughout your document or presentation to make me say, “Yes, these people have listened to and understand us, they appreciate our risks, and they have articulated our rewards.”