News for bid/proposal folks!
CSK's latest white paper examines ten key levers for success in bid and proposal management. It offers strategies, providing actionable insights for executives looking to maximise the value of their Bid Centres.
These levers enable you to drastically improve win rates and team success.
Target of the workshop: This is the right place for you if you —as a bid center manager and manager— aim at leading your bid team more efficiently and make it more successful. In this intense workshop series, you will learn the most important levers, tools and methods to make your area of responsibility even more successful.
Target group: It is aimed at all those who have overall responsibility for bid/proposal management in the company: bid/proposal directors, bid managers, head of bid/proposal management. In other words, everyone who leads a team of bid/proposal managers. It doesn't matter whether "Director" is on your business card or not.
Format: The three interactive online workshops take place in small groups (max. 10 participants from different industries). Each session lasts 90-120 minutes and takes place at weekly intervals to fit optimally into everyday work. Christopher S. Kälin provides best practice inputs, which are then discussed together in a practical context. The intensive exchange between the participants offers valuable suggestions for one's own environment.
Christopher S. Kälin will be sharing CSK's knowledge on customers' decision making during the quarterly Chapter Event of the APMP Florida Sunshine Chapter on June 13, 2023.
The Magic Behind Customer Decision Making and How To Win the Game
Despite the fact that buying organisations have made a dramatic shift in the way they make purchasing decisions over the last years, most sales executives haven't adapted properly, yet.
In this entertaining and informative presentation, Chris focuses on how your customer's buying centre perceives your sales messages and why typical sales twaddle (sorry!) is often perceived as dull and useless. Learn how to truly understand your client's decision making process -and the science (!) behind it- to enable you to design a truly compelling value proposition.
While presenting some stunning and surprising facts about the human decision making, he provides simple but effective tools to make an impact.
APMP's Member Spotlight is on Kathryn, our spearhead in the UK!
Enjoy reading!
We are delighted to let you know that CSK Management now has a UK office and is open for business. Expanding our footprint means we can provide our services to more of our clients’ locations and increases our capacity across everything we do.
For anything CSK in the UK, give Kathryn Potter a call on +44 (0)7702 782 671 or drop her a line (kathryn.potter@cskmanagement.com).
If you’re attending APMP’s BIDx The Big One on the 17-18 October drop by Booth 8 to find out more or book in a call to discuss your needs
Have you planned your trainings for 2023?
- Our new course brochure is out!
Please note:
- All trainings are available as class-room or online sessions
- All proposal training sessions are approved for APMP CEUs
- New: Global BidMaster Program: 10 online sessions over 12 weeks
- New: Prep Courses for APMP Micro-Certifications
Free download
We are proud to be leading the development of APMP's coming 'Executive Summaries' Micro-Certification, with Christopher S. Kälin acting as the SME (Subject Matter Expert).
We can't wait to see the launch of it towards the end of the year!
Stay tuned!
BQ14 - Good Practice v Best Practice is out now.
What does good practice or best practice mean to you? This was the question Martin Smith posed to BQ's panel of global experts and guest writers for Issue 14 of Bidding Quarterly.
BQ14 also features Chris Kälin's article 'We have a process in place!' - The fundamental misconception about the relationship between best practice and processes
Worth reading!
Christopher S. Kälin will be sharing CSK's knowledge on stunning pitch presentations during the May 'Voices of Liberty' of the APMP Liberty Chapter.
Topic: Win More Business through Stunning Pitches
Don't screw it up with a dull pitch presentation! In this entertaining webinar session, you will acquire everything you need to differentiate your offering from your competition. Chris will provide you with simple but effective tricks and tools for your next pitch presentation.
Christopher S. Kälin will be speaking at APMP's BPC EUROPE conference on April 11/12 in Amsterdam.
Seeing is believing! In this interactive session, he will use real-life samples from the audience to jointly transform them into truly compelling documents!
APMP has just published the agenda for BPC Europe.
Check it out: https://www.apmp.org/events/bpc-europe/agenda
CSK is proud to announce that The Ultimate Bid and Proposal Compendium has officially gained CEU approval from APMP, helping bid and proposal professionals to maintain their certification.
It is eligible for up to five CEUs (Continuing Education Units) in the Self Study Category.
We are thrilled to announce that Chris Kälin will be speaking at Loopicon 2021!
Attendees can expect two days of outstanding sessions focused on working smarter, growing professionally, and winning more. Plus, you'll have the opportunity to hear from Chris Kälin and other industry-leading speakers, and to connect with peers.
Register to join on Sept. 28-29, 2021
APMP has put together a volunteer council of 15 APMP members with varying experience levels, job descriptions, geographies, association tenure, and opinions to provide input regarding the association’s brand. The purpose of the Brand Transition Council (BTC) is to develop a path forward for APMP by coming to a resolution regarding the brand activity of recent, and put that resolution before the board of directors for their consideration and action.
"I feel honored to have been selected to serve on the Brand Transition Council. [... ] I promise to give my best to represent what I believe is the members' view." said Chris.
Are you a bid/proposal enthusiast with a mission? If you want to build up your own business but you want to be part of a great team without the need to start from scratch, then join us!
Our small team at CSK has worked many years building up a great product and service portfolio, a strong global reputation and a great international customer base. Now, we are looking to build on this and expand globally.
You might be just the right person to partner with us!
BQ10 - Old Father Time, is out now.
Martin Smith from Bid Solutions has brought together twenty fantastic articles from the brilliant BQ team of experts. They discuss everything from time management techniques, to self-care in challenging times, and social learning techniques. You’ll learn about ‘reader drag’, ‘bid unicorns’ and diminished attention spans.
It also features Chris Kälin's article about differentiating between common and best practice.
Just in case you believe your organisation does not yet perform as it should when it comes to writing executive summaries and pitch presentations...
We are delighted to announce that we have completely re-mastered, enhanced and updated our two eLearning modules 'Truly Compelling Executive Summaries' and 'Powerful Proposal Presentations (PPP)'!
They are available for individuals or for groups. They can be easily integrated into your corporate LMS (Learning Management System), too, enabling you to distribute best practice systematically within your organisation!
Truly Compelling Executive Summaries
Powerful Proposal Presentations (PPP):
(now with new content about virtual pitch presentations)
Lost your bid management job due to Covid-19?
If so, we are offering 20 free tickets to our BidMaster Online Academy, worth USD 890! The next series will start on Monday, 25 January 2021.
Just contact us, and we will provide you with your login credentials within the next 24 hours. First come, first served!
With your participation, you will benefit from over 20 hours of Best Practice Proposal Management Training (11 modules of 90-120 minutes).
These three conditions apply: 1) You have lost your job due to the pandemic (and you haven't started a new job as of now); 2) You are looking for a new job in the bid and proposal space; 3) You are among the first twenty respondents to this post!
Please respond to training@cskmanagement.com
April 15, 2020: Chris Kälin conducted the most successful APMP webinar ever: 1766 attendees (source: APMP Annual Report 2020)
In response to the many changes we are all facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, APMP is offering a series of free webinars for members and nonmembers.
On May 28, Chris Kälin CPP APMP Fellow, Managing Partner at CSK, will talk about Storyselling
You do know how to write a good proposal, don’t you? OK Boomer!
For those who are looking for a step-by-step guidance to develop truly compelling proposals, then, Chris’ presentation is just that. In this entertaining session, you will learn how to introduce a train of thought into your proposal. You will be able to develop consistent, clear and hard-hitting messages, while also applying a logical structure that makes the document itself easier to read and evaluate for your customers. You will learn how to demonstrate really compelling value to the buyer, leading to drastically increasing win rates. Learn how to trigger their 'yes'!
And, believe it or not, this presentation is also provoking, emotional, and surprising at the same time…
On March 5-6, 2020 the inaugural BPC Europe 2020 will take place.
Chris Kälin will be presenting 'Storytelling? -- No! Storyselling! How to write truly compelling proposals!' on 6 March at 10:30 a.m. in the Graanbeurszaal (the plenary room).
See the BPC Europe's schedule
On 13 November, fourteen members from T-Systems International completed the APMP Foundation-Level Certification. Members from Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Austria, France, Singapore and South Africa attended the workshop led by CSK's Chris Kälin. All participants successfully passed the 75-question exam at the end of the workshop.
Congratulations!
The certification is one step of a comprehensive initiative, led by Christoph Blaser, bringing the team to a next level.
APMP has recently updated its certification program and implemented significant changes.
We have summarised them for you:
CSK's Ultimate Bid and Proposal Compendium is mentioned in an article in APMP's Winning The Business.
The article from Betsy Blakney (Director Proposal Management at CACI Inc, CPP APMP Fellow and former APMP CEO) talks about process improvements using APMP's Benchmark Report and CSK's reference guide book.
read more: https://winningthebusiness.com/mentoring-and-best-practices-go-hand-in-hand/
The Better Business Bureau issued a warning to business owners about a growing scam involving project proposals.
Jan-Kees Schakel from APMP NL has reviewed 'The Ultimate Bid and Proposal Compendium' on the Dutch APMP blog page (in Dutch but with automatic translation).
APMP has published the new APMP certification syllabus.
It includes the new Practitioner OTE (Objective Test Exam) that will replace the old PPAQ assessment, shortly.
You can download the new syllabus here.
After two years of planning, APMP announced that it is starting a new conference under the Bid & Proposal Con (BPC) brand for Europe on March 5-6, 2020. The announcement was made at the 15th Anniversary of APMP Netherlands and Interdisciplinary Conference today. The new conference will be called BPC Europe 2020.
CSK Management is one of the first ATOs (Approved Training Organizations) that is officially approved to help candidates achieve their Practitioner OTE (Objective Testing Exam). The Practioner OTE is the new format of the APMP Practitioner replacing the 33-question essay assessment, which has served APMP well for a dozen years. The Practitioner OTE will be a multiple-choice on-line exam based on a scenario provided. Members will use their industry knowledge and professional experience to match the correct answer to the scenario situation. The exam will take about 2.5 hours to complete.
On February 13, twelve tender managers from Panalpina completed the APMP Foundation-Level Certification. The participants from Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Italy, Dubai and the Czech Republic attended the two-day workshop led by CSK's Chris Kälin. All participants successfully passed the 75-question exam at the end of the workshop.
Congratulations!
On February 5, T-Systems' Swiss Deal Enablement Team completed the APMP Foundation-Level Certification. Twelve members from Switzerland and Germany attended the one-day workshop led by CSK's Chris Kälin. All participants successfully passed the 75-question exam at the end of the workshop.
Congratulations!
The certification is one step of a comprehensive initiative, led by Annette Osswald, bringing the team to a next level.
The Association of Proposal Management Professionals® (APMP®) announced today at the opening session of its 2017 Bid & Proposal Con event the three professionals who make up the 2017 class of APMP Fellows. Recognized as the association’s highest honor, APMP designated Suzanne Jones, Hélène Courard, and Klaus Pohlmann as APMP Fellows.
CSK reports live from the Bid and Proposal Con 2017 in New Orleans
We report live from the largest event for bid and proposal managers.
This is what we expect from this event:
- more than 900 attendants from all over the world
- more than 50 expert presentations f
- Certification Day: (CSK runs the Foundation-Level workshop with more than 80 participants)
- Chapter Leaders Workshop
- Award Dinner: "Future of the Industry Celebration" including APMP Fellow Award
Follow us on the Twitter hashtag #BPC2017_Norly
CSK have launched another eLearning module "Powerful Proposal Presentations (PPP)". The interactive, self-paced eLearning course provides you with all you need to know about a successful proposal presentation:
- typical audience members and their true needs
- the ideal agenda (7-point agenda)
- key mistakes
- how to introduce and sell your team
- bringing key messages across that lead to a “yes”
- alternatives to PowerPoint.
Please find more information here.
After the huge success of the last 3B conference in September, CSK decided to do it again.
The 3B conference is the leading business conference and networking platform that combines the three topics of business development, B2B sales, and Bid Management. The 1-day conference has two presentation and workshop treams with experts from the industry, professional associations, consulting and science.
Find more information on www.3b-konferenz.org
CSK have launched the latest eLearning module "Writing Convincing Executive Summaries". The interactive, self-paced eLearning course gives you a comprehensive overview on writing convincing executive summaries:
- Goal of the executive summary
- The ideal length
- The readers and their needs
- The authors
- The timeline
- The 5-box structure
- Quality check for executive summaries
Please find more information here.
After the huge success of the first 3B conference last year, CSK decided to do it again.
The 3B conference is the leading business conference and networking platform that combines the three topics of business development, B2B sales, and Bid Management. The 1-day conference has two presentation and workshop treams with experts from the industry, professional associations, consulting and science.
Find more information on www.3b-konferenz.org
The Institute of Technology Mittelhessen (THM) invited Klaus Pohlmann (partner CSK) to hold an expert session on proposal management on December 17.
CSK published the dates of the next APMP Foundation-Level Webinar Series:
February 6, February 13, February 20, and February 28, 2015
With the launch of it's eLearning Academy, CSK provides a wide range of distance learning options, including eLearning, webcasts and webinars.
CSK Management GmbH has become our latest APMP Approved Training Organization (ATO). The Swiss-based firm becomes the sixth ATO authorized to offer APMP-Foundation™ Level training, and will concentrate their efforts on the European market.
Christopher S. Kälin, CSK's Managing Partner, was named APMP Fellow at the 2013 APMP Bid & Proposal Con in Atlanta, U.S.A.
CSK is official GOLD sponsor of the 7th APMP DACH conference in the Sheraton Congress Hotel in Frankfurt.