From Strategy to Structure: The Role of Solutioning in High-Scoring Proposals

 

In the world of proposals, time is often tight, deadlines are fixed, and expectations are high. Successful teams know that thinking strategically before putting words on the page saves time, strengthens the response, and increases the win probability. That’s where solutioning comes in. Solutioning sets the stage for persuasive, compliant, and compelling proposals. It helps your team align around the “what” and “how” before trying to figure out how to word everything.

What Is Solutioning?

Solutioning is the process of designing your technical, management, or staffing approach in response to the customer’s requirements. It goes beyond checking boxes: it’s about understanding the customer’s mission, identifying their pain points, and crafting a tailored, value-added response. Solutioning is important because it:

  • Ensures technical accuracy and feasibility. Your writers can’t sell a solution they don’t understand.
  • Aligns your team. Solutioning sessions bring together subject matter experts, capture managers, and proposal professionals to define what you're offering.
  • Increases win probability. A well-developed solution is more likely to score higher during evaluation, particularly when it’s aligned to the customer's goals and constraints.

Best practices for solutioning include:

  • Start early. Ideally, begin solution development during the capture phase—well before the RFP drops.
  • Use the solicitation as your anchor. Once you have a draft or final RFP, map every requirement to a proposed approach.
  • Facilitate with purpose. Use whiteboarding, virtual collaboration tools, or structured workshops to surface ideas, challenge assumptions, and define differentiators.
  • Invite the right subject matter experts. Include relevant subject matter experts in your solutioning sessions so you can glean the right technical, management, or other strategic expertise and insights.
  • Document decisions. Summarize the agreed-upon solution in clear, accessible language that can feed directly into storyboards and draft content.

Use a Solutioning Template

Using a solutioning template is helpful because it brings structure, clarity, and consistency to a process that can be otherwise chaotic or incomplete. A template ensures that every opportunity is evaluated in a consistent way—no matter who’s involved. Whether you're building a technical, management, or staffing solution, the template guides subject matter experts (SMEs) and proposal contributors to capture the right details: what’s being offered, how it works, and why it’s valuable.

When used correctly, your solutioning sessions prompt cross-functional discussion among capture, proposal, technical, and operational leads. This alignment helps uncover gaps or inconsistencies early, avoid rework during writing, and build buy-in for the final solution.

When everyone sees the same structured solution document, they're more likely to stay on the same page throughout the proposal. A good solutioning template doesn’t just ask what you're offering, it asks:

  • Why it matters to the customer
  • How it aligns with their mission
  • What evidence you have to support your claims
  • Where it sets you apart from competitors

This customer-first mindset helps elevate your response beyond generic content. Following is a sample solutioning template you can customize for your proposals. It helps organize the team’s thinking around each requirement or objective and documents key elements of your offering, including benefits, risks, and differentiators.


Opportunity/Project Name: Insert name and/or solicitation number

Date of Session: Insert date

Participants: List names and roles, e.g., Capture Manager, Technical SME, Proposal Manager, etc.

Proposal Section: e.g., Technical, Management, Key Personnel, Past Performance, etc.


1. Customer Requirements


2. Proposed Solution


3. Key Features and Benefits


4. Risks and Mitigations


5. Decision Points, Open Questions, and Next Steps



Final Thoughts

A solutioning template isn’t just a form—it’s a thinking tool that helps teams move from reactive writing to proactive strategy. Solutioning ensures your team understands what you're offering, why it matters to the customer, and how it sets you apart from the competition. When used consistently, it’s a proven way to improve proposal quality, reduce risk, and increase win rates. 

By taking the time to solution before you write, you avoid costly missteps like misaligned messaging, inconsistent inputs, and last-minute rewrites. You also create space for better collaboration, stronger strategy, and clearer value propositions.

When supported by a structured template, the solutioning process becomes repeatable, efficient, and outcome-driven. It moves your team from reacting to RFPs to proactively designing responses that resonate with evaluators, improving proposal quality and increasing your overall probability of win.


Written by Ashley (Kayes) Floro, CPP APMP
Senior Consultant and President
Proptimal Solutions, LLC
proptimalsolutions.com
LinkedIn

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