Form an Emotional Connection
A cover letter can be a powerful tool if included with your Federal Proposals.
Last year I was working on a federal proposal for a client where the work scope was geared toward helping a governmental agency combat mental health issues amongst its younger personnel. My client (the owner of a small company) had an impactful experience in his career while he was attending an intensive specialty school in the military. This school was extremely stressful and demanded peak performance from the students as did their follow on career paths. During the course of this school, my client’s roommate exhibited fatal mental health issues. As would be expected, this deeply affected my client and has stuck with him his entire life. This unfortunate experience positioned my client to directly relate to the agency’s personnel (the focus of the work scope), understanding the pressure they were under, how they felt and how the mental health of their peers affects them. It was obvious that he had a very strong emotional connection to the work scope, and we wanted to demonstrate that in the proposal. We decided to highlight his experience in a cover letter submitted with the final proposal.
The company was awarded the contract, not only because they met all the requirements and presented an offering that was a tremendous value to the government, but also due to the cover letter as it resonated with the review team. The Government saw that the company would not only provide high quality training, but also demonstrated that they cared deeply about making an impact in the affected personnel’s lives. Without this emotional connection to the work, it’s possible the proposal may not have stood out as prevalent against the competition.
There may be times when a cover letter is required by the solicitation, but most of the time it’s optional. Even if a cover letter is required, there can still be an opportunity to add your own content while staying within the requirements set forth in the solicitation. A cover letter is a prime example where you can communicate directly to the Contracting Officer and evaluators. I like to use this opportunity to establish an emotional connection that wouldn’t otherwise be present in the rest of the proposal. Omitting a cover letter from your submission is, in my opinion, a missed opportunity. A cover letter, similar to one you would submit with a resume, is your chance to form a connection or emotional link with the customer. Simply stating how excited you are to be bidding on the opportunity shows there is some emotional component to your offering.
A cover letter also provides a forum to present information that isn’t already contained in other parts of the proposal. Obviously, you shouldn’t address requirements that are meant to be discussed in the body of the proposal, but the cover letter could contain information about how the company or possibly that certain employees have worked with the agency before or have a unique background in the subject matter. Take the example I mentioned at the beginning. The experience the company’s owner had would not have normally been mentioned in other parts of the proposal. Highlighting his experience in the cover letter only strengthened the proposal and added context to the motivation for bidding on the opportunity. In this case, the owner’s experience put a spotlight on the company’s proposal and predicated their offer with a sense of duty to perform the work to the absolute best of their ability.
Now some may still not be convinced based only one a single example. In case you are not totally with me on the power a cover letter can have, consider this. It’s a great introduction to your proposal where you can write in a less formal tone. The main body of the proposal should be written in a formal tone that directly addresses the solicitation requirements. The cover letter, however, can be more relaxed and show the personality of the CEO, the entire company, or highlight an aspect of the company culture. Having that emotional component can have your proposal stand above others and give the evaluators a sense of excitement on what’s to come in your bid. Besides, what harm could including it possibly have? It can really only help your proposal.
When writing your cover letter, have are a few guidelines for making sure it’s the most effective. Consider the following:
- Be concise. A long-winded cover letter will become more of a negative than a positive, so it’s best to keep it to one page or less. You also don’t want to ramble on or be too wordy (concise is definitely better!).
- Write in a more relaxed, but professional tone. This is an opportunity to show some personality and emotion which can be done in a relaxed manner. Just keep things professional!
- Make an emotional connection. Connecting with the work scope or with the contracting agency on an emotional level is the ultimate goal. Opening up and sharing something personal such as an experience, thought or feeling can make this connection.
Unless we are overly constrained by our page count, I always include a cover letter in our proposal submissions. Quite often it won’t count against you, especially if the solicitation requires it. If you’re unsure about how a cover letter factors into the page count, ask this as a bidder’s question. It’s one that I frequently see asked to contracting officers.
It’s best to give yourself and your company every advantage you can in your submission and a cover letter simply sets the stage for the reader before they dive into the more significant details of your bid. If you want assistance writing a cover letter or developing the entire proposal, reach out to us using our CONTACT US form. You can also see some of the other GovCon services we provide including Proposal Management, Contract Management and Infrastructure Establishment on our SERVICES page. Let’s achieve your GovCon goals together!
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