Bid to Win: the field guide
A 17-page plain-English field guide to the Shipley-style proposal process. Six habits, five worksheets and a 30-day plan to run a disciplined government bid process without a $2,000 training course.
$29
- Format
- A 17-page PDF with five fill-in worksheets
- Price
- $29. One time.
- Refunds
- 14 days, no reason needed
Delivery is through Payhip, a separate site with its own terms and privacy policy.
The problem
Someone told your team “we need to follow Shipley.” There’s no budget for formal training, the bid is due in 30 days, and the process manuals are written for primes with full proposal departments.
What’s inside the guide
- Six habits of teams that win bids: qualify early, run a bid/no-bid gate, write the win strategy before the RFP drops, build a compliance matrix, write to the evaluator, and run color-team reviews.
- A weighted bid/no-bid scorecard so you stop chasing bids you can’t win.
- Win strategy in plain English: hot buttons, discriminators and ghosting.
- A compliance matrix walkthrough for Sections L, M and C, so you never lose on a technicality.
- A theme statement formula with before-and-after rewrites.
- Every color team (Blue, Black Hat, Pink, Red, Gold, White Glove) on one page.
- A 30-day adoption plan for small BD teams, 10 mistakes that lose bids, and a glossary.
- Five fill-in worksheets: bid/no-bid scorecard, win strategy one-pager, compliance matrix, theme statement builder and color-team review form.
What it costs
$29. One time. A PDF you can type into or print. Want the Excel workbook and AI prompts too? The Bid to Win Toolkit is $59.
The catch
A guide won’t write the proposal or build relationships with the customer. Most of the winning happens before the RFP is released, and the guide is built to push you there.
Not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Shipley Associates. “Shipley-style” describes the widely used process, not their materials.
Who it’s for
BD, ops and proposal people at small and mid-size government contractors, often 8(a), SDVOSB, WOSB or HUBZone firms, who need a repeatable process now.
Who it’s not for
Large primes with an established proposal center and in-house Shipley training.
Questions
Can I share it with my team? Yes. It’s for personal and team use. Please don’t resell or repost it.
Refunds? If it isn’t useful to you, email me at hello@sethlevanen.com within 14 days of buying and I’ll refund the purchase. You don’t need to give a reason. Please email me before you file a dispute with your bank, so I can fix it faster.
About me
I’m Seth Levanen. I’ve spent 26 years in B2B sales, most recently in battery, defense and autonomy tech. I help owners and sales leaders cut busywork without cutting quality. I call that the smart-cut. Questions: hello@sethlevanen.com.
More for government bidding: how to get ready to win government bids.