Does this sound familiar? You submit the proposal and all of a sudden you hear nothing. Read these 3 tips for climbing out of the proposal black hole.

Allison Manley of Chicago-based design firm Rogue Element Inc. has generously offered to share one of her firm's winning proposals for a major web design project for a law school. (We thank her sincerely for that. No one else wanted to share.)

Manley emphasizes that this proposal (a response to an RFP) got Rogue Element into the final three firms being considered, but it was the  interview that got them the job.

Some notes on the proposal:

1. The client specifically liked pages 11–12, where they outline their creative process via case studies. "For this particular RFP, they wanted a maximum page count, so we gave abbreviated case studies," Manley says. "We have since updated our RFPs a bit so our case studies are now fleshed out more comprehensively with Challenge/Solution/Results areas so we can list metrics. Plus, we added some awards we won in our bios, and a communications section that provides more info about the working process and billing procedures."

2. The client asked for the Terms & Conditions, so that's why they are included. Manley always asks whether they want them included.

Click here to download a PDF of the proposal.