TWO PROBLEMS IN TRADITIONAL PROPOSAL The first goal of a proposal is to convince potential clients Me-too that your business is fully qualified to do the work. Second, a proposal should show clients that you bring something output to the table they cannot get anywhere else. Traditional proposal responses accomplish the first and struggle on the second. Simply checking off all of the boxes of a compliance matrix and delivering tens and hundreds of pages of conventional flat documents does not give you a competitive advantage. 1.