APMP FOUNDATION CERTIFICATION
EXAM QUESTIONS & COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS RATED 100% CORRECT
Market Identification - CORRECT ANSWER The ongoing activity that defines and
qualifies target markets for pursuing business.
Opportunity Plan - CORRECT ANSWER A documented plan that is developed during
the opportunity planning phase to identify actions and strategies to position your
customer to be the customer's preferred bidder.
Price-to-Win - CORRECT ANSWER A process for analyzing competitive and customer
data to identify how to package and price a winning offer to a customer.
SWOT - CORRECT ANSWER The analysis performed by organizations to address
competitive positioning and identify the outcomes needed to develop a compelling
proposal response that wins the business. It emphasizes the internal environment.
Benefit - CORRECT ANSWER Results from a feature of an offer that resolves a
customer issue and demonstrates the value the customer can achieve from resolving
the issue.
Clarification - CORRECT ANSWER Communication to eliminate minor irregularities or
apparent clerical mistakes in an RFP or in a proposal.
Compliance Matrix - CORRECT ANSWER A list of specific customer requirements,
often splitting complex, multi-part requirements into sub-requirements. It helps proposal
managers and internal reviewers verify that the proposal meets all the requirements.
Compliant versus Responsiveness - CORRECT ANSWER Compliance is the act of
meeting stated requirements. Responsiveness goes beyond compliance and addresses
customer goals, underlying concerns, and key issues and values that might not be
spelled out in the solicitation.
Customer Focus - CORRECT ANSWER A customer-focused bid clearly addresses the
problem the customer has agreed they are trying to solve and demonstrates how your
solution meets their goals.
Customer Issues - CORRECT ANSWER Customer concerns that the offer will resolve.
Issues may be the business outcomes the customer is trying to achieve.
,Customer Requirements Feature - CORRECT ANSWER The attributes and
specifications of a product or service as determined by the customer.
Hot Buttons - CORRECT ANSWER Singularly important issues or sets of issues that
are likely to drive decisions, usually associated with customer buying decisions. Hot
button issues are items that the customer repeatedly discusses and often are problems
with a system, software, process, or resources inhibiting the success of the customer's
organization.
Non-Compliant Bids - CORRECT ANSWER A bid or proposal that does not meet the
customer's requirements.
Protest - CORRECT ANSWER Written objection by an interested party to a solicitation,
cancellation of a solicitation, contract award, or termination of a contract award.
Reponse Matrix - CORRECT ANSWER A derivative of the compliance matrix. It is a
roadmap for evaluators, pointing to specific proposal response for each compliance
item. The matrix may also contain a summary response. It identifies where in the
proposal you have addressed each of the solicitation requirements.
Competitive Intelligence (CI) - CORRECT ANSWER Objectively understanding the
strengths, weaknesses, and strategies of companies competing against your company
for business. CI is a well-defined business practice to understand the competitive forces
and market dynamics that affect your company's viability and long-term profitability.
Customer Intelligence - CORRECT ANSWER An understanding of a customer's
needs--spoken and unspoken--and the capabilities desired of a vendor/contractor to
support requirements. It is a key element of the sales and opportunity development
process that occurs well in advance of responding to a bid or RFP.
Executive Summary - CORRECT ANSWER A short abstract of the main points of the
offer aimed at the senior-level decision makers in the customer's organization. It is the
section of a proposal that provides an overview of the offer and highlights the key selling
points for customer decision makers.
Account Plan - CORRECT ANSWER A sales plan that is specific to one customer and
covers multiple opportunities with that customer.
Action Caption - CORRECT ANSWER A short, informative statement associated with a
graphic that provides additional information to help the reader understand what the
graphic means.
Active/Passive Voice - CORRECT ANSWER Sentences written in active voice have a
clear subject and verb. They make it clear who does what. Passive-voice sentences are
, considered weaker because the subject receives the action instead of performing it.
Passive sentences usually contain a form of the verb "to be".
Advantage - CORRECT ANSWER How, in the seller's opinion, a product or service
may benefit the customer. Advantages are potential benefits and are more powerful
than features.
Aesthetics - CORRECT ANSWER A set of principles regarding the nature and
appreciation of beauty. The study of aesthetics increases the validity of many critical
judgments concerning art.
After-Action Review - CORRECT ANSWER A systematic process to extract the
learning from an event or activity. The process addresses the questions, What should
have happened? What actually happened? What can we learn and apply for the future?
Annotated Outline - CORRECT ANSWER A simple writing or content plan. This is a
structure for the proposal that is usually derived from the customer requirements
documentation. It amplifies a topical outline and helps determine whether opportunity
planning activities have made it into the planned propels outline and placed you in a
position to win.
Appendix - CORRECT ANSWER Supplementary material included at the end of a
proposal that contain specialized, relevant information that facilitates the decision
making process.
Assumptions - CORRECT ANSWER Conditions that the bid team assume exist for the
purpose of providing a price or terms of service in a proposal.
Balance (Visual) - CORRECT ANSWER Balance is achieved when the visual "weight"
of both halves of a graphic is similar, giving a sense of equilibrium. Unbalanced
graphics convey a sense of uneasiness.
Benchmarking - CORRECT ANSWER A systematic process for comparing your
processes with those of other recognized leaders in your field or industry to identify and
close gaps.
Best and Final Offer (BAFO) - CORRECT ANSWER A customer request for a
document that describes your organization's final price. There may be more than one
request for a BAFO. The customer requests a BAFO after the proposal has been
submitted to select the final companies to negotiate with or go directly to award.
Bid Decisions (General) - CORRECT ANSWER Bid decisions are aimed at eliminating
opportunities or sales leads with a low win probability, this permitting a stronger focus
on opportunities with a higher win probability.
EXAM QUESTIONS & COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS RATED 100% CORRECT
Market Identification - CORRECT ANSWER The ongoing activity that defines and
qualifies target markets for pursuing business.
Opportunity Plan - CORRECT ANSWER A documented plan that is developed during
the opportunity planning phase to identify actions and strategies to position your
customer to be the customer's preferred bidder.
Price-to-Win - CORRECT ANSWER A process for analyzing competitive and customer
data to identify how to package and price a winning offer to a customer.
SWOT - CORRECT ANSWER The analysis performed by organizations to address
competitive positioning and identify the outcomes needed to develop a compelling
proposal response that wins the business. It emphasizes the internal environment.
Benefit - CORRECT ANSWER Results from a feature of an offer that resolves a
customer issue and demonstrates the value the customer can achieve from resolving
the issue.
Clarification - CORRECT ANSWER Communication to eliminate minor irregularities or
apparent clerical mistakes in an RFP or in a proposal.
Compliance Matrix - CORRECT ANSWER A list of specific customer requirements,
often splitting complex, multi-part requirements into sub-requirements. It helps proposal
managers and internal reviewers verify that the proposal meets all the requirements.
Compliant versus Responsiveness - CORRECT ANSWER Compliance is the act of
meeting stated requirements. Responsiveness goes beyond compliance and addresses
customer goals, underlying concerns, and key issues and values that might not be
spelled out in the solicitation.
Customer Focus - CORRECT ANSWER A customer-focused bid clearly addresses the
problem the customer has agreed they are trying to solve and demonstrates how your
solution meets their goals.
Customer Issues - CORRECT ANSWER Customer concerns that the offer will resolve.
Issues may be the business outcomes the customer is trying to achieve.
,Customer Requirements Feature - CORRECT ANSWER The attributes and
specifications of a product or service as determined by the customer.
Hot Buttons - CORRECT ANSWER Singularly important issues or sets of issues that
are likely to drive decisions, usually associated with customer buying decisions. Hot
button issues are items that the customer repeatedly discusses and often are problems
with a system, software, process, or resources inhibiting the success of the customer's
organization.
Non-Compliant Bids - CORRECT ANSWER A bid or proposal that does not meet the
customer's requirements.
Protest - CORRECT ANSWER Written objection by an interested party to a solicitation,
cancellation of a solicitation, contract award, or termination of a contract award.
Reponse Matrix - CORRECT ANSWER A derivative of the compliance matrix. It is a
roadmap for evaluators, pointing to specific proposal response for each compliance
item. The matrix may also contain a summary response. It identifies where in the
proposal you have addressed each of the solicitation requirements.
Competitive Intelligence (CI) - CORRECT ANSWER Objectively understanding the
strengths, weaknesses, and strategies of companies competing against your company
for business. CI is a well-defined business practice to understand the competitive forces
and market dynamics that affect your company's viability and long-term profitability.
Customer Intelligence - CORRECT ANSWER An understanding of a customer's
needs--spoken and unspoken--and the capabilities desired of a vendor/contractor to
support requirements. It is a key element of the sales and opportunity development
process that occurs well in advance of responding to a bid or RFP.
Executive Summary - CORRECT ANSWER A short abstract of the main points of the
offer aimed at the senior-level decision makers in the customer's organization. It is the
section of a proposal that provides an overview of the offer and highlights the key selling
points for customer decision makers.
Account Plan - CORRECT ANSWER A sales plan that is specific to one customer and
covers multiple opportunities with that customer.
Action Caption - CORRECT ANSWER A short, informative statement associated with a
graphic that provides additional information to help the reader understand what the
graphic means.
Active/Passive Voice - CORRECT ANSWER Sentences written in active voice have a
clear subject and verb. They make it clear who does what. Passive-voice sentences are
, considered weaker because the subject receives the action instead of performing it.
Passive sentences usually contain a form of the verb "to be".
Advantage - CORRECT ANSWER How, in the seller's opinion, a product or service
may benefit the customer. Advantages are potential benefits and are more powerful
than features.
Aesthetics - CORRECT ANSWER A set of principles regarding the nature and
appreciation of beauty. The study of aesthetics increases the validity of many critical
judgments concerning art.
After-Action Review - CORRECT ANSWER A systematic process to extract the
learning from an event or activity. The process addresses the questions, What should
have happened? What actually happened? What can we learn and apply for the future?
Annotated Outline - CORRECT ANSWER A simple writing or content plan. This is a
structure for the proposal that is usually derived from the customer requirements
documentation. It amplifies a topical outline and helps determine whether opportunity
planning activities have made it into the planned propels outline and placed you in a
position to win.
Appendix - CORRECT ANSWER Supplementary material included at the end of a
proposal that contain specialized, relevant information that facilitates the decision
making process.
Assumptions - CORRECT ANSWER Conditions that the bid team assume exist for the
purpose of providing a price or terms of service in a proposal.
Balance (Visual) - CORRECT ANSWER Balance is achieved when the visual "weight"
of both halves of a graphic is similar, giving a sense of equilibrium. Unbalanced
graphics convey a sense of uneasiness.
Benchmarking - CORRECT ANSWER A systematic process for comparing your
processes with those of other recognized leaders in your field or industry to identify and
close gaps.
Best and Final Offer (BAFO) - CORRECT ANSWER A customer request for a
document that describes your organization's final price. There may be more than one
request for a BAFO. The customer requests a BAFO after the proposal has been
submitted to select the final companies to negotiate with or go directly to award.
Bid Decisions (General) - CORRECT ANSWER Bid decisions are aimed at eliminating
opportunities or sales leads with a low win probability, this permitting a stronger focus
on opportunities with a higher win probability.
