I just spent a week in the company of friends—and a full package of Chips Ahoy! “Who ate all the cookies?“ my wife asked on our long drive home. “I think I ate maybe one of them.” As she well knew, the question was partly rhetorical: I ate them (or many of them). I thought … Continue reading On restraint bias
Author: T Coe
On correctio and apophasis
Correctio is a sneaky rhetorical gambit: you say something, stop, claim you made a “mistake,” and correct yourself. Clever speakers know that even when you retract or amend a statement, you’ve still planted the idea in listener’s minds. The correction stands not on its own but as a concept linked to the “mistake.” It’s not … Continue reading On correctio and apophasis
On the resistance in the A/E/C industry to new brand names
It’s not just the A/E/C industry—it’s most professional services companies. Designers, engineers, accountants, advertising professionals, creatives, lawyers—they all love to name their companies after themselves. There’s ego in this, of course. What better than naming a company after yourself? But there’s also an obvious business development case. As a small firm, it makes sense to … Continue reading On the resistance in the A/E/C industry to new brand names
On one way to make a proposal stand out in the coming surge of responses
Now that I’ve started pondering how AI may lead to a surge in RFP responses, I’m having a hard time moving my mind away from its implications. Once A/E/C marketers are leveraging AI to deliver oodles and oodles of responses…what comes next? I’m tempted to suggest that the most strategic and thoughtful responses will still … Continue reading On one way to make a proposal stand out in the coming surge of responses
On 7 things from last week (6/12/23)
Filing documents. A parental leave project of mine was to finally get all of our “household documents” in order. Car titles, cat vaccination info, tax documents… It was infernally boring but oh-so-relieving to have gotten done. Family road trip. We completed our first long family drive last week. A childless couple would have taken 6.5 … Continue reading On 7 things from last week (6/12/23)
On the coming surge in RFP responses
If my prediction from yesterday is partly true—that with the help of AI, A/E/C companies (and other public bid companies) will begin to send out a LOT more responses to RFPs and RFQs—then something else is true as well: Public clients will receive a deluge of responses to publicly bid projects. As much as they may welcome … Continue reading On the coming surge in RFP responses
On responding to more RFPs and RFQs with the help of AI
Assuming A/E/C marketers embrace AI-assisted proposal development in the next few years, I have a prediction: We will send out a lot more RFP and RFQ responses. Why? Because we will be able to. AI will grant the wish that some professionals have been whispering ever since they started worrying about winning new business: Can’t … Continue reading On responding to more RFPs and RFQs with the help of AI
On automation bias
If ChatGPT has made anything clear to me, it's that automation is coming for us. And, with that automation—whatever form it may take—will come automation bias. I'm assuming, of course, that AI marketing bots won't be able to work entirely on their own. (At least not for a few years!) In the interim, an AI … Continue reading On automation bias
On synonyms
In reading about rhetoric, I'm confronted by an uncomfortable thought: Every word you use should be there for a reason. As a writer who works in first drafts and rough edits (!), you can understand why this thought made me panicky. I don't dedicate that level of attention to my writing, though I wish I … Continue reading On synonyms
On the value of a good whiskey origin story
I like whiskey—the bite, the burn, the sphere of ice lolling around the glass. But I'm also suspicious of it. While some whiskey is better than other whiskey, I have my doubts that some whiskey is worth thousands of dollars more than other whiskeys. (I have the same doubts for wine and other luxury goods, … Continue reading On the value of a good whiskey origin story
Taylor Coe 