BEFORE THE PROPOSAL – BEAT THE ODDS WITH ADVANCE PREPARATION
What is the best way to improve your odds of winning a competitive bid? Simply put: do all you can to get ready. But what exactly can you do to get ready? And if winning the bid is truly important to you, are you willing to invest the necessary time and expense to beat the odds?
One defence company spent three years developing a relationship with its customer and pre-selling prior to the RFP. When the proposal hit, two things happened: First, the company had enough confidence that it understood the customer’s requirements to confidently embark on the proposal efforts while using themes and a win strategy they felt would strike the right chord with the evaluators. Second, the customer themselves also already knew enough about the company that upon looking at the proposal, evaluators could correlate the company’s response the familiarity of the company from previous interactions. Although it is specifically prohibited to use any information other than what is submitted during an evaluation, this favorable impression can definitely improve scoring. An extra point scored here and there certainly helps – particularly when the competition is strong and has also been courting the customer. The company won the program.
A common statistic states that 80% of Business Development efforts should take place prior to the proposal. This contradicts what many business development professionals have long believed in, as they stress the importance of the proposal being what primarily wins the programs. However, these professionals are missing a big part of the challenge and many success stories corroborate this. As an example, another defence company won five multi-million dollar defence contracts within three years – yet it was only in the last year that these contracts were awarded. Prior to that, previous years were spent building relationships, establishing credibility, discussing risks and benefits, and even so far as to explore possible ideal solutions.
With this, reputation is also a key factor that needs to be addressed. When someone with a strong reputation enters the fray, people tend to pay more attention. General Rick Hillier made comments at a speech last year in which his key points were immediately picked up by the media. General Hillier’s stellar reputation leads to people paying close attention when he speaks. We therefore pose the following question: Does your company have the image that will make people stop and take notice when you announce your intention to bid? Will your company attract attention when your proposal reaches the hands of the evaluators? Establish this image: advertising, promotional presentations, direct meetings with the customer. Equally important is establishing your company as the leader. This perception, more often than not, carries into the evaluation process of the proposal where the evaluators are given the chance to start with a positive opinion. First impressions of the proposal do matter. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Blink, describes how one’s subconscious has significantly more control over one’s actions and decisions than was previously believed. Fill your customer’s subconscious with messages that favour your solution.
What happens if your proposal comes in blind? Think about the close attention you pay to the “junk” mail that comes to your home, and your “junk” email. Why would an evaluator take seriously a proposal from a company that he/she is unfamiliar with?
What else should you do before the proposal hits? Attend our special one-day seminar next month in Ottawa to find out more about what to do in areas such as:
•Knowing yourself and what you can offer
•Knowing the competitive standing of your offering in the market place
•Knowing your customer and their requirements
•Establishing relationships
•Finding out what is important
•Determining how your competitors perform
•Preselling your offering
•Using outside help
•Tailoring your offering
•Adopting effective communication strategies
•Making the customer successful
•Providing recommendations for specifications, work statements, evaluation plans
•Ghosting the competition
•Dealing with RFIs and SOIQs
If you are engaged in business development, sales, program management, proposal management or marketing, you should consider this course. This special one-day program is offered adjacent to the CADSI SME Day and Winter Warm-Up reception. Take the opportunity to benefit from the CADSI events and, in addition, learn how to beat the odds on your next bid.
“Before the Proposal – Making the Customer Want Your Offering” will be offered on February 21, 2012 in downtown Ottawa.
Register now as participation is limited.
