Industry News

Have you been considering gaining a professional qualification but not yet followed it up? The start of a New Year brings a focus on both personal and professional development and is a great time to invest in your career. Our partners at Strategic Proposals are running APMP Foundation Training on 16^th February in London.

Why take APMP Foundation Training?

Achieving APMP certification is a great way to show to current employers your commitment to personal development and best practice, as well as boosting your appeal to future employers.

We have seen the demand for APMP certified candidates increasing, with the majority of large organisations requesting APMP Foundation as a minimum requirement in their search for new staff.

Our most recent salary survey showed strong evidence that suggested achieving any level of APMP Certification will lead to an increased salary.

You can complete the course for a special discounted rate of £455 + VAT. This rate assumes candidates have an APMP membership. Candidates will also require a copy of APMP’s Proposal Guide textbook (£55 + VAT).

If you are interested in finding out more please contact the team on 020 8158 3952.

To learn more about bid writing courses, click here.

Exploiting weaknesses in your competitors approach, or ghosting as it is now more prosaically known is a subtle method of casting doubt in the minds of the evaluators over the solutions, approaches and track records of competitors, without naming them.

This week’s blog installment from our partners at twentysix2 ‘Exploiting weaknesses in your competitor’s approach’

Ghosting draws attention to their weaknesses and provides an opportunity for bidders to emphasise their own strengths.

There are opportunities to ghost throughout the proposal lifecycle: in the capture phase, when developing the solution and at the proposal stage.

When presenting your solution, describe aspects of your approach which are important to the customer in ways which competitors cannot match. Ghost the solutions of competitors by describing how they were first considered and then eliminated, explaining the risks and giving the reasons why an alternative solution was considered preferable. If you expect a potential competitor to offer a low-cost solution, draw attention to how the potential risks of their solution significantly outweigh any apparent cost benefits.

Similarly, examine various approaches to the management of the project which your competitors may have proposed, explaining the superiority of your approach and demonstrating improved outcomes for the customer. If you propose teaming, you might emphasise the benefits of the wider pool of expertise and describe the selection criteria by which partners were chosen and by inference, others rejected. Conversely, if you propose an in-house team, emphasise the potential risks associated with teaming.

Where possible, use testimonials in your proposals from independent bodies (or existing clients) to provide impartial validation which supports ghosting – the more credible the source appears to your customer the better. Third-party validation of an outstanding safety record might ghost a competitor who has recently experienced safety issues; a customer testimonial relating to response times or service levels might ghost the struggling performance of an incumbent.

Finally, consider how your competitors might ghost your solution, approach, and track record and how you can credibly pre-empt what competitors may say about your perceived weaknesses.

A note of caution. Don’t expect your proposal team to identify shortcomings in their own proposals – they will be too close to the action. Instead, review your competitive strategy periodically with an independent team who know the customer and likely competitors.

Some may caution against overuse but the influence of ghosting on proposal evaluators is largely subliminal. The cumulative effect of ghosting creates a competitive edge which can be the difference it takes to win business.

Points to consider:

• How does the customer perceive your competitors, their solutions and track records?
• How can you exploit weaknesses in your competitor’s approaches?
• Can you provide impartial validation to support your claims?
• How does the customer perceive you, your approach and your solution?
• What will competitors say about your solution, approach or track record?
• Do you have weaknesses that can be exploited by your competitors?
• How can you pre-empt any perceived weaknesses?

Author: Ian Sherwood CPP.APMP, Bid and Proposals Director, twentysix2

To discuss how Bid Solutions’ consultancy services can help you win more business, please get in touch on 020 8158 3952 / enquiry@bidsolutions.co.uk

Storyboarding is a planning process used to create a visual summary of the structure and major elements of a proposal.

The next blog installment from our partners at twentysix2 is ‘Overcoming Objections to Storyboarding’.

The bid storyboard should be created before writing commences, the degree of complexity reflecting the scale and scope of the proposal. Pricing quotes for repeat business for an existing customer do not normally require this level of planning.

Organisations that use storyboards successfully understand that they are an integral part of the proposal process. They ensure that those tasked with implementation are familiar with them and can adequately explain their purpose. They commit the time needed to ensure that the storyboards are reviewed and updated completely before the messages are communicated to the writers.

Objections to a Bid Storyboard

The main objection to storyboarding is that it is an additional, unnecessary task that takes time away from writing. In reality, it is an essential planning tool which, when used effectively, provides the proposal manager with a method of controlling the proposal process and enables contributors to produce content that can be used without re-writing.

Here are some of the benefits of using storyboards to plan proposals:

• Validates strategic & competitive approach – Because storyboarding looks at planning the entire proposal, it provides the opportunity to articulate a winning strategy and an approach to dealing with competitors which can be disseminated to contributors before writing commences.

• Identifies potential strategic short-comings in a timely manner – Individual contributors, writing in isolation, may not be aware of capability gaps which can be rectified more quickly the sooner they are identified.

• Provides the opportunity for collaboration on the solution – Although the proposal manager will normally take responsibility for the storyboard, detailed proposal planning is an iterative process involving the operational, technical and marketing teams from whom opportunities for collaboration may be identified.

• Facilitates easy executive overview for approval – The reality of time constraints means executives are unlikely to read and approve every page of the proposal. Engaging senior management at the storyboard stage provides the opportunity for early approval of the strategy.

• Provides a benchmark against which to review – Having identified strategic themes and competitive strategies, proposal contents can be reviewed to ensure that these messages are consistently applied.

• Storyboarding can eliminate major re-writes, saving time & money – Organisations that use storyboards or similar proposal planning processes can double their productivity and halve the cost of writing proposals.

The bid storyboard is normally completed immediately after the proposal kick-off meeting and reviewed before writing starts. Following the review, bid contributors can be comprehensively briefed about win themes, competitive strategy and their responsibilities.

Author: Ian Sherwood CPP.APMP, Bid and Proposals Director, twentysix2.

If you want help with Storyboards, planning or any other aspect of proposal management, Bid Solutions’ consultancy services can show you the quickest way to make the biggest improvements. Please get in touch on 020 8158 3952 / enquiry@bidsolutions.co.uk

To learn more about how we can help you improve your bid win rates, click here.

An organisation’s ability to manage proposals increases as it adopts best practice. Reviews are used by best-in-class organisations to win business more effectively, efficiently and economically, with less risk. So how do reviews increase risk reduction?

Here is the second instalment of blogs from our partners twentysix2 ‘Using reviews for strategic advantage and risk reduction’.

Risk 1. Investing resources in bids that you can’t win.

Evidence – Win rates are < 50%; you win smaller bids, but lose bigger ones; morale is low.

Solution – Develop an effective bid qualification process and implement ruthlessly.

Risk 2. Failing to develop a compelling win strategy.

Evidence – Your proposal doesn’t make it clear why the prospect should choose you, in fact, it could have come from any one of your competitors.

Solution – Develop a win strategy focused on the benefits that the prospect is seeking which your organisation is uniquely positioned to deliver.

Risk 3. Ignoring the strengths, strategies & capabilities of competitors.

Evidence – Competitors are regularly winning business that you are better placed to fulfill and should be winning.

Solution – Recognise how the prospect perceives the strengths & potential strategies of your competitors whilst subtly drawing attention to their weaknesses.

Risk 4. Failing to communicate the win strategy to all bid contributors.

Evidence – Extensive re-writing causes delays and frustration among contributors.

Solution – Ensure bid contributors are comprehensively briefed about strategy, win themes and responsibilities before writing commences.

Risk 5. Presenting solutions based on features rather than benefits.

Evidence – Proposals, heavy on features, look similar to proposals for other prospects.

Solution – Ensure the proposal is benefit-focused, with a compelling win strategy that clearly addresses competitive issues.

Risk 6. Underestimating the financial & operation risks of the proposal.

Evidence – Proposals make promises to prospects that the organisation cannot profitably execute or that exposes the organisation to unacceptable operational risks.

Solution – Examine assumptions underlying the prospect’s requirements, the execution of the solution, and costs to ensure an acceptable level of risk and profit.

Risk 7. Submitting a proposal that lacks credibility.

Evidence – Proposal is submitted to prospect with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and inconsistent formatting.

Solution – Allow time for proof reading and editing.

Risk 8. Not learning lessons from previous campaigns.

Evidence – Bid contributors repeat mistakes, processes are ad hoc and material is re-created from scratch. Client feedback is not used.

Solution – After submission, examine the process to ensure that it is effective and efficient. Use client feedback to enhance future proposals.

Proponents of best practice will recognise that, excluding the first which is Bid Qualification, these risks are mitigated by engaging the operational, technical and marketing teams to implement reviews.

You may have some of these reviews in place, or implement them in a different way. The same solution will not work for all organisations nor for every type and size of proposal. What’s important is knowing the quickest way to achieve the desired outcome.

Need helpith Risk Reduction?

If you want help with reviews, or any aspect of proposal management, we can show you the quickest way to make the biggest improvements; we call it, ‘taking the racing line’.

Author: Ian Sherwood CPP.APMP, Bid and Proposals Director, twentysix2

To discuss how Bid Solutions’ consultancy services can help you win more business, please get in touch on 020 8158 3952 / enquiry@bidsolutions.co.uk or visit this page.

Improving bid qualification decisions may be the biggest single way to achieve a step change in win rate success, yet it remains one of the hardest areas to address.

Our partners at twentysix2 have an informative series of blogs covering various stages of the bid and proposal lifecycle. ‘To bid, or not to bid?’ is our first weekly installment.

Making sound and timely bid / no bid decisions would focus scarce business development resources on those opportunities that organisations are more likely to win – increasing bandwidth and the ability to produce quality propositions.

Why then do so many companies achieve unacceptably low win rates by chasing everything, making poor qualification decisions and wasting precious resources?

The qualification decision is rarely taken in isolation.  The ‘attractiveness’ of a single opportunity will vary according to the state of the rest of the sales pipeline.  In a drought, any opportunity will take on increased significance. In a glut, there will be a fight to secure the resources to chase many opportunities that would not seem attractive at other times.

Companies mistake volume for quality in their sales pipelines.  Good sense would suggest that if we go for fewer opportunities that we have a better chance of winning then the increased focus will reap better rewards.  However, you can imagine the Board’s reaction when you tell them “I’ve halved that big fat sales pipeline we used to have – but believe me, we’ll land more of those opportunities!”  It takes a leap of faith and some lead time for such a policy change to take effect.

We live in an uncertain world.  No one can predict the future with anything like 100% certainty.  It is a brave manager who decides to cut out opportunities early in their lifecycle. To that end, a ‘no bid’ decision is the exception which requires substantial proof to show why we should not bid.  It is much easy to keep an opportunity open, putting off the difficult decision until more information is known.  This approach can lead to the gradual hemorrhaging of resources and a bigger opportunity cost in the reduced capacity to pursue other targets.

Exceptions are used to prove the rule.  “We won that one, even though we heard about it late”, claims the salesperson.  This is often used as an excuse to keep opportunities live in the face of mounting evidence that it should be closed down as we don’t know the first thing about the opportunity, the customer or the competition.

Qualification decisions are rarely rational as they are often made by Sales, the very people who are targeted and measured by the number of opportunities in their pipeline. The salesperson who owns the opportunity will always want to keep as many balls in the air as possible and will be emotionally attached to opportunities in which they have invested their efforts.  As one world-weary bid manager used to say – “For salespeople, Qualification is as popular as drowning puppies or telling somebody their baby is ugly!”

Qualification pain is not felt by those doing the qualifying.  When the qualification decision is left in the hands of Sales, the real pain that results from continuing to bid is often not felt by the Salesperson.  The cost – financially, emotionally and physically – is felt by those preparing the bids.  It is this team that face the long days, longer nights and pizza overload in preparing the proposal.

So, what could organisations do to improve?

• Take early decisions – to enable the full benefit of increased resources and focus to be felt on those opportunities that they really do have a good chance of winning.
• Agree the factors that would cause a no-bid – do this early on in the process to enable a rational decision later on.
• Be consistent in the application of bid / no bid decisions – and the process that teams go through. Over time this will lead to some self-governance by Sales earlier on in the process in weeding out opportunities from the pipeline.
• Take direction from Corporate Strategy – but be prepared to divert. The application of a process shouldn’t put the organization into a straightjacket that limits agility and an ability to respond to market conditions.
• Include more meaningful measures – business development good health goes beyond simple pipeline value / volume. Organisations need to recognise that ultimately it is the quality of the opportunity that will determine whether or not it becomes a successful win.

Author: Ian Sherwood CPP.APMP, Bid and Proposals Director, twentysix2

To discuss how Bid Solutions’ consultancy services can help you win more business, please get in touch on 020 8158 3952 / enquiry@bidsolutions.co.uk

To learn more about how we can support you at every stage of the bid lifecycle, click here.