Capture Management is without question in vogue. It may have been enshrined in your sales process for years, or perhaps you are new to the concept and considering its merits? Either way, it’s a pretty certain bet that one of your competitors is investing heavily in it right now.
At times I find Capture Management a tricky concept to pin down. I often feel it has an air of mystery surrounding it and despite 25 years in our profession, I still can’t decide if it’s a skill, a dedicated role, an entire function, or a combination of all three.
I have worked with some brilliant Capture Managers who have carved out entire careers, but equally I have worked with Bid Managers that simply treat it as one of their responsibilities as part of the bid process. As with most things in our profession, I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all approach.
Whatever your view on Capture Management, there is no denying it can transform your ability to win business if the right approach is adopted. In Bidding Quarterly 8, our experts offer many different perspectives on how to generate maximum business benefit from its adoption. As well as fantastic contributions from our regular panel of experts, we have brilliant articles from several highly respected guest writers including Tony Birch, Steve Webster, Sarah Hinchliffe, Tim Snell and Jeremy Brim.
If Capture Management is near the top of your to-do list, I’m confident the opinions, advice and experiences our contributors openly share will accelerate your journey to developing a robust capability.
Martin Smith
Managing Director, Bid Solutions
In this issue
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Marketing is Capture Management’s Best Kept Secret
“Never heard of it!” That’s what I said when Martin asked me to write an article on Capture Management a few months ago. We weren’t off to the best start.
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Customers Appreciate Capture Planning – When It’s Done Right!
Without necessarily knowing what it is, customer organisations appreciate sellers that practice capture planning because, to them, it means that potential suppliers are taking the time to interact with them to understand their needs.
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Go Fishin’
You may not know it, but I’m better known as an angler than a bidder. I’ve written several fishing books, I edit an angling magazine, and have spent more than forty years chasing fish only to put them back once I’ve caught them.
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Effective Renewal Strategies
For too many sales and account teams, developing proposals is a largely reactive task – waiting for the RFP or Tender to land and then furiously scurrying around to get a response out of the door.
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The Ideal Client!
For us, Capture Management is all about finding out who looks like they will be a good client, uncovering what they really need and then working out how we can give it to them better than anyone else. If we can get this right, writing the bid is a complete doddle!
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Spotlight
Holger is an independent bid consultant who spends most of his time working in his beloved field of civil engineering. He supports clients’ infrastructure bids in the sectors of rail, utilities, highways, defence, energy from waste, nuclear, aviation, and security. We at Bid Solutions know Holger well but we still had some questions that we fancied asking him to find out a bit more about what makes him tick.
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One Size Doesn’t Fit All!
A new acquaintance recently asked, “What do you do?” I responded by introducing myself as a ‘Pursuit and Capture Practitioner’. This left my new friend puzzled.
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In Praise of Pre-Proposal Planning
“Ah”, they murmur: “Writing the proposal’s the easy part. These days, it’s all about ‘capture’. That’s the future for our profession. That’s what the clever people are all doing now.”
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Let’s Have a Crack at This One…
CLIENT: “Hi Pippa, here are the documents to a really interesting opportunity we would like to have a go at.”
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Capture Their Hearts
In the early ‘80s, I was privileged to join what was then ICL – now owned by and known as Fujitsu. I was a rookie graduate, bag-carrying for a seasoned salesman in a team responsible for the Royal Air Force account.
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Good Capture = Better No-Bid Decisions
Capture is still somewhat misunderstood and under-used. This is despite its growing popularity and the increasing recognition of the value of better capture and pre-proposal engagement. However, when used well, it can be a powerful, business-winning technique that delivers excellent results.
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Capture, Creating Great Opportunities
2020 has to be the year of Capture Management and it’s about time. You’ll hear a lot of noise about Capture this year, but what is all the fuss about?
