FEATURE | PROPOSALS
AS IF BY MAGIC...
SARAH HINCHLIFFE presents the key to effective proposal resourcing to help you produce a compelling document by good management – not by good luck with a sprinkle of pixie dust
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am always amazed at how little resource some businesses allocate to proposals. It’s as if they believe in the proposal pixie – that lesser-known species that lives under the stairs and magically produces proposals overnight. Proposal pixies are well known to exist on a diet of cold pizza and precious little respect. Conversely, I know of a small business that has been remarkably successful at winning government business without having to rely on the last minute appearance of the proposal pixie. Every time a key public sector invitation to tender (ITT)1 arrives, the board members block their diaries out to ensure they give the response their undivided attention. That’s how important it is to them. SETTING THE CONTEXT Everyone would love to win business without having to compete or write a proposal. This is unrealistic, especially in the world of complex solution sales. Proposals have to be developed, but not by magic. Compelling proposals are the result of solid business practice. Cobbling together bits and pieces of people’s time as and when required is not the PRO PO S AL RES O URCING: answer. If you are now saying to yourself, “That’s T EN TO P T IPS OK, we have a proposal team,” ask yourself if the team is fully integrated in your sales process. If not, 1 Acknowledge proposal development as an as illustrated in Figure 1 on page 30, you may have essential business-winning activity a virtual ‘brick wall’ syndrome. This model is not healthy for winning business because there is no 2 Build a proposal development step into your sales process continuity or cohesion. Companies that integrate the proposal 3 Appoint a board-level champion for the development step into the sales process – as shown process and for each proposal in Figure 2 – stand to gain these advantages: 4 Choose only the opportunities with a high l Your customer sees you are a unified team win probability l Your proposal reflects the win strategies and 5 Identify the right resources, not just any visions your salespeople have created resources l You will be less inclined to respond to a “blind” 6 Set up a core team representing each ITT – one that you were not expecting – as you will contributing function accept that a relationship with the customer is a 7 Identify all contributors – writers, reviewers, prerequisite of developing a winning proposal. approvers and supporting cast
SENIOR SPONSORSHIP Every process needs board sponsorship, a champion to hail the benefits, encourage adoption and secure funding for people and facilities.
8 Have a detailed, published plan so everyone knows what and when 9 Set a budget and measure performance 10 Provide appropriate facilities on time and throughout
28 WINNING EDGE
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