"Can you offer advice on how to break into the bid market successfully? My firm seems to bid a ton of projects with little to no success." Corey O.
Corey great question. I have three answers: qualify, qualify, qualify.
In my industry, we respond to RFP's (Request for Proposal) and I tell my team, we aren't in the RFP response business, we are in the web solutions business. When we get an RFP, we qualify to determine if we can earn their business, by asking three questions:
1. Is this a fit for our company?
- I believe you define yourself as a company not by who you say 'YES' to but who you say 'NO' to. Not all RFPs we receive are a fit for our company.
2. How does the prospect compare to our ideal client?
- If you haven't already, document who is your ideal client (# of employees, revenues, industry, public company, government, location, etc.). Then qualify the bid based on comparisons to your ideal client.
3. Can you win the business?
- Some bids have restriction where even if they are a fit for your company and align with your ideal client, you won't win. For example, if a consulting is leading the bid and they always pick a specific vendor, you may just be 'Column Fodder' for the consultant to pick their preferred vendor.
Additionally, I would do a lost report on each of your unsuccessful bids and review why your are losing. Depending on what you find out, you may need to engage your senior management team on reposition, adding additional products / services, adding partners, etc.
Stop wasting your time on bids you won't win and focus your energey on the deals you can win, then position yourself to earn the business!
‘Good Bidding'. Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give ‘Corey' additional recommendations and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest at shaun@closerq.com.
Corey great question. I have three answers: qualify, qualify, qualify.
In my industry, we respond to RFP's (Request for Proposal) and I tell my team, we aren't in the RFP response business, we are in the web solutions business. When we get an RFP, we qualify to determine if we can earn their business, by asking three questions:
1. Is this a fit for our company?
- I believe you define yourself as a company not by who you say 'YES' to but who you say 'NO' to. Not all RFPs we receive are a fit for our company.
2. How does the prospect compare to our ideal client?
- If you haven't already, document who is your ideal client (# of employees, revenues, industry, public company, government, location, etc.). Then qualify the bid based on comparisons to your ideal client.
3. Can you win the business?
- Some bids have restriction where even if they are a fit for your company and align with your ideal client, you won't win. For example, if a consulting is leading the bid and they always pick a specific vendor, you may just be 'Column Fodder' for the consultant to pick their preferred vendor.
Additionally, I would do a lost report on each of your unsuccessful bids and review why your are losing. Depending on what you find out, you may need to engage your senior management team on reposition, adding additional products / services, adding partners, etc.
Stop wasting your time on bids you won't win and focus your energey on the deals you can win, then position yourself to earn the business!
‘Good Bidding'. Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give ‘Corey' additional recommendations and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest at shaun@closerq.com.
Comments
http://www.santcorp.com/best_practices/books.htm
Perhaps it's a qualifying issue or it could be suboptimal proposals.