Take Time to Win by Being Smarter

Even though the economy is slow, most of my clients are quite busy and are finding it harder to spend the time they need to prepare for winning proposals and/or short-list interviews. As a result, while marketing departments are churning out more proposals, many firms are not seeing their hit rates go up with the number of proposals submitted. I’d like to change that in three ways:  working earlier, working smarter, and working faster.

After some stunningly depressing second place finishes this year (as well as some happy first place wins), I’m more and more convinced that firms have to spend the majority of their marketing time before the RFP is released instead of expending intense effort to develop the best proposal and presentation. This doesn’t mean the proposal and presentation aren’t important; rather, it means that we have to be a strong contender before we get invited to the dance or we won’t have a reasonable chance of winning. Firms need to take time and effort to establish relationships, gain name and reputation recognition, and communicate specialized talent and resource expertise. Teams need to get in front of potential selectors through meetings, conferences, and other industry events. Great teams will take the time to publish, speak, and facilitate at the events that clients attend for their own professional development. The days of being able to wow a new client with a great proposal and take away the job are over; clients choose teams they know and trust. That knowledge and trust takes time to develop and grow. While a great proposal may get you to the shortlist, it won’t win the job.

Teams can work smarter, not harder in the proposal and presentation development process. As I’ve written and said before, the most important first step in any selection process is to actually read the RFP – make sure we have a plan to be compliant with all aspects of the request.  Treat the proposal response like a project.Teams that create a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the proposal with task leaders and clear milestone deliverables tend to be able to finish the documents with higher quality in the least amount of time. Teams that determine their core messaging strategy upfront – before they put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) are dramatically more successful than even the most artistic proposal designer.

Presentations are won in strategy, not in delivery. Teams that work diligently through the four stages of presentation development (alignment, strategy, choreography, rehearsal) are able to develop higher quality presentations in less time than teams whose leadership or marketing department creates a fabulous PPT presentation and gives team members the core messages. The best presentations of the last year have been created by teams that started thinking about the project and the client, then translated the results of their thinking into compelling content documented in a clear team outline. These teams were able to very quickly choreograph and rehearse very complicated and impressive presentations in a short amount of time right before the interview – even the day or night before. In this economy, I’m not just advocating for substantially better presentations – I want us to be able to develop them faster and better.

So, how do we work smarter, faster, and better? First, smarter teams think before they act – strategic thinkers gather the right information, develop the right plans for moving forward, and act strategically. They manage the business development and marketing process just like a project - maintaining scope, schedule, budget, and quality along the way. Second, faster teams work their plan, sticking to schedules and milestone deliverables throughout the phases of the marketing process. They don’t jump ahead to visuals or content before they have a strong strategic framework for the proposal or the presentation. Finally, better teams craft proposals and presentations that are aligned with the goals and aspirations of our owners. Smarter, faster, better proposals and presentations stem directly from the information we gather and relationships we build before the proposal/presentation development process ever starts.