Winning work through requests for proposals (RFP) is difficult. It can often mean intense long days and even longer nights. The wins make the pressure worthwhile, but also make the losses even more crushing.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Mastering RFPs is easy if the right approach is taken. In fact, it’s a combination of the right approach, the right systems and the right mind set that contractors need if they want to succeed consistently.
It might not stop all the late nights, but it will make them worth it.
1. Make Intelligent Decisions
The first step a contractor should take to achieve bid mastery is a thorough review of the world in which it operates. Any bidder should ask themselves the following questions:
- Why are we bidding for these opportunities?
- Are we in the right markets?
- What’s our value proposition? Is it clear?
- What is our growth strategy?
- Whom are we targeting and why?
They’re tough questions and they often go unanswered—but they’re important. The answers will give a clear indication of where, what and whom bidders should target and why. They will make sure business development and work winning is truly aligned with the organization’s growth strategy, something that’s often not the case.
This is the first step toward intelligent bidding, but not the only one. Once these questions have been answered, a bidder will have the clarity needed to succeed. But how can a main contractor make sure they feed this clarity into a slick work-winning machine?
The answer is easy: a combination of the right process and the right people.
2. Define a Process
Full disclosure: processes are a bit boring, but they are vital. Consistently successful bidders are the ones that consistently stick to their process. It makes them smooth operators and, most importantly, leaves nothing to chance.
There’s no right or wrong solution and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The first port of call for anyone looking to instill new or enhance existing systems should be tried-and-tested models in the industry, including Shipley and the Association of Proposal Management Professionals.
These are great foundations and give a great example of what could be done in an ideal world, but people who deal in RFPs and proposals very rarely live in an ideal world. This means not every aspect of a process will apply to everyone. If an organization doesn’t ordinarily spend a day conducting a Black Hat review, so be it; similarly, if the industry a contractor is operating in requires incredibly fast turnaround of proposals, it might not be in its best interests to focus on incredibly designed submissions.
A bidder should do a thorough review of the process that speaks to them, pick the best, most applicable parts for its business and then apply accordingly. At a minimum, a successful bid process should include the following.
- Intelligence gathering: Who is the potential client? What are their pain points? What is the project? Who else is going for this opportunity?
- Defining a winning strategy: Based on the intelligence gathered, choose an angle for the submission that clearly offers something the prospect needs. Is the offer about compliance? Is it about creative thinking? Is it about just getting the job done? Without an angle, a bid will get lost in the crowd.
- Review, review and review again: A thorough review process is important. Bidders need to make sure they are reviewing against the obvious (spelling and grammar) but, more importantly, reviewing against the strategy and the offer. Is the offer compelling? Does it support the strategy? Does it present the best of the organization?
3. The Right MindSet
Intelligent decisions have been made and the process has been cracked, but there’s one final step to achieving bid mastery. And that’s ensuring that the organization’s RFP team has the right people and mind set.
To start with, it’s important to treat work winning as a distinct, specialized and valued part of any organization. Businesses should make sure that bid teams (the specialist professionals and the wider contributors from other departments) have the support and empowerment they need to get the job done; for proposal professionals, this can mean empowerment to make tough decisions to secure the win; for the wider team, this can mean giving them the time and space to meaningfully contribute to the bid process.
Fundamentally, contractors need to put the right people on the right RFPs. Attitude is just as important as technical ability and organizations should prioritize finding people with a winning, tenacious mind set as part of their work-winning recruitment process.
Successfully combining the three steps to bid mastery will help contractors achieve more consistent success. It’s tough, but it’s worth it.
