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Dear Proposal Doctor,
Despite a kick off meeting at which we discussed roles and responsibilities, everyone on this proposal seems to be stepping on everyone’s toes. The coordinator keeps trying to do my job; the capture manager is trying to be the solution architect; the contracts representative is getting way too involved in pricing. We have redundancy and re-work in some areas and complete neglect in others. How can I get things back on track?
Proposal-Manager-in-Chaos
Dear Proposal Manager,
I feel your pain and have lived…
Why your win rate is hurting your business
This article was originally published May 24, 2011 in WashingtonTechnology.com.
By Bob Lohfeld
Win rates vary widely among companies, and we see them range from as low as 10 percent to as high as 80 percent based on a variety of factors, including companies that bid anything and everything to those that bid too conservatively. To assess how your win rate stacks up against your competition, take a look below. Equally important, examine the details behind your win rate. These can direct you to areas where you can make substantive improvements.
Win rate: 80% to 100%
Color score: Green
Assessment and recommendations…
Welcome to the new era of business development
This article was originally published May 2, 2011 in WashingtonTechnology.com and features interviews with business development leaders, including Bob Lohfeld
By Heather Hayes
It’s no secret that there are fewer new opportunities in the government market, thanks to looming budget cuts and an increasing trend away from the use of new contract awards in favor of established governmentwide acquisition contracts.
However, companies can increase their ability to compete and even boost their win rates and revenues if they invest in and optimize their business development and capture management processes and tools.
“More companies are fighting for smaller pieces of business out…
Pitfalls to avoid in a down market
This article was originally published April 25, 2011 in WashingtonTechnology.com.
With all the talk about budget cuts, we see some companies overreacting and altering their bidding strategies. Budget reduction numbers out of Congress indicate that 2011 spending will decline by $38 billion.
According to Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at FedSources, the challenge is determining how many of those dollars are attached to contracts. “There’s spending, and there’s contract spending,” Bjorklund said. “A significant amount of the $38 billion is in government compensation loan programs, and subsidies and therefore not contractor-addressable.”
The net authority…
3 Critical Steps to Surviving Tough Times
This article was originally published April 4, 2011 in WashingtonTechnology.com.
There’s little doubt that the federal budget will undergo some contractions this year, either because Congress will reduce spending levels outright for some agencies or the inevitable flow of continuing resolutions will postpone approval for new spending levels. As budgets shrink, there will be fewer new contracts in the government contractor market. With fewer deals to compete for, contractors will need to raise their level of competitiveness to win their share.
Now is the time to invest in new business acquisition, not scale back. Companies making investments in people,…
Right-sizing Your Capture and Proposal Process
Resolve to Improve Your Win Rate
This article was originally published January 27, 2010 on WashingtonTechnology.com.
Let it be resolved that 2010 will be the year in which we raise our new business win rate, write better proposals that cost us less to create, and leave the practice of working to exhaustion on late-night proposals as our final fond memory from the year now past.
This New Year’s resolution will probably be made by executives at half the companies that work in the highly competitive government technology market. Yet few companies will change how they pursue new business, prepare for proposals, or handle the demanding…
10 Reasons Why You Need Capture Management
This article was originally published April 29, 2010 on WashingtonTechnology.com.
When we examine why companies win or lose new business in the government market, the reasons are amazingly similar. Companies win more often when they focus on understanding customer requirements and objectives. They predictably lose more often when they don’t. Similarly, qualifying new business opportunities early in the business development life cycle results in better win rates, while late qualification results in fewer wins and cost increases in business development.
These and other activities are strong indicators of how well a company will do in competitive procurements. This correlation…
