Articles tagged with : proposal process

Today’s market demands benchmarking proposals – here’s how

Bob Lohfeld offers advice on how to benchmark your proposals and increase your win-rates

I attended a session on proposal benchmarking at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals, National Capital Area Chapter’s (APMP-NCA), Mid Atlantic Proposal Conference & Exhibition a few months ago and was surprised to learn how few companies actually benchmark the quality of their proposals or the capabilities of their proposal departments. In the session led by BJ Lownie of Strategic Proposals, only about 15% of the 75 companies represented acknowledged that they regularly benchmark their proposal quality and proposal department’s capabilities. Since benchmarking is such a powerful tool to help raise win rates, I’m devoting this article to explaining why this should become a regular practice for all serious competitors in the government market. Benchmarking proposal department capability Needless to say, as the government market shrinks, only the best competitors will prosper, and those with high-performing proposal organizations will lead that charge. I have written numerous articles about creating high-performing...

Do’s and don’ts of lowering your proposal costs

I used to think that no one would have the audacity to say you’re spending too much on proposals as long as you were winning. With companies falling short of revenue goals, however, most certainly there will be downward pressure on all operating costs, including proposals costs. There are easily 50 ways to reduce proposal costs, but regrettably 45 of these will also lower your win rate. The challenge is to reduce proposal costs without reducing your win rate. We have done a lot of work on win rates and ways to reduce proposal costs. Here are some ideas that work and some that don’t. Compensation levels for proposal professionals With few exceptions, reducing proposal costs is all about reducing the total amount of labor needed to create a winning proposal, not reducing the hourly rate paid to the workforce. In the proposal field, you pretty much get what you pay...

Improving Win Rates – Strategies and Tactics to Raise Your Success

Did you know your company can raise its win probability by 20% on each and every bid that it submits by following 7 proven steps? Imagine how much additional revenue your firm could generate if you could increase your win rate by 20% -- and imagine how much you could grow your business with the additional profit. Increasing win rates is everybody’s goal, yet few people address the task of raising overall company win rates. In this webinar, capture and proposal expert Bob Lohfeld shares Lohfeld Consulting Group's research on how to increase proposal win rates and explains the 7 factors that affect overall company win rates. Each viewer can use the 7-factor model to assess their company’s performance in key areas that affect win rates and build a preliminary plan for win rate improvement. The 7 steps to raise your win probability will make you better prepared to compete...

The Proposal Dentist: Extracting a Technical Approach from the Technical Experts

by Brooke Crouter (This article appeared in the Fall 2011 edition of APMP-NCA’s Executive Summary eZine.) As budgets shrink, there will be fewer new contracts in the government market. With fewer deals, firms that compete for federal business will need to write sharper proposals to win their share of work. It is imperative that our proposals tell a clear story that resonates with the buyer. In particular, we must be able to present a fact-based approach that demonstrates a clear, tangible value to the potential customer. To achieve this, we need three critical elements: compliance, reviewability, and approach. Compliance. Compliance is the “entry fee” to the game; we must respond to the RFP criteria completely or risk having our proposal removed from further consideration. Compliance defines the structure of our response and ensures we meet all requirements. We all know we have to focus on compliance, and we rarely miss...