Growing Business with Existing Customers - The Four Steps

In to day’s economic climate, growing business within your embedded base of customers has never been more important.  It is relatively easier to up-sell or cross-sell an existing customer than to acquire a new one.  However, in order to acquire follow-on business with a current customer, you must do four things, and do them well.   

1.     First and foremost, you must be meeting your performance metrics with your client.  Do NOT ask for more if you aren’t delivering on your present engagement.  You should have a set of explicit measurement criteria that you and your customer can measure objectively.  In addition to any contractual measurements, consider, at the start of the project, proposing a set of ongoing metrics that you can both use to ensure the customer’s explict and implicit goals are being met.  You don’t have to go out of scope to agree that to additional metrics.  These are as important to you as they are to the customer.  Remember, meeting your performance metrics is your credibility proof-statement.  Doing so gives you undeniable credibility with the customer and is the basis of all interaction.  Without it, you simply don’t have a leg to stand on.

2.     Second, have meaningful dialogue with your client about their future.  You have credibility and access.  Do not hesitate to build your perspective into the conversation.  You need to be seen as a player/coach and not just a fan.  Think of the metrics you’re using to monitor performance of the project you’re currently performing as a baseline, and dialog with with your client about the future.  If you’re meeting your performance metrics, your observations about current issues and future direction or plans will carry greater gravitas.  This isn’t sales-talk either.  Put yourself in the client’s shoes.  You’re there performing a service in support of their mission, otherwise they wouldn’t be speding the money, and if you’re doing the job well (remember the metrics) in a measurable way, a savvy client is going to want to know what you think.  Still a little unsure?  Think of yourself as a doctor diagnosing the symptoms of patient.  If you’ve been performing well on your current engagement with the client, he or she trusts you.  You have insight into the issues that are unique, and, hopefully, you have a solution to whatever is “ailing” the client.  Sit with the client, make a diagnosis, be prescriptive, and make a prognosis.  

3.     Third, measure your progress by the commitments made by the client, not by how much work you’re having to do to move the conversation along.  We call this Commitment Oriented Progression.  If the client is serious about solving additional problems or giving you additional work they will commit time, data or money.  Time and again we’ve seen pipelines where the next step to closing business involves the salesperson doing something while the prospect waits passively.  If the prospect is passive, you might as well delete the opportunity from the pipeline.  In every interaction, it is essential that you look for the prospect to commit to something, whether is a follow-on phone or meeting(Time), sending you some information(Data), or committing to the next project(Money).  These are meaningful milestones.

4.     Obtain feedback regularly.  Schedule regular review meetings with your customer to review the performance metrics.  Share your thoughts on how things are going.  Affiliate with the client.  At the end of the review meetings it’s helpful to ask if the frequency of meetings is working well for them.  You want your discussions to be seen as meaningful, so don’t be afraid to tweak the schedule.

As strange as it may sound to you, I can just about guarantee that your client does not want to go outside their present providers to get the job done. The only thing better than working with someone you know, is working with someone who knows you, and well.  Make sure they know what you’re capable of doing above and beyond your present engagement, and make sure that they’re aware of your perspective.

Capture Planning - Part Two, The Checklist

Last week I posted a blog about Capture Management of Government Contracting that was very popular with the readership.  I received a number of requests for a checklist that can be used to support the process, so I’ve put one together for you below.  The checklist is targeted to federal government contracting, but can be used for state and local procurements as well.

Keep in mind that any checklist becomes more useful as you gain better understanding of the  opportunity, the competition, and the customer.  Start early and go hard, because you can be sure that the competition is doing the same.

As always, you can contact me directly via email here.

Checklist for Capture Planning

1.       Ensure it meets the Vision of the company

2.      Assign capture manager who likely has a significant role upon winning

3.      Put a penetration plan together that includes:

a.       Budget & contractual information

                                                              i.      Restrictions, vehicles, past history, recompetes, schedule pricing and availability

b.      Criteria for selection

                                                              i.      Contractual, technical, past performance, quality, cost, familiarization, risk, value

c.       Decision tree (with role and relevance assigned)

                                                              i.      Influencers, users, support, decision makers, etc

                                                            ii.      Measured in high, medium, low and linked to capture team

d.      Company relevance regarding the criteria for selection

                                                              i.      Past performance/case studies

e.       Questions that must be answered that emphasize your strengths

                                                              i.      Technical, relationships, partners, win themes

f.       Questions that must be answered that neutralize your competition’s strengths

                                                              i.      Same as above

g.      Incumbents or strong players within the procuring organization

h.      Tie ins to each of the people listed in the decision tree including gaps and possible gap fillers

i.        Pipeline of opportunities likely to be linked to this particular project/program

j.        Likely win theme possibilities based on the information above

k.      (while tracking down this information, the Capture Manager should get a good idea who has the knowledge base to help with the capture and eventual proposal)

4.      Request/Assign personnel to gather the information requested above

a.       Business development

b.      Marketing

c.       Technical

d.      Contracts/Security

e.       Financial

f.       Program support/Business support

g.      Executive sponsors

h.      Partner programs

i.        Small business liaisons

j.        Competition research analysts

k.      Others as thoughts arise

5.      Build capture plan

a.       Utilizing information in an organized format begin to formulate the plan

                                                              i.      Incorporate win theme

                                                            ii.      Incorporate competitive positioning

                                                          iii.      Incorporate technical and contractual alignment

                                                          iv.      Incorporate partner/sub contractor strategy

                                                            v.      Incorporate past performance/case study relevance

                                                          vi.      Build question base for interrogatories that separate you from competition

                                                        vii.      Begin technical competence documentation and review

                                                      viii.      Build preliminary  “compliance” matrix that would separate you from competition

6.      Distribute capture plan for review similar to proposal

a.       Look for technical gaps

b.      Look for contractual gaps

c.       Look for administrative/programmatic gaps

7.      Meet with customer often to try to incorporate some of your “wording” from #5 above.

What you need to know to be effective in developing a winning capture strategy

Scope
Define the scope of work
Determine the locations of work
Influence the scope to your advantage and to the competition's disadvantage
Develop approaches to fulfilling the requirements
Scope staffing requirements
Identify any gaps between the scope and your own capabilities
Identify relevant project references
Identify relevant internal subject matter experts
Schedule
What is driving the customer's procurement schedule?
What are the milestones in the customer's procurement schedule?
When is the RFP release expected?
How much time will be allowed for preparing the proposal?
When would the customer like the project to start?
When would the customer like the project to be complete?
Will there be a phase-in/transition period?

Acquisition Strategy
What are the customer's acquisition strategy, contract vehicle, and/or approach?
What are the customer's procurement process/procedures?
Will there be any small business, local business, or other preferences?

Evaluation Criteria
Will the customer have written evaluation criteria?
If so, what are they?
If not, what are their unwritten criteria?
How is your company positioned against the evaluation criteria?
Can you influence the customer's evaluation criteria?
Do you understand what it will take to win?

Financial
What is the estimated value of the opportunity?
What is the customer's budget?
Is it funded/approved?
Can you influence the customer's budget for the opportunity?

Points of Contact
Can you draw the customer's organizational chart?
Do you understand the lines of authority and influence?
Who are the points of contact (POCs)?
Who should be contacted for which reason and by which person in your company?
Do you have a contact plan?

Competitive Intelligence
Can you identify all potential incumbents?
What other companies might be interested in bidding?
If you can't identify the potential competitors by name, have you identified them by profile (type, size, etc.)?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each one?

Competitive Advantage
What are your strengths and weaknesses compared to the competition?
What is your strategy for positioning against the competition?
Why will the customer select you instead of the competition?
What are your other win strategies?
Can you articulate what you offer the customer and why they should select you?

Teaming
Who could potentially fill any gaps in your ability to cover the scope of work?
What companies could potentially strengthen your bid or position?
Are there any companies that you would rather team with than compete against?
Identify reasons for and against teaming with other companies to pursue the opportunity.
Identify the requirements, process, and negotiation strategies for potential teaming partners.

How to Maximize the Value of Conferences and Trade Shows

Conferences and trade shows are a staple of the business world, and many of us attend them on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to monetize the vaule of conference attendance.  Whether you go as an attendee, exhibitor or speaker, here are some tips for maximizing your time and getting the most out of any conference.

Pre-Planning

1.      As a registered attendee/exhibitor, you should receive a list of other exhibitors and attendees in advance of the conference.  In advance of the conference, identify the companies/contacts that you would like to meet.   Group them as Priority 1 and Priority 2

2.      Schedule dinner reservations at popular venues in advance of the event.  Make each reservation for 6-8 people.  Print out a couple of informal cards with the restaurant information on them that you can give to people that you invite.

Priority 1 Prospects- Call in advance of the event to schedule sit-down time at the event for one-on-one sessions.  Many of the events have break-out meeting areas that you can use.  Some require reservations in advance.  Otherwise, schedule a talk over coffee or find a quiet spot in the hotel lobby or conference venue.

For direct client prospects- “Hello Col. Smith, this is Jim with Acme Corporation, I see that we are both attending the upcoming XYZ Conference and am interested in scheduling a meeting with you while we are there.”  Consider inviting them to be a part of one of your dinner groups.

For potential teaming partners- “Hi Bob, this is Jim with Acme Corporation, I see that we are both attending the upcoming XYZ Conference and would like to schedule a time for us to meet.  I am interested in comparing notes for potential teaming opportunities.”  Consider inviting them to be a part of one of your dinner groups.

During the Conference

In the booth- Set a conversation time limit for walk-ups to the booth.  If you find that you are having a meaningful dialogue, say “I think we really have a lot to talk about. “Can we schedule time to get together so we can finish this discussion without interruption?” 

Working the floor- Priority 2 Prospects- These are the prospects that you would like to meet while attending the event.  Go to their “booth” and introduce yourself.

“Hello, I am Jim, I saw that your company/agency was attending and I have wanted to meet you.  (Ask additional questions about what they are hoping to gain by attending the event.  Who would they like to meet? Offer to connect them/introduce them to a contact that has relevance for them.  Invite them to your booth to meet your group.)

Have your cards with you at all times- Exchange cards at every opportunity possible and make notes regarding your discussion.  When someone hands you their card, if you are going to take notes on it, it is polite to ask permission first.  Write down the name of the event where you met, the date and nature of the conversation, any other notes that will help you remember them after the event.  If you are unable to make notes at that time, do it as soon as you can so that you don’t forget details.

Offer some type of refreshment- bottles of water or some other snack that is substantial.  Not just bite sized portions, but a real serving, whether a candy bar or something upscale.

Invite prospects/partners to your dinner event. Each time you make a new contact, consider if it will be beneficial to invite them to one of your dinner reservations.  Consider the other guests already invited so that you are not inviting guest that would be in conflict with one another.

After the Conference

Block out a full day on your calendar to follow up via phone calls and emails to every meaningful conversation that you had during the event.  If you said you were going to do something…do it.  Conference attendance is sometimes a whirlwind of activity and you will stand out if you follow-up soon after the conference.  You’ll also continue to build momentum with prospects if you follow-up crisply.

 Find us on Facebook here, or, as always, you can email me here.

Professional Services and Consulting - Are you a Doctor or a Beggar?

Many non-sales professionals, especially those in the consulting industry, are loath to think about selling.  For most of us, the image of the cheesy plaid-jacketed, glad-handing, back-slapping guy who doesn’t know what we really do is enough to makes us run for the exits if someone suggests we try to find more business at a customer site.

Unfortunately, this becomes a double-edged sword, since the person who knows best what the customer needs isn’t naturally inclined to take on the dreaded sales or business development burden, which leaves it the that guy in the plaid jacket with the comb-over.

The really bad news is that if no one is selling, no one is working, which is even worse, and, to top it off, if you want to advance in your career at a professional services firm, the best to way accelerate your rise up the ranks is to create a reputation for being able to find new business.

The good news is that it’s really not that difficult to both generate new and follow-on business and keep your self-respect.  We call it FACE Time.  

Those of us in the professional services business know the difference between a doctor and a beggar.  The beggar stands around with a sign that says “Will work for food”, which, loosely translated, means “if you tell me what you want, and will give me something for it, I’ll do it for you”.

On the other hand, a doctor says “tell me your symptoms, I’ll examine and evaluate you, and give you both a diagnosis and a treatment plan”.  The successful consultant knows not just what needs to be done for a client, but how to communicate effectively without being “salesy”.  Here’s a brief run-down on how FACT Time works.

FACE time is a methodology employed by operations professionals who normally are on-site with their customers.  Each of the letters stands as a reminder about what to do when presenting to your customer either formally or informally.

F          Fulfill completely before any growth dialogue is started by you.  Ensure you are fulfilling to the customer’s satisfaction.  Know this by knowing the requirements and speaking to your fulfillment of those requirements whenever the opportunity arises.  Encourage feedback from the customer if there is any question that you are meeting/exceeding the requirements.  Only upon verifying that you are, should any talk of growing the value of the contract be initiated by you.

A          Account for your success by listing the requirements and getting acknowledgement that you are fulfilling your responsibilities as a contractor.

C          Create an environment that commonly and naturally talks about “next steps”.  This requires an open dialogue where you are free to talk about what you see and what you can “fix”.  It also allows the customer the opportunity to offer where they’re headed and whether you are being considered as part of the team to help them get there.

E          Engage in meaningful dialogue (capabilities and requirements) as a valued member of the customer’s operations team.

By creating and maintaining your credibility with the customer and positioning yourself as someone who is looking out for their best interests, you’ll create opportunities for yourself and your company without sacrificing your integrity.

As always, if you'd like to know more, you can visit us at our website or just drop me an email.

Seller's Market; How to Attract and Keep the Best Talent

Businesses today generally understand the need to capture and retain their customers’ loyalty. Many have formal measurement programs in place to gather customer feedback and assess levels of loyalty on a regular basis. There are some organizations that include a customer loyalty metric in their corporate dashboard, treating it as a key performance indicator just as they would revenue or sales. There is little difficulty in seeing the connection between customer loyalty and business success.

Employees are a vital resource for nearly all organizations, especially organizations in the professional services and technology industries. Most organizations achieve and maintain their competitive position based primarily on the value of their human capital assets.  For these organizations, the ability to innovate, adapt and deliver demonstrably differentiated value to their clients rests primarily on the quality of their employees, rather than on a tangible product. 

Acquiring and maintaining human capital assets requires a significant investment in terms of sourcing, recruiting, compensation, benefits, career development and training over the span of time that the employee spends with the organization.  There is considerable expense for replacing an employee, in both monetary and opportunity cost.  The impact of employee turnover, whether voluntary or involuntary, has not just monetary, the effect is cumulative and affects cash flow, morale, institutional knowledge, client experience and perception, culture, and inhibits an organization’s ability to grow.

For many service-based businesses, the employee in the field is the organization, and any disruption in management, delivery or perceived stability materially affects the company’s ability to grow within its embedded base of customers as well as affects its ability to acquire new customers through positive references.  Dissatisfied former employees contribute the erosion of the corporate brand, and may adversely affect the organization’s ability to recruit, further eroding its ability to sustain growth.

Organizations that are in the middle of the pack often find it difficult to attract and hold high quality employees.  They may find that their employer brand is too weak and that they are perceived as not capable of providing prospective employees with the experience that competitors can provide, or they may be able to attract high-quality employees but find that turnover of their best assets inhibits their ability to move ahead.  For these organizations, the challenges tend to center around employer branding, sourcing and recruiting and compensation.

Organizations that experience high growth are susceptible to culture-dilution, and may find that in order to meet the demands of a growing business they are forced to hire less than ideal assets, diluting the overall quality of services to the client.  For these organizations, the challenges can be complex, involving not just sourcing and recruiting, but training and education, career development, branding, middle-management quality and benefits.

Here are six areas to consider for achieving successful growth through acquisition and retention of high-value human capital assets.  They include:

1. Employer Branding
Many organizations actively pursue potential employees through a “push” strategy, saturating job boards, recruiting events and professional organizations with postings.  Their strategy is to publish their opportunities with the expectation that prospective employees will find them.  The fact is that the best assets rarely look for their next career move in these areas.  They best tend to be either actively recruited, or referred by a former colleague into an organization.  Current employees tend to be a most effective sourcing modality, but are constrained by the size of their networks as well as the demands placed on them to accomplish their primary responsibilities.  Building an employer brand creates a “pull” in the market for employees, just the same as it does for customers. Attracting high-value prospective employees to your company can be accomplished in  much the same way; through a combination demographic specific advertising, positioning and sourcing-communications.  By developing and communicating an employer brand that is attractive to prospective prospects, you can clients have reduce your reliance on employee referrals and outside recruiters,  and greatly enhance and enlarge your source and candidate pools.

 2.   Sourcing and Recruiting
Identifying and targeting the best sources of qualified candidates that will provide the highest sustained value to the organization with the shortest lead time is an often overlooked area.  It’s not just about recruiting; it’s about increasing the number and diversity of lead sources, which has the added value of increasing the diversity within the cultural framework of the organization, adding diversity of thought, perspective and value.

Implementing a culture-based recruiting process ensures that candidates are fully and properly vetted and screened for competence, quality, cultural and behavioral fit, and ensures that both the candidate and the organization are positioned for long term success.  Involvement from a diverse set of internal constituencies creates an environment of inclusion, and marries the success of the new employee to the success of existing employees as well as the organization.  Those involved in the recruiting and on-boarding process become invested in the new employee’s success, increasing the likelihood of successful transition from candidate to long-term, value-adding asset.

3.   Performance Incentives, Compensation and Benefits
Creating a performance incentive and compensation scheme that matches employee success to corporate success is integral to the accomplishment of the organization’s strategic and tactical goals.  Aligning employee focus with corporate goals is the cornerstone of an effective PIC program.  Successful organizations provide incentives based on what motivates the individual employee, matching those incentives to employee interest.  This has the additional benefit of enhancing the leadership and management skills of mid-level managers and above, requiring managers to understand and what motivates their teams. 

Compensation plans should tailored to reflect employee contribution and take into consideration the employee’s level and ability to contribute.  Incentives are based on individual performance as well as contribution to the overall success of the organization and the community. Every employee should go into the performance period with a concrete understanding of expectations and the ability to self-manage to goals, reducing the level of effort required of managers at review time.
Creating a meaningful benefits program requires employers to have an understanding their employees stage-of-life needs.  We’ve found that establishing a menu of benefits within a defined cost structure has a positive impact on recruiting and retention.  Innovative benefits programs provide meaningful assistance to employees, allowing them to focus their attention on their work, and increasing their productivity.

4.   Career Progression
Career progression is an integral component of retention, succession planning and key personnel loss mitigation.  The overall value of the organization is enhanced as its individual employees’ value increases.  For service and technology-focused organizations, human capital quality is essential to organizational growth.  Well communicated career paths provide incentives for the individual and provide constant quality improvement for the organization.  Establishing a career progression program that enables employees to identify the experience, training, education and certifications required for promotion reduces subjectivity in the promotion process, and provides transparency and a perception of fairness, fostering loyalty.  Employees and their managers should be capable of self-managing their career progression. 

For many of my clients, dual career tracks ensure that thought leadership and subject matter expertise receive the recognition and compensation necessary to provide the organization with the innovation, credibility and expertise necessary to provide their clients with the highest quality services and technology without sacrificing the individual employee’s ability to achieve financial and peer recognition necessary for to retain institutional knowledge.

5.   Training and Education
In order to achieve their organizational goals, companies must have the assets in place with the requisite skills to meet client and customer demand, comply with professional certification requirements, and meet expectations.  Hiring to the top of the organization chart has many risks, especially in high growth organizations, where culture is the engine that drives growth.  Without an effective training and education program, companies are forced to go outside the organization for specific skills, which can have a deleterious effect on morale, dilute culture, and create barriers to growth.  Organic assets with institutional knowledge, who know the organization, its processes, clients, history and culture, are at risk for flight to competitors without a program in place to provide the requisite training and education that will enable them to take on new professional challenges.
New employee training ensures that compliance with standards, culture and internal processes are inculcated quickly and allow the new employee to efficiently make the transition to the organization with a minimum of disruption.  Statistic show that voluntary turnover in the first six months of employment is largely based on a new employees frustration with their inability to navigate the complexities of a new environment.
As employees progress along their career path, level-specific training and education makes the transition to a new position more likely to be successful and creates a foundation for success.  By making training and education a prerequisite to promotion to the next level, organizations increase the chances of success for the newly promoted employee and greatly reduce the learning curve.

How to Measure This Stuff

Once you have the program up and running, here are the metrics that you should track to determine how well your program is doing:

·         Size of candidate source pool

·         Candidate quality

·         Reduction in Days Outstanding Open positions

·         Short and long term retention, and a significant reduction in turnover

·         Reduced recruiting costs

·         Increased morale

·         Increased customer satisfaction (via surveys)

·         Overall reduction in per-employee benefit cost

·         Reduced management overhead relative to performance reviews

If you'd like more information in this topic, visit us at our website or send me an email.

Capture Planning for Government Contracts - Why you may be struggling and what you need to know

Lately we've been hearing a lot of chatter about cutbacks in government spending, yet many of the organizations we speak aren't worried about the lack of opportunities for their companies to pursue.  Rather, the main concern these days seems to be their ability to field a meaningful, competitive proposal that has a good chance of winning the business.   So today's topic focuses on the key points to consider when making the decision to pursue an government contracting opportunity.

For more information, visit our website at www.achievence.com.

The Challenge
The capture and proposal process is integral to a company’s overall business development process. Capture begins when a company makes its initial decision to pursue a new contract or engage in a re-compete with existing government customer. A capture manager is appointed, who then leads the company’s activities in the pursuit of a new business opportunity.

Typically the Capture Manager is responsible for the developing a comprehensive understanding of the RFP requirements and objectives, developing the company’s preliminary solution, positioning the solution, assessing competition, developing the win strategy, setting the pricing, developing and implementing the teaming strategy, and assessing risk.

Addressing these areas effectively requires close coordination between participating constituencies in the organization and a well managed process to produce a winning proposal. 
Understanding the information necessary to produce a winning proposal and managing the process of proposal production is a challenge for organizations of all sizes.  The implementation and execution of information gathering, analysis, strategy and production processes that are repeatable and scalable is a core competence for all government contractors and systems integrators.


Here's what you really need to to pay attention to...

Information Requirements

In order to adequately understand and address the needs of the agency, comply with the RFP, and produce a competitive proposal, the following information is essential.

Background Information

This section contains information on the procurement.  It should contain the customer/client/agency name expected RFP/RFQ date, and any other details specific to the opportunity.  Incumbents, background on the opportunity or the agency are captured in this section.

Scope

What is the scope of the services required for the project?  Are there services or products specifically included or excluded in the procurement?  What should we influence in the scope and what is the plan to influence it?

Size

What is the size of the staff required to staff the project?  What infrastructure, hardware, locations and other measurable things will be required to fulfill the requirements?  What is the value of the opportunity?  Is there potential growth once the initial award has been made?

 Resources

What resources are required to pursue the opportunity?  What materials, equipment or outside services will be required to produce the proposal?  What staff will be necessary to support the proposal and where will they come from?  Is there a budget?

Staffing

How many people will be bid?  What is the ratio of current employees to new hires?  Are there key personnel requirements?  Who is the project manager?  What are the position requirements?

Management

Describe the high level approach to managing the project.  How will it be organized?  What resource allocations need to be made?  How will multiple locations be managed?  Is a WBS required?  What is the schedule for deliverables?  Include a start-up plan for the first 30, 60, and/or 90 days.

Competitive Assessment

Who is the competition?  What are their strengths and weaknesses?  Is there a requirement to team in order to be compliant with the requirements or of the project?  If so, who is responsible for the teaming arrangements and completion of teaming agreements?  Who will manage the team members?  What information is needed from team members?

Past Performance

Do we have the experience and qualifications to win?  List the projects and experience that are relevant to the opportunity.  Do we need to use team member’s qualifications to meet criteria?  What are our references?

Technical approach

What is the high level approach to fulfilling the requirements?  What SMEs or authors will be required to write the proposal?

Pricing

What is our pricing strategy?  How many staff, in how many locations?  What labor categories?  What other direct costs are necessary?   What is required to create an accurate estimate for the project pricing?  Include any assumptions in the pricing model.

Win Strategies/Themes

How will we position against the competition?  How are we positioned against the evaluation criteria (in detail).  What are the reasons that the prospect should select us?  What are the benefits to each customer constituency?

 Roles and Responsibilities 

An important component of your procedure is clearly defined roles and responsibilities for all individuals whose work affects the quality of the proposal and are responsible for participating in the proposal process from initiation through final approval. Some of the roles should include:

• Capture Manager
• Business Development Manager
• Proposal Manager
• Proposal Coordinator
• Proposal Technical Writer/SME
• Graphic Illustrator  
• Assigned Proposal Team Members
• Review Team Members

Each participant’s role and responsibility will change through each defined, proposal process phase. These differences need to be clearly documented in the proposal development procedure or at a high level if individual work instructions are developed to cover specific phases. A sample responsibility is provided below:

The Role of Capture Management

Capture Management includes the following activities:

·         Competitive analysis of opportunities (Black Hat)

·         Competitive positioning

·         Partner and teaming selection

·         Bid and proposal strategy development

·         Management of the bid and proposal process

·         Pink, Red, Blue and Gold level proposal development

·         Program management transition

·         Proposal pricing and team member allocation and pricing

Proposal Planning and Development

The Proposal Management Plan (PMP) documents the roles, responsibilities, tasks, and key dates for the proposal development team. For each, a PMP should be developed containing information on as many of the elements identified in the table below as available:

Proposal Project Summary	General Information Project Focal Points Project Scope and Deliverables
Agency and Opportunity Profile	Intelligence on Customer Organization Source Selection Process Needs, Issues, and Trends Perceptions of your company
Competitive Analysis	Approach and Perceived Strengths/Weaknesses Competitor Profiles and Strengths/Weaknesses Bidder Comparison Matrix
Proposal Strategies and Win Themes	Overall Proposal Strategies and Themes Technical Proposal Strategies and Themes Management Proposal Strategies and Themes Cost Proposal Strategies and Themes Past Performance Strategies and Themes
Staffing, Roles, and Responsibilities	Integrated Proposal Team Proposal Review Team
Proposal Operations	Proposal Development Key Activities/Schedule Proposal Outline and Writing Assignments Proposal Template Writers’ Workflow and Standards Preliminary Executive Summary
Proposal Deliverables	List of Proposal Deliverables

The Proposal Management Plan is a dynamic document that will be updated throughout the proposal development project.

Putting it All Together

Instituting appropriate Business Development processes, obtaining information and managing the proposal process adequately are key components to successfully win government business.  Organizations that have adopted the Achievence Model have realized significant improvements in the following key metrics:

·         Overall Bid to Win Rate

·         Bid to Win Ratio

·         Reduction in Average Level Of Effort per Capture/Proposal Transaction

·         Return on Proposal Investment

·         Level of Effort Per Transaction

·         Increase in Reuse of Proposal Components

·         Reduction in Days Outstanding Open positions

·         Short and long term retention, and a significant reduction in turnover

·         Reduced recruiting costs

·         Increased morale

·         Increased customer satisfaction (via surveys)

·         Overall reduction in per-employee benefit cost

·         Reduced management overhead relative to performance reviews

For more information visit our website at www.achievence.com