how to increase your company’s win rate in 7 proven steps

How to Increase Your Company’s Win Rate in 7 Proven Steps

Webinar Presented to APMP Sydney ChapterDecember 6, 2011Bob Lohfeld, Lohfeld Consulting Groupwww.LohfeldConsulting.com

Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.2

Win More Business

Focus on 7 Proven Steps to—

Advance in Your Career

Write Better Proposals

PROPOSAL


7 Keys to Winning in Team Sports (and Government Procurements)

Every Good Coach will Tell You:

1 Recruit Great AthletesGet the Right People on the Team

3 Use the Right ToolsEnhance Your Level of Play with the Right Tools

2 Have a Solid Game PlanUse the Right Techniques


7 Keys to Winning in Team Sports (and Government Procurements)

Every Good Coach will Tell You:

4 Focus on CoachingCall the Right Plays

6 Avoid StealsEvery Proposal is Compliant, Responsive, and Compelling

5 Focus on Your StrategyBuild a Winning Solution

7 Enjoy the GameHave Fun at What You Do


Like an NFL team, you start by drafting the right athletes Aptitude: excellent organizational and writing skills Domain expertise Experience Avoid unapplied labor (slugs)

Step 1: Get the Right People1

Build Your Core Team

Consultants used for surge and special skills Major companies use a 70/30 rule

Augment Core Team with Special Players


Step 1: Get the Right People (Cont.)1

Professional expertise: real consultants vs. migratory labor

Recognized accomplishment: more than a business card, peer recognition as among the best

Commitment to the profession: APMP certifications

What to Look for in Consultants

“Accidental Proposal Consultant” who will do “anything for money” (AFM) between full-time jobs

What to Avoid


Professional Development Training: raise their level of understanding and competitiveness (do you have a training program/plan with courses identified?)

Skills training: train like you play/fight/fly; train using your process and tools

Step 1: Get the Right People (Cont.)1

Train Your Team

Proposals are an intellectual competition. Look at your market (SB, mid, large) and ask, “Are we smarter, better trained, and more agile than our competition?”

Look for the best and brightest who can work under tight deadlines (reliable); can handle long hours under stressful situations (durable); and are smart, creative and driven to be successful (talented)

The objective is not to produce a proposal, it is to create the winning proposal

Do You Have a Team That Can Win?


Step 2: Use the Right Process2

Establish a Business Acquisition Framework That Covers 5 Stages:

Business Development

Capture Management

Pre-proposal Preparation

Proposal Development Post-submittal


Defined: written and available process (framework) and instructional materials (procedures)

Repeatable: the process has survived multiple acquisitions

Managed: use the process to manage the pursuits and don’t manage around the process

Measured: track not only your wins and losses, but also how well you carried out the process

Optimized: based on results and statistical analysis, work to continually improve processes

Step 2: Use the Right Process (Cont.)2

Work Toward Building a Mature Business Acquisition Process (for Major Competitions and Task Order Responses)


Step 2: Use the Right Process (Cont.)

A Mature Process Will—Increase efficiency (everyone knows what to do and how to do it)

Reduce costs (reuse artifacts)

Increase win probability

Do You Have a Winning Process, or is Every Pursuit a New Adventure? (Reminds Me of the Movie 50 First Dates)

Percentage of companies we interview who admit to

having inadequate processes

Percentage of companies that actually do anything

about it

80% <20%

2


BD pipeline management tools include: Excel spreadsheet Deltek CRM (server or cloud) SalesForce.com (cloud) Microsoft Dynamic CRM (server or cloud)

Capture Management tools: Capture Command Center (Lohfeld’s SharePoint-based framework for managing

capture and proposal activities) Deltek GovWin (task order management)

Step 3: Use the Right Tools3

Define Your Overall Business Acquisition (BA) Lifecycle and Then Select and Use the Best Tools for Each Phase of the BA Lifecycle (Not The Other Way Around)


Proposal Management Tools SharePoint (Microsoft) Privia (SpringCM) Virtual Proposal Center (Intravation) SalesEdge (Sant) Custom development

Establish an Enterprise Repository with Appropriate Levels of Security to Archive Artifacts and Get Them off Your PC SharePoint (server or cloud) Oracle Siebel SAP

Step 3: Use the Right Tools (Cont.)3

http://www.intravation.com/


Establish 5 Special-purpose Capture and Proposal Productivity Tools Résumé database Past performance database (not the same as a contracts file) Reusable graphics library Pre-written proposal content On-line archive of past proposals

Personal Proposal Productivity Tools (Microsoft-centric) Office 2010 and Windows 7, but keep other versions available for government

electronic submissions SharePoint 2010 Adobe Creative Suite Adobe Acrobat Pro See Beth Wingate’s list of tools on our website

Step 3: Use the Right Tools (Cont.)3


Choose the battles you are going to win and invest appropriately Stand down on those you are unlikely to win

Make the Right Management Decisions

Step 4: Call the Right Plays4

Use a scorecard to evaluate bid opportunities Use a “portfolio approach” to include some lower investment, higher payoff, lower win

probability bids to maximize your likelihood of achieving your revenue goals Build your “A list” of programs that you plan to bid and a “B list” of backup programs to bid if

an “A list” program is delayed (always have a backup plan to make your revenue number)

Measure Your Pursuit Progress and Don’t be Afraid to Shut Down a Pursuit if You are Not Making Real Progress (See Color Mosaic on Next Slide)

Get a Running Start on Your Proposal• Start proposal planning & development in anticipation of RFP release, not after the RFP is out

Manage Your Workload to Avoid Burnout

Make the Pursuit and Bid/No-bid Decisions


Step 4: Call the Right Plays (Cont.)

Pursuit Decision Scorecard

4Color code: Blue (excellent), Green (good, but could be better),

Yellow (poor and needs much work), and Red (we don’t know how to begin)

QUALITATIVE DECISION MODEL

Pursuit Decision Factors Color Scale Assessment

1. Strategic Fit Blue

2. Understand the Requirement Green

3. Right Solution Blue

4. Customer Advocacy Green

5. Competition Favorable Yellow

6. Financial Objectives Green7. Pursuit Investment Green

Overall Assessment Light Green


Winning solutions are created (engineered), they don’t “just happen”

Address all requirements of the RFP (explicitly or implicitly)

Link your solution to the goals and objectives of your customer

Build features that will be evaluated as proposal strengths (features and benefits) and—

Demonstrate high likelihood of mission success Exceed contract requirements whenever practical in a

way that is meaningful to the customer

“Best Informed Wins.” If you understand the requirement better than your competition, you should be able to offer the best solution

Step 5: Emphasize Creating a Winning Solution

5Winning Bids will Always be “Feature Rich” with Many Strengths, No or Few Weaknesses, and Offer Low Risk


Step 5: Emphasize Creating a Winning Solution (Cont.)

5

Do you have a win laboratory or victory lab as part of your process?

Build Solution Development into Your Capture and Proposal Processes

Never start writing your technical or managementproposal until you’ve agreed on the solutions and features that you will showcase

Agree on Your Solution

Creativity may be your only real competitive advantage since today’s breakthroughs are tomorrow’s obsolete technology

Focus on Creativity

Capture Management

Pre-proposal Preparation

Solution Sessions


Make no mistakes in the proposal that cause you to lose points Make it easy to evaluate (score) The battle should be won by having the best solution—assume your

competitors’ proposals will be well-written!

Step 6: Build a Compliant, Responsive, Compelling Proposal

6Professional Proposals are Expected to be Compliant, Responsive, and Compelling and Convey Your Solution in the Most Favorable Way to Receive the Highest Evaluation Score

CompliantCompellingResponsive


Always follow these rules: Never criticize the person, only critique the

solution or proposal to make it better Encourage innovation, experimentation, and

creativity within the framework of your business acquisition process

Recognize and appreciate the contributions to success and don’t chastise those who tried hard but didn’t win

A happy team builds a culture around winning and your team can become invincible in your competitive market

Step 7: Have Fun!7

People Who Have Fun at What They do are More Engaged, Creative, Productive, and Motivated to Win

Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

On a Scale of 1 to 4, Rate Your Company in Each of the 7 Factors

How Well Do You Stack Up?

20

4

4

32

1

4

3

2

1

43

21

43

21

4

3

2

1

4

3

2

1

3

2 1

PEOPLE

PROPOSAL

QUALITY O

F

LIFE

DECISION

TOOLS

PROCESS

SOLUTION

The Graphic Gives You a Clear Indication of Where You Need to Focus Your Energy


•Survey shows on average, a 20% increase in 7-factor scores produces a 20% increase in win rate!

Companies Government Market Commercial Market

Number of companies in

survey

Average 7-factor score

Win Rate Number of companies in

survey

Average 7-factor score

Win Rate

Low 7-factor assessment scores 9 17.89 44.4 6 12.83 41.33

High 7-factor assessment scores 8 21.5 65.3 5 21.2 43.8

Average 19.59 54.4 16.64 42.45

APMP Survey shows higher 7-factor scores result in higher win rates

US Government contractors had 17% higher 7-factor scores and 28% higher win rates than US companies in the commercial market.


Presentation slides and 7-Factor Assessment Scorecard are on our website at www.LohfeldConsulting.com http://www.lohfeldconsulting.com/news-knowledge/page/4/

More information about productivity tools can be found in Beth Wingate’s presentation: http://www.lohfeldconsulting.com/news-knowledge/2011/06/appmaven%E2

%80%99s-secret-arsenal-tools-and-apps-to-achieve-victory-apmp-2011-6-3-11/

Please think of us for capture and proposal support, process development/ implementation, and training.

Upcoming training classes (http://www.lohfeldconsulting.com/about/events) December 9, APMP Foundation-level Accreditation, Springfield, VA January 12, APMP Foundation-level Accreditation, Columbia, MD

Conclusion

http://www.lohfeldconsulting.com/about/events





Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

About Lohfeld Consulting Group

www.lohfeldconsulting.com Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/Lohfeld

Lohfeld Consulting Group specializes in helping companies create winning proposals. As the premier proposal services consulting firm focused exclusively on government markets, we provide expert assistance to government contractors in Capture Planning and Strategy, Proposal Management and Development, Capture and Proposal Process and Infrastructure, and Training.

Contact Bob LohfeldCEO of Lohfeld Consulting GroupEmail: [email protected]: (410) 336-6264

23

www.lohfeldconsulting.com

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