BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SALES AND BID?

Chris Whyatt

Workshop Agenda• Research Findings (The collective wisdom of 148 people)

• Best Ideas to Close the Gap (Harnessing that collective wisdom)

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Q1: What do you spend most of your day doing?

Other People (74) Bid People View (74)

Q1: What do you spend most of your day doing?

Comments from survey responses…

4

Q2: In your recent experience (say 5 years), is there a gap between the sales function and the bid function?

Q2: In your recent experience (say 5 years), is there a gap between the sales function and the bid function?

Bid People View Other People View

Q2: In your recent experience (say 5 years), is there a gap between the sales function and the bid function?

Comments from survey responses…

7

Q2: In your recent experience (say 5 years), is there a gap between the sales function and the bid function?

Comments from survey responses…

8

Q3: Has the gap got wider or narrower during that time?

Q3: Has the gap got wider or narrower during that time?

Bid People View Other People View

Q3: Has the gap got wider or narrower during that time?

Comments from survey responses…

11

Q3: Has the gap got wider or narrower during that time?

Comments from survey responses…

12

Q4: Does the gap matter?

Q4: Does the gap matter?

Comments from survey responses…

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Q4: Does the gap matter?

Comments from survey responses…

15

Q5: Who is to blame for the gap?

Q5: Who is to blame for the gap?

Bid People View Other People View

Q5: Who is to blame for the gap?

Comments from survey responses…

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Q5: Who is to blame for the gap?

Comments from survey responses…

19

Best Ideas to Close the Gap

Q6: What would help close the gap?

Leading the Business1. Better marketing support so both working towards the same aims

2. If Bid Managers could sell and Sales were better organised

3. Greater understanding and appreciation of the role of sales and bid help by better processes and clearly define roles and responsibilities, and rigorous continual qualification of opportunities.

4. No bonuses for anybody until the project is delivered, on time, on budget and satisfying all project requirements.

5. Alignment of objectives and goals, common and aligned pay plans

6. Proper role and process definition.

7. A more integrated approach.

8. Stop using the terms sales and bids: business winning is better

9. Great clarity on the associated processes and mutually supportive KPI's

10. Strong leadership.

11. Documented bid review and approval process

12. Better communication between the both sides. As well knowledge of the job of the other function will help for better.

13. Form virtual teams, establish effective communication, make the bid team a service function, measured by how it supports sales, not only by how efficient it is in producing proposals

14. Change the sales / bid culture

15. Formal, cross functional process for bids

Q6: What would help close the gap?

Managing Sales People1. Bid personnel being motivated in a similar way to sales people - bonuses for winning. Otherwise it’s a job, bid after bid, win or lose, no

consequence.

2. Better teaming and understanding of each others job responsibility

3. Bids being a fundamental function of the sales strategy

Selling1. Good communication and a compensation plan correctly organised

2. More dialogue

3. In my experience, bidding is ONE part of a solution selling process. For success, both 'bidders' and 'sellers' need to understand how all these parts are 'connected'

4. Reduced bureaucracy, more phone calls vs lengthy, meaningless PowerPoint bid strategy, an acceptance that no one fully knows what a customer is likely to do, and more alacrity when responding to opportunities to shape a customer, thus avoiding tenders in the first place.

5. A change in approach and closer working relationship between Bid and sales team

6. Recognition of its importance

7. Better understanding of process by management

8. More experienced bid professionals (most come from finance and not operations)

9. Trust and communication and better qualification and understanding

Q6: What would help close the gap?

Supporting sales people1. Aligned goals and compensation

2. Clear direction aligned to selling and bidding and with the removal of back seat driving and second guessing (however 'well' intentioned) should realign the overall process to focus on meeting sensible client needs.

3. Structured bid support where responsibilities are clearly defined

4. Improved products with limitations on sales flexibility

5. Very visible training courses for all new starters and made mandatory for all campaign teams

6. Improved understanding by both parties of the entire opportunity and engagement management process. To gain appreciation of respective roles and motivations.

7. Education of bid management skills, relinquish of control

8. Coherent & mature sales/BD prospect generation coupled with leadership leading pursuit best practice

9. Good question, not sure. More reliance on views, less on what tools say perhaps

10. Bring the bid resources into the sales teams, rather than separate

Q6: What would help close the gap?

Managing Bid People

1. Top down approach - communicating how key a professional bid team is to the success of the business and positive customer and market perceptions.

2. Recognizing roles have changed and it's not the same world anymore ...

3. I believe that the gap shouldn't be closed completely. They are two different skill sets, a sales person has the relationship and builds upon it. The bid manager uses their skills to leverage everything from that relationship that is good but to also maintain an impartial view to ensure we don't submit a bid based on everything we know, rather than actually responding to the tender. Without this approach we could lose touch of our competitors and how they would potentially respond, opening us up to potentially losing the deal.

4. Recognition of value individuals bring

5. Business plans that focus on tactics not just strategy.

6. processes, communication and training

7. Time, senior management buy in, messaging, training and experience

Q6: What would help close the gap?

Working on or contributing to bids1. Better qualification, better management of process and budgets, use of correct resources with correct skills and

experience

2. Sales people understanding more about what their bid function does. There is a perception the bid team does a bit of admin and they often disregard best practise because they don’t understand it - persuasive writing styles for example.

3. Organisational alignment. Complementary incentives. Recognition of bidding and bid management as a strategic business winning function, not a proposal production and co-ordination role. Sponsorship and championing of the bidding discipline by senior leadership.

4. Upgrading the bid tools to make the team more efficient = underinvestment in the bid function is a self-fulfilling prophecy of the bid team not being strategic enough etc

5. some sort of consistent interaction between the sales and bid teams prior to the RFP coming in would be nice

6. Co-location?

7. A willingness to understand that there is more to a competitive edge that submitting the lowest price, in the expectation that the tender price can be doubled over the lifetime of the contract.

8. More collaboration and a proper 'account management' with a strategy

9. Less micromanagement

10. Better appreciation of the contribution that bid can make, rather than the age-old buying of 'Administration function' views. Needs senior management buying and support.

Q6: What would help close the gap?

Working on or contributing to bids11. Education of Senior Execs on Bidding

12. If the Sales function were more heavily involved in internal Bid meetings. If the Sales function also ensured we knew about each bid prior to it landing to allow us to understand the unwritten messages in the bid documents.

13. Having the right tools in place, leadership-led changes in behaviour

14. greater communication and understanding of common goals

15. More coordinated & integrated capture / bid processes

16. Top-down commitment (in practice, not theory), education, professionalisation

17. Give sales people a true appreciation of the bid environment – most sales people can't be bothered with 'the paperwork'!

18. Closer understanding from each side on what they need / what the role is of the other

19. A "download" routine, driven initially by senior management

20. For our business, the return to a more joined up approach internally. Managers that encourage a collaborative team effort. More workshop style kick offs, rather than meetings where one person talks and shares ideas. Open days for the bid team to showcase our capability to the sales teams. Collaborative sessions where bid and sales can pitch in ideas for an improved working relationship.

Q6: What would help close the gap?

Working on or contributing to bids30. Behavioural changes

31. Bonus related targets that drives collaboration between both functions

32. Senior management needs to work with sales and proposal development to ensure that sales understands the proposal process and that bids understands sales.

33. Education of management!

34. Role definition!

35. Better comms to keep bid team in the loop

36. Formal processes and defined roles

37. Team approach, better communication, improved processes

38. A sales manager with commercial experience

39. Share knowledge and put the customer always first

31. Senior management viewing bidding as integral to sales and not as an isolated administrative "form filling" function.

32. Preproposal is a shared responsibility. Tenders are won in the prophase (influencing the Client, building relationship etc. etc.) not in the bid "factory".

33. Joined up departments

Q6: What would help close the gap?

Working on or contributing to bids34. Within my company...Bids-to-Sales; Bids being able to deliver within a reasonable timescale (my company over-

complicates everything, so we're working with all relevant departments to streamline). Sales-to-Bids; better qualified and believable opportunities (currently it's always a "Bid/Bid" question rather than a "Bid/No Bid"). Mainly, building trust and understanding, which then brings collaboration and ultimately everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.

35. Finding more common ground.

36. The Senior leadership should have a vision on how and why Bid Management should be considered as an important lever in supporting the sales to win business.

37. Our sales people should get closer to the reality of what we do...love to put them all through APMP Foundation!!

38. Taking helping the customer as common ground

39. Senior management guidance

40. a deeper understanding and respect for bids

41. Recognising that people can do multiple roles. Managing the sales cycle from when it first touches the business through to implementation is, I believe, a hugely beneficial solution.

42. Joined up, holistic approach

43. 1. Vision and leadership. 2. Clear roles and accountabilities. 3. Clear and effective process.

Thank You

Chris Whyatt

chris@gettogreat.co.uk

07779 297401