www.apmp-dach.org

6. APMP-DACH-Konferenz 17. September 2013

"Kunden begeistern durch professionelles Angebotsmanagement“

The art and science of proposal qualification

Richard Jenkins, Director, Strategic Proposals Limited

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Our roadmap for this session

Qualification benchmark

4 How to qualify?

2 When to qualify?

3 Who should be involved?

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6 Benefits of effective qualification

5 No bidding...

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1. Your organisation’s qualification process

Score your

organisation’s

current qualification

process 0-10

0 = we don’t have one

10 = perfectly efficient &

effective

Hands up if you have a formal process How effective is the process?

Your qualification process is:

A scientific Bid-No Bid scoring system

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Your qualification process is:

The “Art of Sales” (or chasing every opportunity)

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Account Manager’s

Pot of Gold

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“Do not make war unless victory may be gained thereby;

if there be prospect of victory, move;

if there be no prospect, do not move.”

Your qualification process is:

A highly strategic mix: “The Art of War”

“These things must be known by the leader:

to know them is to conquer;

to know them not is to be defeated.”

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2. When to qualify?

“We need

to do

something!”

• Trigger

business need

• Budget &

business case

“How are

we going to

buy it?”

• Build the team

• Functional

specification

• Market

awareness

• Purchasing plan

“Who’s

capable in

the

market?” • Assess market

capability

• Initial review of

the market via

RFI, PQQ

• Create list of

formal bidders

“Get the

best

deal!” • Formal review

of market via

RFP, ITT etc

• Evaluate

• Negotiation

• Business

approval

• Contractual

commitment

“Deliver &

make it

work!”

• Manage

transition /

delivery

• Manage

supplier

performance

(SRM)

Initial qualification as soon as you are aware of the

opportunity – well before the RFP is issued

Be aware of the multi-stage procurement timeline

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Recommendations for the key stages of the qualification

process

• Initial

opportunity

identification /

review

• Owned by

sales

• Added to

CRM pipeline

Close

review

• Sales

• Core bid

team

involved: bid

/ proposal

manager &

key subject

matter

experts)

• Senior

stakeholders

+ core team

• Opportunity

• Win strategy

• Resources &

support

signed off

• Assumptions

• Wider bid

team

engaged

and

preparing

for success

• Rapid

engagement

• Test

assumptions

• Validate

resources

• Senior

stakeholders

+ core team

Validate

decision

Formal

Bid /

No Bid

board

Is this

worth a

look? RFP

arrives

Pre-

proposal

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Use an active qualification process to improve your effectiveness

An ‘active qualification’ approach drives improvement

actions & identifies show-stoppers

We have a strong

existing

relationship with

the customer's

decision makers

Score

Now

Potential

Score

3 8

Actions to

improve our

chances of

success

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Pre-Proposal planning improvement actions

By the time the RFP arrives…

8 statements –

check which

were true for

your last bid!

1. The client has a good idea of our capabilities and competitive advantages.

2. We've influenced the client's requirements & criteria towards our competitive strengths.

3. We've established a good relationship with the key client decision makers.

4. We understand the customer's view of our competitive position.

5. We know the timescales for the RFP / proposal.

6. We've built our proposal team & they’ve allocated time.

7. We've pulled together any 'raw data' that we'll need when we come to write the proposal.

8. The customer is looking forward to reading our proposal and expects us to win.

3. Who should be involved in qualification?

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Sales

Lead Subject matter experts: technical,

finance, programme, risk etc

And the bid/proposal manager

What the bid/proposal manager can bring to the

qualification process

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Historical knowledge and trends of bidding for

similar opportunities – by scope, by supplier, by sector

Insights to the purchasing organisation

Competitor intelligence

Learnings from win-loss reviews

Independence and objectivity!

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4. How to qualify the opportunity?

The ultimate, simple but effective qualification mantra

1. Is it real?

2. Do we want it?

3. Can we win it?

4. Can we do it?

Bringing a degree of objectivity to support subjective decisions

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The missing criterion – “It’s strategic” (usually Sales or Exec-led!)

Known future opportunity(s)

Recovering credibility

Market penetration

Competitive attack

Desperation

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Oh, one other possible criterion

Is the Account Manager’s

name Franz Smit?

• Is it real?

• Do we want it?

• Can we win it?

• Can we do it?

5. No bidding

Top reasons for “no bid” decisions

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Strategic Proposals international survey 2011

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Perfectly good

supplier decides

not to bid

Poor, unsuited

supplier

• Results from low

customer / bid

attractiveness

• Shock in the buying

ranks

• Buyers blaming the

supplier

• Senior managers

wondering what

purchasing has done

to 'scr*w up again'

• Follows from a poor

supplier assessment

• The real risk is if the

seller decides to bid

anyway, for fear of

what the buyer will

say if they no bid and

then we're into a

world of time and

value wasting

“If suppliers do not wish to bid due

to concerns about the

requirement, strategic fit, the

buyer's process and/or people, or

fears that it's all a ‘put-up job’ and

there's either no business to place,

or whatever business there is will

go to a well embedded incumbent…

… then they really must no bid, and

communicate clearly and

professionally why they’ve done so.

“No bidding” – a procurement perspective

Steve Mullins FCIPS

Past Chair, Centre for Procurement Leadership

March 2011

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“No bidding” guidelines

Done right

“A great project… we only submit when we have the best solution… don’t want to waste your time”

Done wrong

“Your project’s too small, your approach is flawed, we’re not interested” – and undermines their internal process

The risks

Done so badly that there is relationship damage

Validates salesperson’s desire to qualify back in

Tactics

Use someone senior to communicate decision

Careful scripting, planning & rehearsal

Empower the team to say: “STOP!”

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Shout if you think

you’re heading down

the wrong path!

6. The benefits of more effective qualification

100

chased

20

won

Current state

25 “no

hopers”

identified

75

chased

25

won

Future state Win rate

improves from

20% to 33%

Revenue = 25/20

= 25% increase

Would this be

compelling to

your senior

management?

What could your

numbers look

like?

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Summary

Characteristics of success qualification approaches

Secure buy-in & ownership from sales

4 Use a qualification tool

2 Every deal: qualified out until it’s qualified in

3 Stop rogue bidding – but provide self-help capability?

5 Beware of simply creating a hurdle for sales to jump

1

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Characteristics of success qualification approaches (cont)

Track outcomes

7 “No bid” – sometimes (often?!)

8 Make the cost of bidding visible

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9 Learn from your clients

As the bid / proposal manager - get involved! 10

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Win more and win more easily

Optimise your

cost of sale;

maximise your

win rates

Develop a positive

culture for bidding

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Good luck applying these techniques*

* But remember – the best proposal teams make their own luck!

The proposal management blog

www.theproposalguys.com

www.strategicproposals.com

Richard Jenkins

+44 (0)778 227 6585

rj@strategicproposals.com