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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
2
Our roadmap for this session
Qualification benchmark
4 How to qualify?
2 When to qualify?
3 Who should be involved?
1
6 Benefits of effective qualification
5 No bidding...
3
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
4
Your qualification process is:
The “Art of Sales” (or chasing every opportunity)
5
Account Manager’s
Pot of Gold
6
“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.”
7
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
8
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
9
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
10
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?
11
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
12
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!
13
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
14
The missing criterion – “It’s strategic” (usually Sales or Exec-led!)
Known future opportunity(s)
Recovering credibility
Market penetration
Competitive attack
Desperation
15
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
16
Strategic Proposals international survey 2011
17
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
18
“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!”
19
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?
20
21
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
22
Characteristics of success qualification approaches (cont)
Track outcomes
7 “No bid” – sometimes (often?!)
8 Make the cost of bidding visible
6
9 Learn from your clients
As the bid / proposal manager - get involved! 10
23
Win more and win more easily
Optimise your
cost of sale;
maximise your
win rates
Develop a positive
culture for bidding
24
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
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