How to get more of the work you REALLY want

When I talk to people in professional services firms, and organisations who compete through bids and tenders, something I hear often is that they are flat out just keeping up with the opportunities they need to respond to.

It's a struggle to get time to think about the work they really want, and they are frustrated that opportunities they know would be perfect for them are passing them by.

What many are hesitant to say, but know is an issue, is that they are operating in an environment that is designed to commoditise, and to force prices down, and that doesn’t play to their strengths or vision.

Because of this, shrinking margins are a problem in most services businesses.

According to CSIMarket.com, the professional services industry is achieving net margins of only 11.24%, while construction services are at 7.31% and transport and logistics are at a meagre 4.55%.

At the moment, within your business, there are probably four different kinds of work that you are doing:

1.     Work you love, and want more of

2.     Good, solid work that pays the bills and keeps the lights on

3.     Marginal or painful work, and

4.     Work that’s sending you out of business.

Unfortunately, most of us spend way too much time on the last three, and not nearly enough on the first.

That’s because the way we run new business pursuits is completely wrong. It delivers more of the work we DON’T want, without any of what we really do want.

If this is an issue for you, contact me and I’ll send you a copy of my new white paper Pole Position – How To Achieve New Business Success.

In it, you’ll learn why the future belongs to the “makers”, and how you can become one.

Robyn Haydon is a business development consultant specialising in business that is won through competitive bids and tenders. Her clients have won and retained hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business with many of Australia’s largest corporate and government buyers. Had a tough year? Missed out on business you really wanted? Let’s make sure 2016 is different. The Pole Position program will position you to win the opportunities on your radar for next year. Email info@robynhaydon.com or call 03 9557 4585 to find out more.

How to “grow” your own proposal writers

In a proposal, what you say is more important than how you say it, and making sure the people in your team contribute their knowledge is very important. This means getting everyone involved in proposal writing, even if they don’t see themselves as “writers”.

Proposal writing is a skill that can be taught. Everyone in your team who has knowledge to share can learn to be more effective in proposal writing.

However, some people will be more suited to proposal writing as a regular gig than others.

Responding to tenders can feel like you are sitting an exam every day. People who were good at exams at school or university and who quite like the challenge of sitting exams (yes, it happens) are ideal for this type of work.

Bid writers need to quickly understand what’s being asked for in a Request for Tender and know how to respond.

Likewise, getting good exam marks requires the confidence to understand and interpret unfamiliar questions very quickly and under time pressure. It means being able to plan a response that addresses that question, then identify relevant content and ignore stuff that isn’t relevant, and weave an argument or point of view throughout.

A team member who has a good academic record with high exam scores in complex subjects is highly likely to be suited to the task of working on tenders. It doesn’t really matter what kind of subjects they were good at – it’s their pre-existing aptitude for this kind of work that is important.

But proposal writing can be a lonely and demanding job, often leading to exhaustion, frustration and burnout. When someone does choose to take it on, make sure that they get proper training, supervision and support – or their time in the job will probably be short-lived. 

Robyn Haydon is a business development consultant who helps helps service-based businesses that compete through bids and tenders to articulate the value in what they do, command a price premium, and build an offer that buyers can’t refuse. Don’t let others dictate how far and how fast your business can grow – take your power back! Email robyn@robynhaydon.com to request the white paper for the Beyond Ticking Boxes program.

The joy of bid content planning

In a complex bid or tender response, taking the time to plan content and evidence means you and your team will spend less time writing and rewriting. I call this the “joy” of bid content planning because to me, this is where the strategy comes to life. However, most people skip straight over this step because they’re impatient to get straight into writing. This is risky, because without proper planning there is always the chance that the most compelling elements of your strategy will never see the light of day.

A tender evaluation panel might contain anywhere from five to eight or more different stakeholders. They will come from the business area you are pitching to, and possibly also from its technology, legal and environmental sustainability teams.

Even when you are the incumbent supplier, there’s a very good chance that not everyone on the evaluation panel will be familiar with your work. Your proposal needs to explain this, and provide examples and evidence to support what you are saying.

Sit down with your team after the bid strategy session and examine each of the questions in turn. What are these questions really asking? Is there a question behind the question? What does the buyer really want to know? Are there potentially explosive issues here that you need to be aware of?

When thinking about how to answer each question, consider the major claims you want to make.

Then make sure you back them up with evidence.

This is exceptionally important in a bid or tender response, as the evaluation panel has to give each part of your proposal a score. What sets apart high scoring proposals is the believability of their claims, which is determined by the quality of the evidence that you provide. 

Robyn Haydon is a business development consultant who helps helps service-based businesses that compete through bids and tenders to articulate the value in what they do, command a price premium, and build an offer that buyers can’t refuse. Don’t let others dictate how far and how fast your business can grow – take your power back! Email robyn@robynhaydon.com to request the white paper for the Beyond Ticking Boxes program.

Seven steps to a great Executive Summary

In a proposal, the executive summary is your proxy for a face-to-face conversation with the customer. It sets out your case for the business in a short, confident piece of less than three pages – no matter how long and complex your actual proposal is.

As a Bid Leader, your job is to make sure that the executive summary really rocks. Write it yourself, in a clear, confident tone of voice that sounds exactly like it would if you spoke to the customer in person.

Writing your executive summary early is a great idea.

Your Purchaser Value Topics are the scaffolding on which you will build your offer, and writing your executive summary lets you scale that scaffolding, test how strong it is, and see where there are gaps you need to fill.

Here is a simple method to follow when you’re writing your executive summary.

1.     Thank the client and name the project, contract or opportunity you are responding to. Show that you understand what the client is looking for, presenting at least several insights that go over and above the requirements in the Request for Tender.

2.     Include an offer statement that summarises the commercial benefits of your offer in one paragraph.

3.     Confirm that your proposal conforms to the Request for Tender requirements. If necessary and relevant, explain briefly how they should read the proposal.

4.     Using your Purchaser Value Topics as headings, explain why the customer should choose you. Substantiate claims with your best examples and evidence, and include testimonials. This section represents the bulk of your executive summary.

5.     If you haven’t already, briefly explain why your proposal offers value for money. If relevant, address any concerns the client may have about choosing you.

6.     Ask for the business and summarise why you deserve it.

7.     Sign off using your name, as the most senior person on your bid team.

Robyn Haydon is a business development consultant who helps helps service-based businesses that compete through bids and tenders to articulate the value in what they do, command a price premium, and build an offer that buyers can’t refuse. Don’t let others dictate how far and how fast your business can grow – take your power back! Email robyn@robynhaydon.com to request the white paper for the Beyond Ticking Boxes program.

Nine ways to re-think the competition

Most of us tend to think of our competitors as the firms or organisations that are the closest match to ourselves – what I call ‘peer competitors’. This is a dangerous assumption, particularly as an incumbent supplier, because we don’t want to underestimate the field of competition and the other options the customer could be considering. 

In my practice, and in delivering my Persuasive Tender and Proposal Writing Master Class, I’ve read and provided feedback to hundreds of people about their past proposals and tender responses. I look for evidence that the writer has thought about what competitors might be offering, and come up with ways to better promote their own strengths and combat the strengths of competitors.

In fact, very few proposals adequately address the issue of competition.

We are not selling in a vacuum, and in a competitive tender the buyer will consider many proposals along with than yours – maybe a handful, or maybe hundreds.

Getting your head around what others might be offering is also a good way to test the validity of your own offer and ideas.

Aside from peer competitors, here are some ways to think about potential competitors that might pose a threat to your ability to win. Start by making a list of all the competitors you can think of, and consult your team to make sure you have covered them all.

Where could your competition come from?

1.     National organisations, if you are local.

2.     Local organisations, if you are national.

3.     Much larger or much smaller organisations.

4.     Organisations that already work with your customers in another capacity.

5.     Organisations with expertise in an area of current or future interest to the buyer.

6.     Organisations with expansion plans that include your market space.

7.     Potential partnerships among competitors, including joint ventures and consortia.

8.     Offshore and multinational organisations.

9.     The customer – they might do nothing, spend their money on other priorities, or decide to do the work in-house.

It’s essential to analyse competitors regularly, and even more important when you have a contract you don’t want to lose. This work will give you some good insights into where are placed in the market, and where you may need to improve your offer to win again.

Robyn Haydon is a business development consultant who helps helps service-based businesses that compete through bids and tenders to articulate the value in what they do, command a price premium, and build an offer that buyers can’t refuse. Don’t let others dictate how far and how fast your business can grow – take your power back! Email robyn@robynhaydon.com to request the white paper for the Beyond Ticking Boxes program.

Five business development behaviours that sabotage long-term success

Do you spend more energy getting new clients than servicing the ones you already have? Praise and heavily reward new business wins? Would you rather start a new job with a new customer than fix a problem with an existing one?

Our prevailing business development culture tends to measure and reward new business success over everything else. 

But this could be costing more than you think.

A study by Bain and Company (cited by Harvard Business School) found that the high cost of acquiring customers means that many customer relationships are initially unprofitable. However, this changes when the cost of serving loyal customers falls and the volume of their purchases rises. 

The same study found that increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95%.

Add to this the Gartner Group’s assertion that 80% of a company’s future profits will come from just 20% of its existing customers, and it’s clear that investing in the business we already have makes logical commercial sense. And yet, in many cases, this investment just doesn’t happen. 

Here are five business development beliefs and behaviours that sabotage our long-term success.

1. Focusing too much on revenue. Most BD metrics focus heavily on the revenue line. New customers push that line up much faster than incremental growth in existing accounts ever could, and what gets measured gets rewarded.
2. Believing customer satisfaction will result in customer loyalty. Most organisations run annual customer satisfaction surveys. Unfortunately, satisfaction measures are not a good predictor of loyalty OR of future behavior. I hold customer interviews as part of my pre-work for the retention programs I facilitate for clients. On more than one occasion, a customer who at one point reported themselves “highly satisfied” has turned out to be angry, disengaged and/or preparing to walk.
3. Performing well, but becoming complacent. When we’re hitting all our KPIs, it’s easy to forget that good work is what we get paid for, and not a selling point.
4. Shying away from the hard work. Let’s face it, some large customers are demanding and hard to deal with, and the relationship can become strained and tense over time. It can be easier to get excited about a new customer than to dig in and turn around a difficult one.
5. Being seduced by bright, shiny objects. It’s fun and exciting to pursue new business, with all its promise and possibility. In contrast, re-competing for customers you already have feels like applying for your own job. It’s hard, and confronting, and there is much, much more at stake.

Customer retention pays enormous dividends when we get it right. While the probability of converting a prospect can be less than 25%, we should be odds-on favourite with an existing customer. 

But incumbency is only an advantage if you choose to use it. Request the white paper and learn more about Getting Ready to Recompete For Your Most Important Contracts and Customers.

Robyn Haydon is a business development consultant specialising in competitive bids and tenders. Are you part-way through a contract term with a big customer? Have an important piece of business coming up for renewal or re-tender in the next 12 months? Join Robyn’s one-day workshop “How to Retain Your Most Important Contracts and Customers” and develop a Ready to Re-compete plan for the business you can’t afford to lose - http://www.robynhaydon.com/workshops/

Robyn Haydon is a business development consultant who helps helps service-based businesses that compete through bids and tenders to articulate the value in what they do, command a price premium, and build an offer that buyers can’t refuse. Don’t let others dictate how far and how fast your business can grow – take your power back! Email robyn@robynhaydon.com to request the white paper for the Beyond Ticking Boxes program.