People will argue that different methodologies apply to different products and industries – probably. All strategies however have two known commonalities:

1. Their finality is to sell

2. Their initial aim is to “get a meeting”

They all have a third commonality: they’ll lead to a hell more success if based upon identified “win themes”: why should your prospect give you the 30 minutes he didn’t have for your competitor? Why should he /she buy your offering over your competitor’s? This is when your win-theme kicks-in – if you have one that is.

Your win-theme – or themes – is the must-have information to bid. Don’t waste your time bidding without a win theme, you are clearly not in the game for this bid, better concentrate on another one. Win theme is a pivotal input to bid / no bid decision making. A win-theme must:

1. Be an important component of your offering i.e. your offering must be structured around the win theme

2. Bring tangible benefits to your prospect, ideally fit within a known success criteria for the bid

3. Convey experience

4. Differentiate your proposal from your competitors’

A simple example would be staffing for a program in a country where you are the market leader and for which command of the local language is of the utmost importance. There you are on a true win theme.

At this point usually kicks-in the price discussion: is price a win theme? Most definitely true to say that in the current economics, price is important, “LPTA” (Lowest Price Technically Acceptable) has taken over “Best Value” in many procurement processes. Is price a win theme though? No, not strictly speaking, LPTA and “Lowest Cost” are still two different things. Again, it is not to say that pricing isn’t important, and bid managers should read twice every tender to ensure that they pick-up on whether the offeror seeks “Best Value”, “LPTA” or “LC”.

So going back to win themes, they are essentials to successful bids. They are defined during the qualification process, form the basis of the response to a tender, and will be different from one tender to the next. Make sure you have one!

The post Attn Bid Managers – What’s your win theme? appeared first on veeuu - The World #1 Bid Management Platform!.

I was reading through an interesting linkedin discussion this week about the making of a bid / no bid decisions where most contributors to the discussion were, in the rational behind their decision making, focussing on internal considerations e.g. a lot of “do we?” and “can we?” to respond to a “should we?”.

Having always had a slight different tack to bid / no bid decisions, I decided to read on and browse the Net. I was rather puzzled to see that a simple Google search pointed me to MSOffice templates for bid / no bid decision making. I could live with the, somehow qualitative once-in-a-bid-time qualification driven by experience and expertise of seasoned business developers, but checklists and point scoring from Microsoft?.. Ok, the templates aren’t strictly speaking from Microsoft but from a Programme Management consultancy. Still…

Searching further afield I came across a number of decision flows i.e. “yes”/”no” answers to a few questions to guide you through to the “right” decision. Unsettling.

We all know that companies will have from “shotguns” to “no-blind-bid” “strategic” bidding approaches; and for those on either extremes of that spectrum the bid / no-bid decision is rather straight forward. How about the “inbetweeners” though?

My take on bid / no-bid has always been twofold:

1. Get, as often as it is possible, the prospect to confirm we should be bidding – Continuous engagement is key. Qualification must be repeated through the process and with the prospect’s inputs. It is not a one-time task.
2. Manage a bid through a half-systematic process, and that isn’t an oxymoron – Qualification must be systematic and scientific however never will follow the exact same steps. I see it as “snakes & ladders”: you don’t know where the next throw will get you, but must know where you are at after each throw in the process, how you are placed, and where you can get next.

Bid or no bid is not a simple “Qualify”. It is a “Qualify, then qualify, and qualify again”. Do use checklists, do have workflows, do use historical data, refer to seasoned professionals, engage with the prospect and never forget, there are many ways to get to “58”, as there are to get to “61”.

The post Bid or no Bid..? appeared first on veeuu - The World #1 Bid Management Platform!.