10 signs that it's time to reengineer how your company reviews proposals
How do you know it's worth the effort to get everyone to change?
How do you know when it's time to take on the sacred cows, break old habits, and go through the effort required to change how everyone at your company reviews proposals?
10 signs that it’s time to reengineer your approach to reviewing proposals
Ask yourself if you see your company in any of the following, because you can't maximize your win rate if:
- You don’t have a written definition of what proposal quality is
- Your proposal process consists of writing in anticipation of a big review and then final production
- The only criteria reviewers have to assess what it will take to win is the RFP
- You rely on people to tell you whether your proposal is any good, instead of criteria
- Your reviewers show up unprepared, turning your reviews into exercises in proposal sight reading
- You don’t separate what to review from how to review it
- You review against the same criteria for every proposal, instead of criteria based on what it will take to win that particular pursuit
- Everyone defines the scope or criteria for each review differently
- Writers don’t know what to expect from the reviewers
- The goal of the review is something ambiguous like “helping,” “providing feedback,” or “catching mistakes” instead of validating the proposal against what it will take to win
Whether to reengineer is really a return on investment (ROI) consideration, and that makes it worthy of executive-level attention. If you do the math, a small change in win rate is worth a considerable amount of effort. And we're talking more about changing culture than actual expense. How much does the company currently invest in finding new leads against its current rate, and what dose that return? How much better is the return if you increase your win rate against your current leads by improving your proposal reviews?
If you see your company in the list above, it's time to start asking that question.
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Carl Dickson
Carl is the Founder and President of CapturePlanning.com and PropLIBRARY
Carl is an expert at winning in writing, with more than 30 year's experience. He's written multiple books and published over a thousand articles that have helped millions of people develop business and write better proposals. Carl is also a frequent speaker, trainer, and consultant and can be reached at carl.dickson@captureplanning.com. To find out more about him, you can also connect with Carl on LinkedIn.
Our review services will show you the difference between a good proposal and a great proposal. We'll show you how a few simple changes can make a big impact and improve your win rate. We do reviews that are formal, detailed, and criteria based, as well as quick reviews just based on our experience. Either way, we focus on more than just personal opinions. We’ll show you what it means to assess a proposal against what it takes to win, and how to look at things from the customer’s perspective. What you learn from our review of this proposal can benefit all the proposals you produce in the future. It's one of the most cost-effective ways to use our consulting services. Click the Concierge Button to ask us more about it.
