Betting in bidding
Javier Escartin
?? Figuring out AI in proposals so you don't have to. I believe we, the proposal professionals, have to lead this revolution so AI works for (and not against) us. Grab your free tools and insights below ??
This is a recap of the most valuable ideas we talked about in July 2024.
Below, you'll find:
The Proposals Tech Bit of the Month
In this bit, I’m getting less actionable than usual, so if you were looking for some quick action, here are some links to choose your way:
Now, let’s think about the future and the options any proposal professional has today.
Based on recent substantial capital investments in the technology space, there are two bets very well-informed people are making.
As with any bet about the future, nobody really knows, but there’s consensus on these being highly likely.
The good news for us in proposals is that, regardless of what turns out to happen, the actions we should take today to secure our careers are the same. Below is a plan.
Start using AI for everything you do in proposals today. See what works in your case and free up some time. Everybody’s bidding is different, so you must figure this out yourself. Here’s a way to start.
Invest the gained time into further improvements that allow you to free even more time (positive loop) and into the activities you know make the wins possible (bid/no-bid, client insights, win themes, bidding strategy, etc.).
If the Semi-boring bet wins, you’ll be among the best proposal professionals who know how to leverage AI for real bidding. If we end up having drop-in AI coworkers able to develop proposals (up to some point) on their own, you’ll be among the best proposal professionals who know how to get what makes you win done.
A bright future without having to bet on anything—well, you need to invest the time in figuring out how to use AI today, but the return is already there even if AI doesn’t get any better.
Of course, there’s another option. One that most peers are still taking. Doing nothing.
That’s indeed why this opportunity is so huge, and the fact that you’re reading this bit puts you already ahead.
But that’s not enough.
You need to act.
The Proposals Tip of the Month
Proposals is the hardest version of sales for many things.
Compliance is one of them.
The fact that we need to put together documents that are both compelling in a way that sells but also fully compliant with requirements is hard.
Way harder than what your sales reps do, even if they get the bonuses—this, by the way, is something that should change in our profession—but let's not enter into the bids vs sales jungle debate.
On top of it, requirements are not only about submission (the easiest ones) but also about implementing the future contract if you win.
When I was employed in the European Aerospace industry, this meant that our proposals for the space programs—often in the hundreds of millions range, although I co-led one for $1.1 billion—were complete project plans ready to be executed from day one. Comprehensive compliance was a must.
But it's not only about big contracts. Proper compliance is a must in any proposal, no matter the amount.
We all know compliance is essential; the problem is that doing proper compliance management is time-consuming, tedious, and boring.
I'm not going to say that AI-powered tools can make compliance management funny, but for the time-consuming part, they help.
Today I wanted to give you an overview of the approach to compliance I follow, what we can call "The What", and share one insight on how technology helps me do this better and faster.
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The What:
1 – Extract requirements from the RFP and organize them in a matrix in a way that suits your organization, which is often different from the RFP structure.
2 – Share with contributors the requirements they need to consider.
3 – Once drafts are advanced enough, trace back responses to the compliance matrix.
4 – Perform compliance checks on this matrix that maps requirements to the RFP and the proposal.
As you can see, this process involves a lot of reviewing and much parsing information between documents.
The good news is that AI can help with both.
Computers had no rival when moving and transforming information and, with AI, became much more capable because that parsing can now include analysis.
For example, I use DeepRFP to build compliance matrices and perform custom analyses almost daily.
I'm also using a prototype to trace proposal content back to the centralized compliance matrix.
My point is that in 2024, doing this type of stuff manually is not "OK" anymore.
By the way, I've shared how I do this, including the tools and a tip to save even more time that requires no technology, in one of my tutorials for DeepRFP .
It includes a 24-minute recording of me going through an example of this approach.
The RFP shredder I use for compliance management is also available in DeepRFP as an add-on .
Time to get back your time to focus on what matters!
The Bidding Short Video of the Month
The Proposals Billboard of the Month
Thanks!
And this is it for this edition of this newsletter.
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?? Top Jobs in Proposals—fully remote positions with salaries disclosed at companies with excellent ratings—featured in the emails.
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