What is a Shaped Opportunity?

When selling to the government, just like a commercial entity, the government can be influenced to include certain requirements in a solicitation that may favor a certain vendor if, and only if, it’s deemed beneficial to the overall program.

The government is a buyer and wants to provide the best overall solution for it's mission.

Shaping can be anything from a very technical cloud environment requirement; a unique feature set that your team offers; qualifications and certifications for your personnel/business; or even your office layout and accessibility to differentiate space requirements.

So, what is the best explanation of a Shaped Opportunity? Let’s start with what it is not. 

That's Not Shaped

There is a perception that because your company can perform work on a program, that it’s the right opportunity for you. Business Development Executives that have experience with the opportunity will many times automatically put it in the pipeline on this criteria and begin tracking the RFP release date as if they are ahead of it.

But there is a big difference between what your company can do and what has been shaped favorably to your company.

A few examples that people mistake for being shaped:

• Requirements that you can do but haven’t discussed with the government.
• Requirements that the government shared with you in a conversation that are already part of the current program.
• While not every company can perform the work, the requirements are such that multiple companies, including you, can do.

Don’t mistake requirements that you can do for ones that are shaped unless they are unique to you.

What is shaping?

Shaping is done during the conversations with the government. It can only be done when you know the current solution the government has; the challenges they have with it; and the areas they are focused on improving.

Honestly, if you don’t know any of the above – your shaping won’t be effective. It’ll be like shooting out your features and benefits and hoping something sticks. Just give them an unsolicited marketing brochure if that’s the approach you want to take.

By taking that above information, you can then map out how you can help them tackle this project and how you recommend they do it.

Lead with your understanding of their priorities. Weave in your differentiators and discriminators. Close with your Value Proposition. Your Capture and Proposal teams will thank you. Then, get the government's feedback – position so they see the value of utilizing the approach you are recommending.

Ask them what they would want to add and enhance - you will find yourself solution building with the government in a way that only you can deliver on.

Discussion points such as “We would use this automation tool for Tier 1 help-desk because we’ve found that it cuts down on the number of support team members on the contract. This typically saves our clients 30% in comparison to other solutions”.

Your discriminator - the automation aspect of your service.

Your Value Proposition - 30% savings on this type of project

Proof Point - you've done it before for other organizations.

When is the best time to shape an opportunity?

Simply put – the earlier the better. Obvious, right?

Sure, larger organizations can get ahead of things years out. That’s not realistic for many growing firms that aren’t the incumbent on a contract.

With that said, the Business Development team needs to still get ahead of it.

Before the RFP.

Before the DRAFT SOW or DRAFT RFP.

Hopefully, before the RFI or Sources Sought is released.

Am I suggesting you talk to the customer early-on before the procurement – 100%, yes.

Government sales cycles are long, that’s why many roles play a part in the procurement.

It’s the Business Development team’s responsibility to get ahead of deals and push down qualified and shaped opportunities for the Capture and Proposal teams.

Anyone can read a solicitation portal and guess RFP release dates.

When we’ve worked with organizations, a few times they will bring us in on the proposal and will share with us a compelling unique solution that they want to include. Something that can potentially drive down cost for the bid and improve efficiencies.

But it changes the scope of the solicitation and neglects several requirements. The problem is that 5 other firms will be bidding straight to the solicitation requirements and the contracting officer is looking for compliance on the requirements in the solicitation.

I ask them – "Why didn’t you share this with the government before the solicitation came out?"

“We were tracking it on *insert solicitation site* and hoped we could demonstrate it in the proposal”. While a compelling proposal will absolutely help you score higher, it would be even more compelling with shaped requirements and would make it easier for the selection committee to chose your organization.

How do you know you shaped an opportunity?

To answer this question – follow the mapping above.

The best way to see if you have shaped an opportunity or have a good angle on it is the:

1. Industry Day
2. RFI/Sources Sought
3. DRAFT Solicitation.

As a Business Development team member, you should be combing through the questions and requirements on the pre-solicitation documents to identify the requirements you shaped. Sometimes it’s only a couple, sometimes it’s several. Alert the Capture team as you go through your gate review.

If they don’t pop up on the RFI/Sources Sought solicitation – work with your proposal team during the response to reiterate them in your response and follow-up diligently after you submit in an effort to get them into the DRAFTs.

How do you consistently shape an opportunity?

Consistently getting ahead of opportunities many times requires an organization to rethink how they work in the market.

Understanding your market and your customers of best fit is first priority. From there – identifying those strategic opportunities (ones that you can get ahead of) that you can begin pursuing.

If an RFI/Sources Sought is released without you knowing about it - you are behind on the opportunity. Change habits and begin engaging the government prior to a solicitation release.

Real world example

Recognizing that tips and concepts only going so far – it’s important to validate how they apply in day to day activities so I’ll pull on a personal story early in my career.

Coming down to the DC area, a company called Acendre gave me an opportunity to move into public sector sales. We sold Human Capital SaaS software and as a Business Development Analyst/Sales Engineer – I was responsible for supporting our President in pursuit of new business opportunities.

Having no prior US public sector experience either, he was focused on the Value Proposition and our differentiators. Like our competitors, we ticked the boxes on USAJobs integration, cloud hosting, and SaaS-offering modules. What made us unique was our internal workflow tool that automated steps. Additionally, our ability to move to different cloud environments made us stand out.

Still new, I was responsible for developing the proposals and when an Intel Agency opportunity that he had been working dropped, I worked through requirements. Sure enough, the workflow requirements were in there. The cloud hosting requirements were in there. That left us as the best fit organization for the opportunity and an easy procurement for the government.

The government wants the best solution. As a Business Development team, you are responsible for detailing why your solution is best and building buy in with the customer.

What should you look for in a Business Development Partner?

There are firms out there that have deep agency knowledge and government expertise. They are known for “opening the doors” for organizations. Opening doors is fantastic as it helps the agency familiarize their team with you much quicker.

With that said, these door openers are rarely good at shaping opportunities for you. Typically, they have agency experience and maybe even some program experience but they are typically lacking in the strategic decision making or technical aspects of the program.

Utilize these resources for what they are but don't expect them, or pay them, as if they are solely responsible for bringing you an opportunity written for you and wrapped in a bow. That's unrealistic.

At Key Solutions, we feel that the best person to demonstrate and discuss your capabilities is you and your team. We can help you understand your market, get in front of your customer, develop your value proposition and more. We developed our company to support you in every aspect of your market pursuits whether through advisory, process development or execution.

As you evaluate potential partners, come to ready to poke holes in what they are saying, challenge them to deliver an ROI for you and make them earn your business. After all, the opportunities you are pursuing deserve the support it takes to win them.

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Josh Cramer is the Director of Business Development at Key Solutions, a Washington D.C. based consulting firm that helps companies better position their organization for success in the public sector by providing end to end opportunity life-cycle support and advisory services.

For an in-depth guide on targeting the public sector and setting your team up for success, access the KSI Advantage Capture and Proposal guide here.

To learn more about how our team can help you build, improve and execute in the public sector visit aockeysolutions.com or follow us on LinkedIn.