Why you’re not producing winning proposals and what you can do to fix it

I’ve been helping clients win contracts for over 15 years with some great results along the way. Although every business and opportunity is different there are a number of common reasons why organisations miss out.

In this article, I’ve broken down the reasons why you aren’t winning contracts and also, what you can do to fix this.?

1. You have no relationship with the prospect, and they don’t trust you

Organisations are always submitting bids for work that they have no chance of winning from day one.? This is often due to not having a relationship with the buyer or someone in a position to influence them.? ?You are never going to have a clear understanding of buyer’s real concerns unless you get to know them.? If you are struggling with this, ask yourself the following question:? Why would anyone buy from you if they don’t know you?

What you can do to fix this

Some buyers are easy to access, and some are not.? Have a guess which ones are good are good at their jobs.?? Get a meeting with them and build a relationship over time.? Once you do this you get a clearer picture on what drives them, which is important as often it’s the solution that addresses the background concerns that wins.? If you can’t get in front of them try and identify other stakeholders in the organisation who are in a position to influence the buying decision.? Buyers don’t make the big calls on their own.? They make sure that they are protected by involving others.

2. You have the wrong people on your proposal team

A lot of leaders see tenders as being merely an activity that involves “filling out forms” and “doing paperwork” as opposed to being the important business development work that secures futures and pays bonuses.? As a result they often assign the responsibility of crafting responses to juniors or people who have been side-lined.? The problem with this is that these people often don’t have the written, design, influencing and project management skills required.

What you can do to fix this

Involve your best people on important bid responses. The best realise that there is a wide range of skill and capability required to land the big contracts.? I’ve seen organisations call on their best project managers to coordinate major bids.? They seek out their best writers in order to ensure that the messaging is well presented, clear and easily understood.? They call on their best designers to produce products and services that play to their strengths while hitting the prospect’s sweet spot.? They know that all of these skills can never reside in one person.

3. Your service / product is lagging behind the market

There will be times when your product or service falls behind your competition.? There are numerous reasons for this and plenty of them are beyond your control.?That said, it isn’t the end of the game.

What you can do to fix this

Fatalism isn’t going to help here and there are plenty of organisations who have succeeded in getting across the line despite limitations.? Start early in the business development cycle and work out where you have gaps and begin the influencing that will be important to closing them.? Hold regular competitive analysis workshops and involve people who: 1. Can give you a clear view of where you stand in the eyes of the prospect, and 2. Can make things happen internally so that your products and services begin to catch up.

4. Your team can’t write

If your bid team aren’t comfortable with the pen it will show in your proposals.? It will make it very difficult for the reader to give you the marks that a good writer working with the same material?would get with ease. Nobody is going to pay attention if what you’re writing isn’t clear.? When the reader has to work too hard to understand what you’re on about they lose interest.

What you can do to fix this

Simple.? Hire good writers and make sure that they are involved in the production of important bids.?? I loved Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson’s book “Rework” (2010) and I come back to this quote all the time:

“Being a good writer is about more than writing. Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand. They can put themselves in someone else’s shoes. They know what to omit.”

If you want to give your team the tools to clean up their writing style check out the Words that Win writing workshop.

5. Your proposals are hard to understand and look like a bowl of spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognese – nice to eat but not the prettiest of dishes about. A lot of tenders look like an absolute dog’s dinner, with a heap of information crammed in and no consideration given to its presentation or how it will resonate with the reader. ??Also, the reader has to work too hard to find out what you are on about and whether it’s of any value to them.

As a buyer would you want to work with someone who presents you with a sloppy mess of a document?

What you can do to fix this

Make it easy for the reader to find what they want through the use of structure.? They are only interested in what’s in it for them.? So, be sure to smash them in the face with your benefits from the start.? Show them a clear method of delivering these benefits. Finally include some evidence or proof as to where this has worked before.

Remember, less is more so cut out anything that isn’t relevant and be sure to use nice and relevant graphics – they break things up for the reader and often make the complex easier to understand.

6. Your proposals are about you and not them

Go back over some of your recent submissions.? The chances are the bulk of the material is concerned with singing your own praises.? Yes, you need to show your value but trust me on this – the client doesn’t care about you.? They only care about what you can do for them.?

What you can do to fix this

Tone down the use of “we” and “our” and in their place insert “you” and “your.”? Make the bid about them.? The best way of doing this is spelling out the benefits of what you do and how it will make their life easier.

7. You are providing the same solution for every opportunity

This issue is universal…nearly everyone tries it to save time.? It can work if you are well-established, have a great reputation, have the best products in the market and a super team to deliver them.? The problem is these companies are few and far between.? It helps if you are the U2 or Metallica of your market and not the Porcupine Tree or Teenage Fanclub – (any idea who they are? Google them, they’re two of my favourites). ?

The reader will know if you are cutting and pasting the same solution as there’s a good chance that what you present isn’t for them.?

What you can do to fix this

It’s obvious, but lazy teams don’t want to do it.? Get to know the client, find out what’s really going on inside the company and what their issues are in your field of expertise.? Design services or products that can address their concerns and show them your value well before the RFP comes out.

8. You aren’t answering what they’ve asked

This is a common complaint in debriefings.? Bid teams either through carelessness or laziness neglect to answer what they’ve been asked.? This can be because they don’t have an easy answer to hand, are unable to meet a requirement and are too lazy to design a solution there and then, or don’t have managerial approval to do so. Don’t expect to score well if you give them what you want as opposed to what they want.

What you can do to fix this.

Always answer what they specifically ask and not what suits your agenda or interpretation.? If you have gaps in your solution, do what you can to design a response that achieves compliance.

9. You aren’t learning from your mistakes

It’s hard to face up to the reality of losing out on an opportunity and many teams don’t want to go through the pain of going back over old ground.? The reality is that this is where the real learning lies.? Teams that stick their heads in the sand and ignore the important issues are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.

What you can do to fix this

Win, lose or draw, always carry out a review.? Do an internal review to analyse your team, process and value proposition.? If possible meet the client for a debriefing. ? The ideal outcome from a debriefing is that you receive useful feedback that improves your proposals, process, proposition and people. It should also provide a launchpad for a good future relationship with your prospect – assuming one doesn’t already exist.? Don’t forget, there’s always next time. ??

What now?

I could list off a heap of other reasons why you aren’t winning proposals but a good look at these will go a long way to helping you fix your issues.

If you would like some more tailored advice on how to win more tenders then click here to arrange a conversation.? ? You can also fill out this business development scorecard for further insights.?