New Years Resolution To Winning Contracts

OK so 2007 has been less than kind to your contract portfolio and market share. As is your option, along with the remaining 300 million Americans to create a News Years resolution, I would encourage you to do so. Lets start by exploring just how to turn your program into a consistent winner in 2008. Although Bill Parcells has a major challenge in Miami with the football Dolphins, yours should be a lot easier.

Let’s begin by performing an analysis of what procedures, processes, talent, and investments you had in 2007. More times than not, you learn a great deal more from losing than from winning. As such you should probably decompose every aspect of the loss-both recompetes and new business, to determine the problems, and or what may be assessed as trends that are systemic.

Before we declare 2008 as the year of personnel change, first take a hard look at the basic fundamentals of winning. Do this after identifying the programs you lost and rank them after completing the analysis.

1. How often did you visit the client on those programs you lost? (Recompetes vs. New Business)
2. How well did you listen to the client when you did visit them?
3. How many surprises did you find in your competitive assessments? (Do you do these organically or outsource them?)
4. How often were you technically inferior to the winner? And how bad did you miss the mark? (See number 2)
5. How often were you beaten on price? And by what percentage of the overall winning bid?
6. For recompetes, how good were your CPARs?
7. How often were you “surprised” in the debrief?
8. How often were you “surprised” by the RFP release date?
9. Were you successful in securing the partners you wanted?
10. Of those you lost, how many were you successful in influencing?

There are common denominators in many of these symptoms, the core of which is effective, or in most losses, ineffective marketing.  If your inclined to make some resolutions this year remember these phrases:

1. Great marketing can overcome average proposals, but great proposals can NOT overcome average marketing.
2. Remember that bidding and winning large government contracts requires a superb marketing effort-NOT sales. 
3. Poor proposals can and will lose a deal for you-even if you have done a superb job of marketing.
4. If you have been unsuccessful in implementing substantive aspects of your win strategy, forget it, and move on to the next one. (PS: This is inherently related to marketing).
5. People buy from people. (marketing and trust)

Best of luck in your business development resolutions for 2008.

For more information please contact me at:

http://www.McguirkConsulting.com