Yes it’s true that it takes a long time to win a large program. In fact it sometimes takes equally as long a time to win a smaller program. In the process, your team is constantly looking for a competitive edge. Searching for that one chink in the armour that allows you to exploit the competitor’s weakness. The marketing advantage, technical advantage, manager whom they desire, or price they can’t ignore.
It takes a lot of work to win programs. It’s never easy. It’s not simply resultant from one good visit on the call plan or one good graphic for the Executive Summary. It’s rarely due to how effective the review teams were or the how well thought out the capture plan was. Rather it’s the effect that all of this planning and execution have had on your ability to be chosen the winner. More importantly, it’s something your whole team has earned. From the marketing manager or sales manager to the graphics artists, proposal manager and editor. From the red team review leader to the capture manager to the senior executive who approved the B&P budget. Lest we forget the volume leaders, principal authors, and proposal coordinators. Did I mention the contract manager, program manager, and pricing analyst? What about the Human resource manager, recruiter, and black hat leader.
In short, everyone contributes to winning contracts. It’s taken all of these professionals a long time to reach the Holy Grail. Enjoy it while it lasts. You’ve earned it!
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Filed under: Executive Summary, James McGuirk, Jim McGuirk, McGuirk Consulting, New Business opportunities, bidding government contracts, business development, capture management, capturing contracts, federal business development objectives, federal contracting, government contracts, proposals, winning government contracts
