Everyone wants to know the ‘secret sauce’ as it relates to winning government proposal bids — but in reality, so few small businesses are doing what it really takes to win. Besides the obvious major challenges small business contractors face like small budgets, lack of resources, lack of information, there are other factors that are impeding your bid success – discipline. Disciplined government contractors are far more successful and consistent in their win strategies; thus the reap the benefits of being awarded the same contracts over and over again.
2 years ago one of our large business government contract clients had to make some tough decisions as it related to pursuing government opportunities. You see, they had been in business for over 90 years and had seen decades of success. But, after adjusting to government budget cuts and declines in market share, the company began to also notice a shift in HOW it was winning government business. In addition, they also noticed the spike in B&P (bid and proposal) costs with no consistent returns on the horizon. As a result, the company had to turn their attention to refining their B&P process to address the cost increases AND begin to focus on increasing the quality of opportunities to support their future bidding efforts.
Fast forward to today and the company has turned their bid win rate around with a 16% increase over the last 18 months. I would say they are definitely headed in the right direction.
As for the ‘secret sauce’, one thing is true — in order to convert a winning bid rate into tangible results, you have to do some soul searching, become methodical in your approach to bidding and be DISCIPLINED. So, what was it you ask? Check out the video slide on “5 Steps To Bidding Success” below. I share the top 5 areas in your pursuit process that need to improve to get the kind of bid results you want.
After you have reviewed the video slides I want you to share your thoughts on how you are going to be more disciplined in your bid pursuits. Are there things you need to improve on? Are there some actions you are not currently taking in your business to improve your results? Or do you completely disagree? Let me know.