Dr. Earl R. Smith II
Managing Partner, The Federal Circle
DrSmith@Dr-Smith.com
Dr-Smith.com
Management sometimes misses the obvious. Nowhere is this mistake more serious than when it comes to testing responses to RFPs or bids that are being submitted. A simple but effective addition to the process can radically improve the chances of winning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The beginnings of a good idea
Recently I sat in on the presentation of a proposal. It was in response to a request for a proposal (RFP) that involved a fairly significant amount of business. The company that was receiving the presentation to had hired me to advise them on a range of strategic issues.
The most striking thing about the experience was that, from one point of view, the founders were very well prepared. Their proposal and oral presentation were polished and contained all the usual sections, their slide show was professional quality, and they spoke with passion and deep knowledge about their company and its products. The materials which they provided were all neatly and professionally packaged.
But early in the meeting it became apparent that the team was not prepared for what they were encountering. Their pitch was clearly more appropriate for a group of fellow technologists. They kept referring to solutions to generic problems and seemed at a loss to respond to specifics as they related to either the business being bid on or the customer offering the contract. They had not taken into consideration the needs and concerns of the company to whom they were presenting.
Worse than that, they did not seem to understand what the RFP was really asking for. The representatives from my client kept interrupting the flow of their pitch with a number of completely normal threshold questions and it went downhill from there – and that was because the presenters were bidding on what they thought the client needed rather than what it has asked for.
None of the members of the presenting team seemed to be aware of just how insulting this behavior was. They were, in effect, saying to a group of people “now, now – what you have asked for is not really the issue. Let us tell you what you really need.” Needless to say, the meeting was over far before it broke up and the company was not even considered for the award.
After the presentation, I asked the head of the client’s team how frequently this kind of thing happens. He shook his head and responded “More often than I would like and far more often than needs be. The tragedy is that it doesn’t have to.” When I asked what he meant he replied “I’m probably the first outsider that they have ever given this presentation to. As a result their pitch comes to me without any real critical review. What is most discouraging is that their entire presentation was not focused on my concerns as a prospective client – nor even on the basic requirements of the RFP. Either they are so dim-witted that they can read and understand our RFP or they do understand it and choose to ignore it.”
“And what they don’t seem to realize is we were looking to get something very specific and were willing to pay well to get it. What these guys did today was not only establish a negative brand with us but with any others that I end up talking to about them. Every proposal that we get from them in the future will be viewed with skepticism and quickly round-filed.”
I immediately understood what he meant. One of the services Longview provides to clients is the establishment of advisory boards designed as a high level, business development engine. I had built such a board for a company that is in the enterprise level software business. One of the company’s proudest achievements was that they had earned a high level of certification for their software development process. This certification was prominently mentioned in all of their promotional materials and on their website.
The senior management team was presenting during the first ever gathering of the board. The advisory board consisted of five very high-level individuals with an average of three to four decades of experience. Most had built businesses or run very large organizations. All of them had risen to the top of their profession. This first meeting was designed to bring the board members up to speed.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.