The Path to Product Excellence: Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Enhancing Commun...
How to increase your companys win rate in 7 steps help desk institute 5.16.12pptx
1. 7 Steps for Creating High
Performing Proposal
Organizations
HDI Capital Area Local Chapter
May 16, 2012
Bob Lohfeld, Lohfeld Consulting Group
www.LohfeldConsulting.com
2. Focus on 7 Proven Steps to—
PROPOSAL
Write Better Proposals
Win More Business Advance in Your Career
2 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
3. 7 Keys to Winning in Team Sports
(and Government Procurements)
Every Good Coach will Tell You:
1 Recruit Great Athletes
Get the Right People on the Team
3 Use the Right Tools
Enhance Your Level of Play with
the Right Tools
2 Have a Solid Game Plan
Use the Right Techniques
3 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
4. 7 Keys to Winning in Team Sports
(and Government Procurements)
Every Good Coach will Tell You:
6 Avoid Steals
4 Focus on Coaching Every Proposal is
Call the Right Plays Compliant, Responsive, and
Compelling
5 Focus on Your Strategy 7 Enjoy the Game
Build a Winning Solution Have Fun at What You Do
4 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
5. Step 1: Get the Right People
1
Build Your Core Team
Like a professional soccer team, you start by drafting the
right athletes
Aptitude: excellent organizational and writing skills
Domain expertise
Experience
Avoid unapplied labor (slugs)
Augment Core Team with Special Players
Consultants used for surge and special skills
Major companies use a 70/30 rule
5 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
6. Step 1: Get the Right People (Cont.)
1
What to Look for in Consultants
Professional expertise:
real consultants vs. migratory labor
Recognized accomplishment: more than a business
card, peer recognition as among the best
Commitment to the profession: APMP certifications
What to Avoid
―Accidental Proposal Consultant‖ who will do ―anything for
money‖ (AFM) between full-time jobs
6 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
7. Step 1: Get the Right People (Cont.)
1
Train Your Team
Professional Development Training: raise their level of understanding
and competitiveness (do you have a training program/plan with courses
identified?)
Skills training: train like you play/fight/fly; train using your process and tools
Do You Have a Team That Can Win?
Proposals are an intellectual competition. Look at your market (SB, mid, large)
and ask, ―Are we smarter, better trained, and more agile than our competition?‖
Look for the best and brightest who can work under tight deadlines (reliable);
can handle long hours under stressful situations (durable); and are
smart, creative and driven to be successful (talented)
The objective is not to produce a proposal, it is to create the
winning proposal
7 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
8. Step 2: Use the Right Process
2
Establish a Business Acquisition Framework That Covers 5 Stages:
Business Capture Pre-proposal Proposal
Post-submittal
Development Management Preparation Development
8 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
9. Step 2: Use the Right Process (Cont.)
2
Work Toward Building a Mature Business Acquisition Process
(for Major Competitions and Task Order Responses)
Defined:
written and available process (framework) and instructional materials (procedures)
Repeatable:
the process has survived multiple acquisitions
Managed:
use the process to manage the pursuits and don’t manage around the process
Measured:
track not only your wins and losses, but also how well you carried out the process
Optimized:
based on results and statistical analysis, work to continually improve processes
9 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
10. Step 2: Use the Right Process (Cont.)
2
A Mature Process Will—
Increase efficiency
Reduce costs Increase win
(everyone knows what to
(reuse artifacts) probability
do and how to do it)
Do You Have a Winning Process, or is Every Pursuit a New
Adventure? (Reminds Me of the Movie 50 First Dates)
Percentage of companies
Percentage of companies
we interview who admit to
that actually do anything
having inadequate
about it
processes
10 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
11. Step 3: Use the Right Tools
3
Define Your Overall Business Acquisition (BA) Lifecycle and Then
Select and Use the Best Tools for Each Phase of the BA Lifecycle
(Not The Other Way Around)
BD pipeline management tools include:
Excel spreadsheet
Deltek CRM (server or cloud)
SalesForce.com (cloud)
Microsoft Dynamic CRM (server or cloud)
Capture Management tools:
Capture Command Center (Lohfeld’s SharePoint-based framework for managing
capture and proposal activities)
Deltek GovWin (task order management)
11 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
12. Step 3: Use the Right Tools (Cont.)
3
Proposal Management Tools
SharePoint (Microsoft)
Privia (SpringCM)
Virtual Proposal Center (Intravation)
SalesEdge (Sant)
Custom development
Establish an Enterprise Repository with Appropriate Levels
of Security to Archive Artifacts and Get Them off Your PC
SharePoint (server or cloud)
Oracle
Siebel
SAP
12 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
13. Step 3: Use the Right Tools (Cont.)
3
Establish 5 Special-purpose Capture and Proposal Productivity Tools
Résumé database
Past performance database (not the same as a contracts file)
Reusable graphics library
Pre-written proposal content
On-line archive of past proposals
Personal Proposal Productivity Tools (Microsoft-centric)
Office 2010 and Windows 7, but keep other versions available for
government electronic submissions
SharePoint 2010
Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe Acrobat Pro
See Beth Wingate’s list of tools on our website
13 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
14. Step 4: Call the Right Plays
4
Make the Right Management Decisions
Choose the battles you are going to win and invest appropriately
Stand down on those you are unlikely to win
Make the Pursuit and Bid/No-bid Decisions
Use a scorecard to evaluate bid opportunities
Use a ―portfolio approach‖ to include some lower investment, higher payoff, lower win
probability bids to maximize your likelihood of achieving your revenue goals
Build your ―A list‖ of programs that you plan to bid and a ―B list‖ of backup programs to bid if
an ―A list‖ program is delayed (always have a backup plan to make your revenue number)
Measure Your Pursuit Progress and Don’t be Afraid to Shut Down a Pursuit if
You are Not Making Real Progress (See Color Mosaic on Next Slide)
Get a Running Start on Your Proposal
• Start proposal planning & development in anticipation of RFP release, not after the RFP is out
Manage Your Workload to Avoid Burnout
14 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
15. Step 4: Call the Right Plays (Cont.)
4
Pursuit Decision Scorecard
Color code: Blue (excellent), Green (good, but could be better),
Yellow (poor and needs much work), and Red (we don’t know how to begin)
QUALITATIVE DECISION MODEL
Pursuit Decision Factors Color Scale Assessment
1. Strategic Fit Blue
2. Understand the Requirement Green
3. Right Solution Blue
4. Customer Advocacy Green
5. Competition Favorable Yellow
6. Financial Objectives Green
7. Pursuit Investment Green
Overall Assessment Light Green
15 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
16. Step 5: Emphasize Creating a
Winning Solution
5
Winning Bids will Always be “Feature Rich” with Many Strengths,
No or Few Weaknesses, and Offer Low Risk
Winning solutions are created (engineered), they
don’t ―just happen‖
Address all requirements of the RFP
(explicitly or implicitly)
Link your solution to the goals and objectives of
your customer
Build features that will be evaluated as proposal
strengths (features and benefits) and—
Demonstrate high likelihood of mission success
Exceed contract requirements whenever practical in a way
that is meaningful to the customer
―Best Informed Wins.‖ If you understand the
requirement better than your competition, you should
be able to offer the best solution
16 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
17. Step 5: Emphasize Creating a
Winning Solution (Cont.)
5
Build Solution Development into Your
Capture Pre-proposal Capture and Proposal Processes
Management Preparation
Do you have a win laboratory or victory lab as
part of your process?
Solution
Sessions
Agree on Your Solution
Never start writing your technical or management
proposal until you’ve agreed on the solutions and
features that you will showcase
Focus on Creativity
Creativity may be your only real competitive advantage
since today’s breakthroughs are tomorrow’s
obsolete technology
17 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
18. Step 6: Build a
Compliant, Responsive, Compelling
Proposal 6
Professional Proposals are Expected to be Compliant, Responsive, and
Compelling and Convey Your Solution in the Most Favorable Way to Receive
the Highest Evaluation Score
Make no mistakes in the proposal that cause you to lose points
Make it easy to evaluate (score)
The battle should be won by having the best solution—assume your
competitors’ proposals will be well-written!
18 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
19. Step 7: Have Fun!
7
People Who Have Fun at What They do are More
Engaged, Creative, Productive, and Motivated to Win
Always follow these rules:
Never criticize the person, only critique the
solution or proposal to make it better
Encourage innovation, experimentation, and
creativity within the framework of your business
acquisition process
Recognize and appreciate the contributions to
success and don’t chastise those who tried hard
but didn’t win
A happy team builds a culture around winning
and your team can become invincible in your
competitive market
19 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
20. How Well Do You Stack Up?
On a Scale of 1 to 4, Rate Your Company in Each of the 7 Factors
The Graphic Gives You PEOPLE
4
a Clear Indication of
Where You Need to 3
Focus Your Energy 4
4
2
3 3
2 1 2
1 1
1 1
2 2
3 3
PROPOSAL 4 4 TOOLS
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
20
21. APMP Survey shows higher 7-factor scores result
in higher win rates
•Survey shows on average, a 20% increase in 7-factor scores
produces a 20% increase in win rate!
Companies Government Market Commercial Market
Number of Average 7- Win Rate Number of Average 7- Win Rate
companies in factor companies in factor
survey score survey score
Low 7-factor assessment scores 9 17.89 44.4 6 12.83 41.33
High 7-factor assessment scores 8 21.5 65.3 5 21.2 43.8
Average 19.59 54.4 16.64 42.45
US Government contractors had 17% higher 7-factor scores and
28% higher win rates than US companies in the commercial market.
21 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
22. Conclusion
Presentation slides and 7-Factor Assessment Scorecard are on our website at
www.LohfeldConsulting.com
http://www.lohfeldconsulting.com/news-knowledge/page/4/
More information about productivity tools can be found in Beth Wingate’s
presentation:
http://www.lohfeldconsulting.com/news-
knowledge/2011/06/appmaven%E2%80%99s-secret-arsenal-tools-and-
apps-to-achieve-victory-apmp-2011-6-3-11/
Please think of us for capture and proposal support, process development/
implementation, and training.
Upcoming training classes (http://www.lohfeldconsulting.com/about/events)
APMP Foundation Level Accreditation Training
Date: May 22, 2012; Location: Dallas, TX
Learn Capture Management – How government contractors win business
Date: June 12, 2012; Location: Herndon, VA
22 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
23. About Lohfeld Consulting Group
Lohfeld consulting group
85 person company.
Founded 2003
Provides proposal and capture management support for over 300
companies including
8 of the top 10 government contractors
30 of the top 100 contractors
Teaches over 40 training classes each year
Proposal Management, Capture Management, Proposal
Writing, Professional Accreditation classes
Designs, builds and optimizes Business Acquisition processes for
government contractors
23 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
24. About Lohfeld Consulting Group
www.lohfeldconsulting.com Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/Lohfeld
Lohfeld Consulting Group specializes in helping companies
create winning proposals. As the premier proposal services
consulting firm focused exclusively on government markets, we
provide expert assistance to government contractors in Capture
Planning and Strategy, Proposal Management and
Development, Capture and Proposal Process and
Infrastructure, and Training.
Contact Bob Lohfeld
CEO of Lohfeld Consulting Group
Email: RLohfeld@LohfeldConsulting.com
Tel: (410) 336-6264
www.lohfeldconsulting.com
24 Copyright 2011 Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.