How to increase your companys win rate in 7 steps help desk institute 5.16.12pptx

7 Steps for Creating High
Performing Proposal
Organizations

HDI Capital Area Local Chapter
May 16, 2012
Bob Lohfeld, Lohfeld Consulting Group
www.LohfeldConsulting.com

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.

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

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)


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


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


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


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

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


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

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!


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


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

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.


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


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


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

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How to increase your companys win rate in 7 steps help desk institute 5.16.12pptx