Lessons from the Real World 1: Applying Business Examples to Opportunity Development

NOTE: This post is the first in a series of three posts expanding on ideas in a recent webinar I conducted for the APMP California chapter with the same title.

Many people working in proposals think proposal development has little if anything in common with other professions. How often, for example, do you feel at a loss trying to explain your job? I know when people ask me what I do, I always struggle for a simple, easily understood answer. I usually end up saying I help companies try to win business with the Government, which usually generates a response of, “oh, so you’re in sales” (which is another post altogether!).

Despite the unique challenges every proposal professional faces, the good news is we are not alone. Most fields have aspects that outsiders cannot understand. However, this does not mean we should lock ourselves in a bubble. There is much we can learn from other industries and other professions.

I have been very interested in trying to apply lessons from other fields and arenas to what we do. I regularly read business books and look for things that can be brought to what I do professionally. I wrote a series of articles on applying the client experience to opportunity management. One of my favorite presentations is how we can apply Pixar Animation Studio’s “Brain Trust” model to the color team review process.

I also have a guilty pleasure to confess – I love business reality TV. I routinely watch Undercover Boss, Shark Tank, it’s British cousin Dragon’s Den, The Profit, Billion Dollar Buyer, the BBC’s version of the Apprentice, and any other program that shows how companies and individuals act. I do find shows entertaining, but also find ways to apply the lessons from them to my professional career. For that reason, I always tell my wife that it is not frivolous television watching, but research.

This post looks at what we can learn from various examples in business, and what lessons we can specifically apply to our line of work.

Innovation

Apple might be the best-known innovator out there. Starting with Steve Jobs and Steve Wosniak building the Apple 1 in a garage, they have been at the forefront of the information revolution. Apple did not invent the laptop, desktop, smart phone, the tablet, or the smart watch. Their innovation is marrying the technology with sleek, appealing design that makes these products the “must have” for millions of people worldwide (and make them willing to pay a premium for the products).

Casper is a firm looking to disrupt the way in which people buy sleep products, primarily mattresses. According to their own press kit, Casper “is a global sleep company that launched in 2014 with an obsessively engineered, outrageously comfortable mattress sold directly to consumers. Its critically acclaimed sleep surface was developed in-house, has a sleek design, and is delivered in a small, “how did they do that?”-sized box.” They have a 100 day test period with a no-questions-asked return policy, where they donate it to a local organization or recycle it. It has proven to be a successful model. They earned $1M in revenue in their first 28 days, and $200M in revenue in 2016.

Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb has disrupted short-term accommodation by allowing individuals to rent out their own rooms, apartments, and homes (competing directly with hotels). They currently have over 3M listings in over 190 countries worldwide (including over 1400 castles) and have served over 200M guests. On a personal note, my family used it on our 2015 trip in Europe to book some amazing accommodations, including this one in Amsterdam.

All of these companies have made a name by thinking unconventionally and looking to bring innovation to static fields. How can we learn from these pioneers and find new ways to challenge conventional thought in proposal and opportunity development? There are two main arenas where we can be innovative and disruptive – on individual bids and in overall proposal operations.

On individual bids, we need to push the envelope and make our teams stand out. Proposal professionals can be disruptive by making sure our bids do not just say we are different, but show how we are different. In the service industry I work in, for example, everyone says “we are different because of our people.” Well, that cannot possibly be true, can it? Just saying it with no evidence to back it up rings hollow and if anything loses you credibility. So, ask the question, “why are your people different?” Drill down – ask follow-up questions like:

• Do you have a higher than average retention rate?
• Do you have unique benefits that draw in top-quality candidates that others cannot?
• Do your people routinely win awards and/or kudos from their clients?
• How do your people provide service that exceeds the competition?

Push your teams to answer these questions and you will get a better proposal, and perhaps even get your company to consider new ways to truly differentiate themselves.

Proposal organizations, especially busy ones, need to have the same mentality. The number one place our industry could use with increased innovation is making it easier for our writers to develop great, personalized content that speaks to the needs of the client.

A great way of doing this is by putting together what I call building blocks – proposal sections that are routinely called for in proposals that speak to our basic processes and approaches. Building blocks include general, process-related information for repeatable, common sections. In addition, there are callouts throughout the text where the writer needs to include opportunity-specific information. This can be as simple as just inserting the client or program names, or as thought-intensive as putting in win themes or client-centric introductions. The proposal manager inserts the relevant building block into the proposal template at the start of the process, giving the writer the basic nuts and bolts of the section. This approach allows the writer to then focus not on the steps of a largely standardized process but how that approach matches to the specific needs of this individual client and opportunity.

Building off this idea, teams can develop standardized, repeatable templates to allow for quick turnaround. This is especially useful on vehicles that have the same requirements over and over again. The proposal team, during slower periods, can build or update a standardized template, and even populate it with some of the building blocks I just talked about, to allow our teams to hit the ground running. It also helps the proposal manager by decreasing the turnaround time on getting a template to the writers.

I hope this first example inspires you to break through your own barriers and come up with some great new ideas. In my next post, I will include two further examples where we can learn from other industries.

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