Small businesses with limited resources should resist the urge to put every opportunity they stumble upon into their pipeline. Moreover, small businesses should tread cautiously when tempted to bid on every single opportunity in the pipeline. Assess each opportunity wisely to ensure the resources you spend are worth the chase.
Before pulling an all-nighter to submit the next proposal, consider the following 10 bid factors:
· Related Experience
· Key Personnel
· Pricing Strategy
· Technical Proposal
· Competition
· Marketing Intelligence
· Customer Environment
· Management Approach
· Staffing
· Geographic location
Weigh the company on each factor and identify the grade that makes the most sense to pursue. Do you have the past performance to claim relative experience? Do you have personnel that are subject matter experts in this area and/or that have a relationship with the customer? Will the pricing be highly competitive and within your pricing structure? Can your business meet and/or exceed the requirements to support the effort? Is there a strong incumbent or has your research indicated that there is no competition? Do you have reliable intelligence on the requirements or was this an RFP you just identified this morning? Do you have a great relationship with the customer and/or are they familiar with your company? Does your organization have experience in managing an effort of this size? Is there a staffing plan in place to ensure that you always have access to top notch employees? Does your organization have offices close by for faster response?
These are all very pertinent questions that should be answered prior to having everyone in the company roll up their sleeves to dive into proposal development. Determine a scoring system that will help your team to quickly assess whether this opportunity is winnable and worth the effort.
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