Page 221 - Writing Winning Business Proposals
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212 Writing Winning Business Proposals
of an envelope. Therefore, you may have to make an investment during the pro-
posal process to learn more about our particular situation. Such an investment,
of course, is often perceived favorably by me and my colleagues.
In nonimplementation projects, those that involve only insight and/or planning,
your task is even more challenging. Here I have not—or at least have not yet—asked
for your assistance in implementation, and so our achieving savings or capitaliz-
ing on opportunities is well beyond your direct control. Here, too, however, you
can use a measurable-results orientation to compare our potential benefits sub-
sequent to the project. Obviously, the risks of our eventually achieving potential
benefits are greater, and some of the benefits may be less tangible, but you can still
make a compelling argument—if you take the time to learn about our operations,
the current situation, and the desired result. We’ve had some consultants lead our
management team in interactive discussions of potential benefits that we could
anticipate subsequent to implementation. Consultants put themselves in our shoes
and addressed our potential opportunities and obstacles, based on their previous
experience. In some of these situations, we’ve rewarded the consultants’ efforts by
asking them to add an implementation phase to their offering.
The bottom line is this: If you are the only consultant that clearly understands
our situation in detail, if you make a compelling case defining our likely return
on our consulting investment, and if we believe that we can work with you and
your team, your odds of winning increase significantly.
However, if several firms know our operations well, each makes a compelling
case regarding our likely returns, and we believe that we could work with each . . .
then what? Then you need to consider other pricing factors that could determine
our ultimate selection of a consultant.
The Strategic Value of This Opportunity to You
If we are one of your target companies or a past client you would like to continue
to work with, or if we pose an overriding question that would allow you to make
an intellectual-capital breakthrough, or if our industry is a particularly desirable
one to you, or if the potential fees are high, or if our proposed opportunity allows
you to build desired geographic presence, our project becomes more desirable
to you. If our organization and/or issue have high strategic value for you, you
can reflect this situation in your fees—that is, you would modify them (in some
cases, lower them) to increase your chances of winning. (See Figure 13.3.)
Just as my friend uses coupons and reuses paper napkins, we buy some projects
on price, especially when two or more bidders are extremely close on the crite-
ria we use to make our decision. Yes, I know that you have operating expenses,
invest considerably to build and maintain intellectual capital, make significant