Page 227 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

218 Writing Winning Business Proposals

In addition to potential benefits related to the professional or personal develop-
ment of your staff, you may view our proposed project as an opportunity to meet
other potential clients. Marketing, benchmarking, and multiclient studies often
have such advantages. Similarly, certain projects might provide an opportunity
for valuable publicity in markets or geographies important to you. For any num-
ber of reasons, the opportunity to build relationships or gain publicity with key
personnel in an industry, geographic area, or functional area may be important to
your firm. And if it is, you might choose to reflect this benefit to you in a reduced
price for us.

Your Pricing History with Us

People and organizations constantly calibrate their interactions with each other. As
a potential client, we are no different. If you have already worked for us, your pricing
history (even in another unit or division) may act as a precedent, setting expecta-
tions for the proposed project’s pricing. (See Figure 13.8.) Moreover, we speak to
our colleagues at other firms, and if you have discounted your work for them, you
might have to justify why you are not providing a similar discount to us.
We can estimate your billing rates, or at least your blended average daily bill-
ing rates, so if your pricing is different for this proposed project, you may need
to explain why. If your price is higher, you need to explain, for example, that the
project requires a greater percentage of senior people. If your price is lower, you
should tell us, for example, not only that you are making an investment but that
you are doing so for specific reasons. As a result, you can avoid being constrained
when you price future projects.

What historical factors could influence your ability to price this project?
What historical factors could influence your ability to price this project?
‡ How have you priced other projects, for other prospects, that addressed this
‡ How have you priced other projects, for other prospects, that addressed this
project’s overriding problem or opportunity?
project’s overriding problem or opportunity?
‡ How have you priced other projects for us? For example:
‡ How have you priced other projects for us? For example:
--rate-based
--rate-based
--success fee
--success fee
--contingency
--contingency
--retainer
--retainer

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ricing stra
13.8

FIGURE
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FIGURE 13.8 Pricing strategy related to your pricing precedents
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