I’d like to sound a note of caution to those organisations that rely on the canned questions of template-based approaches and various software products that, in my humble opinion, reduce the Business Development operative or salesperson to an automaton.
The intention with these products and programs is usually to ensure the gathering and documentation of basic sales “intelligence”.
In my observation, this template approach doesn’t always work that well.
Firstly, these tools become just another pseudo-administrative process that the sales or BD team member has to tick off (resulting in very shallow information inserted into standard fields).
Secondly, attempting to automate the client-facing executive’s thinking is probably the worst thing a competitively-minded company can do.
Why?
Because it’s the agility of that executive’s thought processes during client meetings and other information-gathering opportunities that will provide you with your greatest competitive advantage when you’re back in the “war room”.
There’s an argument that templates and software programs act as “fall-back mechanisms”. From what I observe, however, they usually dull the thought processes.
My advice?
Coach your people in the art of nimble thinking and strategic questioning, and leave the cheat sheets to your less-diligent, less intellectually energetic competitors.
Is the ability to gather quality customer/client information and process it into bid-winning intelligence important to your company?
If you’d like to dig deeper into this foremost, fundamental aspect of winning bids, tenders and proposals, read ‘Think & Win Bids: Winning High-Value, High-Stakes Bids through Superior Questioning, Listening and Thinking Skills’ – my flagship book, available in the eBooks section. Or take the Master Course of the same name, also here in Pursuits Academy.
A large chunk of my background has been in non-price-based collaborative contract bidding for the civil infrastructure industry. Companies operating in the public infrastructure delivery sector regularly bid for project up to and upwards of $1+ billion. They’re bidding for high-profile, high-stakes projects. And they’re bidding to demanding, politically-sensitive and often nervous client organisations.
They’re under intense pressure to produce response documentation that demonstrates a deep and genuine understanding of the client’s needs. In writing this book for them, I’ve written it for any bid, proposal or tender professional that wants to sharpen their skills in this fundamental aspect of bid strategy.
