Most of my projects include an element where after the main objective is achieved, I’m available as needed to review deals, bids, and proposals my clients put together for their customers. In some cases I provide this service on its own simply to provide outside perspective and creative thinking where it’s valuable.
Below are some examples of how an outside perspective can help you 1) think beyond your normal practices and processes for putting together deals and 2) ensure that the way you’ve agreed to work moving forward is actually happening in reality:
My client’s proposal all but guaranteed they could meet their customer’s objective in 2 months’ less time than the customer thought realistic. I recommended proactively adding a large bonus incentive to be received if the 2 month stretch target was achieved, since that 2 month timeline reduction would save their customer at least 10x the value of the bonus. My client added the bonus, won the contract, and subsequently earned the bonus (which was pure profit).
I noticed a client rarely included their highest margin service area in their bids, with the reason given that those services were rarely included in RFPs. They now commonly include those services as optional items in their bids.
You’d be astounded at the errors I come across (wrong client names, a zero accidentally added to the inflation %, a discount with the wrong sign, etc.).
Once new pricing tools, processes, etc. are finally released, some people- often with significant authority- immediately go back into their old way of thinking. My job is then to reinforce what was agreed so that the objectives of the project actually become engrained changes in behavior moving forward.
Most of these benefits simply come from having someone from the outside providing their focused perspective on what you and your teams are working on day to day. This perspective does not have to come from someone who has spent months learning the details of your business, and even a short term engagement (60-90 days) can make a huge difference.
Where could you use some outside perspective?
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My inaugural webinar "Beyond Bid to Spec: Winning Price Strategies in Hyper Competitive, RFP Driven Industries" was held 27-Sep and covers several of the topics above in more detail. Access it here.
As always, contact me or book a meeting to discuss how these principles can be applied to improve the performance of your business.
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