We hear a lot about unconscious bias, largely in the context of people’s attitudes to people from minorities. For clarity, “unconscious bias refers to a bias that we are unaware of, and which happens outside of our control. It is a bias that happens automatically and is triggered by our brain making quick judgments and assessments of people…
Many successful organisations have grown through exploring new routes to market, for instance, expanding into new geographies, selling through third parties, or creating strategic alliances. New business models, in particular, doing business on-line, have also proved to be very beneficial when seeking growth. The technology sector, like many other sectors before it, often sells through…
In the 15 years that we’ve enabled organisations to benchmark their bid capability, this subject (standard style and content) has pretty much always come out bottom of the list of things that need fixing. The question we ask people to answer is simple… How consistent is the ‘house style’ and standard content (capability statements and…
It is essential that any organisation, and its various components, plan ahead, and the function of bidding is no different. Planning ahead enables the bid function (or any function for that matter) to ensure it has the appropriate skills and resources available as and when needed, so that they are optimised, and deliver the best…
Selling more of what you already sell works to a degree, but it’s important to listen to customer feedback, and refine the product or service to ensure its continued relevance. At the same time, it’s important to listen to the market, look at what the competition are doing, and develop new value propositions to address…
Some organisations who have achieved their growth targets have done it with the same people they started the journey with, but many more have not, changing people at every level throughout the journey. Whatever the case, growth is achieved by having the right people in the right place at the right time, achieved through a…
In an ideal world, we would be offered the training needed for most jobs we are asked to do, and working on bids should be no different. However, this is very often not the case. Perhaps because it is assumed that the primary skill needed is writing, and that we’re all taught that at school,…
The lack of clearly defined leadership of a bid is one of the major reasons bids are lost. Lack of leadership leads to lack of direction, and lack of support for people working on bids (some of whom are doing it in addition to their day jobs). Best-in-class bidding organisations attribute much of their success…
Whether it be to customers or partners (people who sell on your behalf), the communication of your business value is critical. But before you can communicate it, you must understand it, a process that never stops, as it is forever changing. In many cases, the brand says it all; for example, Apple, Microsoft, Rolls-Royce at…
Best-in-class bid capability cannot be achieved without excellent processes. Sadly, I see numerous organisations who lack any process whatsoever, or have the process neatly hidden away in long-forgotten book shelves or servers. I have also seen many organisations who mistake process (intended to bring structure) with internal governance, which often results in corporate ‘treacle’ that focus…