BTS: Creating a WINNING $400M Proposal
We talk a lot about proposal techniques and strategies, but today I’m sharing a little behind-the-scenes to show you how some of this can look in practice.
Today we’ll be covering a $400 million proposal that I led and won. This can give you some insight into what to expect as you pursue larger and more competitive RFPs.
The Opportunity
This proposal was for a large, state-wide contract that would be accessible to all agencies within the state. There were several hundred agencies, making this a perfect opportunity to set us up for future work in virtually every area of the state.
The contract was for technology, including hardware, software, cloud, and some professional support. The initial term of the contract was three years with two optional one-year renewals (so a total of five years potential). Based on past performance, we estimated the contract to be valued at $400 million (maybe more).
An important note about this opportunity is that it had previously been held by the same company for over fifteen years without going to bid. New leadership came through and wanted to complete a full RFP process to make sure they were receiving the best value. The incumbent was viewed favorably by most stakeholders, so we had our work cut out for us.
RFP Process
Our sales team spent a solid eighteen months working with the customer to understand their needs and form key partnerships prior to the RFP release. We had a local partnership in place as well as partnerships with nearly every manufacturer that would be part of the contract. This prep work really gave us a leg up and is worth incorporating into your process as much as possible.
The RFP itself was released in December (the day after Christmas), and it was originally due early March but was extended until May. There were a total of four different documents that we had to complete using their format (so no beautiful template for us). The documents covered key categories of hardware, software & cloud, services, and our company. We also had many administrative forms to complete as well as complex pricing sheets for each category. Because of the large scope of the contract, contract reporting was a huge pain point for the customer, and they required example contract management reports at the time of submission.
Once we sent in our proposal, we were invited to the next round where the top three scoring companies presented to the customer. We ultimately were awarded the contract.
Our Proposal
Due to the complexity of the RFP, we had a large team to contribute to all of the pieces. Over fifty people attended the kickoff meeting, and many more were asked to contribute in some way throughout the process. The team consisted of two main proposal writers (I was the lead writer and project manager), four other proposal team reviewers, the sales team, OEM experts, solution experts, legal, pricing, finance, and many others. Because we knew the incumbent and many other companies would be aggressively pursuing this contract, we wanted as many perspectives as possible to create our strongest proposal.
The management of the proposal included many key meetings, such as several strategy sessions, multiple reviews and feedback sessions, pricing conversations, twice weekly status calls, daily updates, and a detailed compliance review.
We drafted the proposal first with any and all content that could apply to each section and then focused on rewriting the content to be tailored to that particular customer. Over six months, we had more than 6 full reviews by other team members and countless revisions. The final proposal ended up being 118 pages of tight, customer-specific content. This did not include the cover letter, forms, or other supplemental materials.
As stated above, our hard work paid off, and we were awarded the contract. Not every proposal requires this level of detail, but if you’re going up against an aggressive company, it’s worth it to put the extra time into creating a truly personalized proposal that incorporates feedback from as many team members as possible.
How to Apply This to Your Proposals
While that quick overview doesn’t touch on the many tears shed and late nights writing by dark for that proposal, it does give you an idea of just how much effort your competitors might be putting into their proposals.
Not every opportunity is this high value or desirable, so that specific process might be overkill for your company. However, the approach can be distilled into a few key steps that you can follow, no matter the complexity of the RFP:
Step 1: Identify the Right Opportunity. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, our sales team spent 18 months prepping for the RFP. To get this same benefit (even after the RFP is released), it’s important to always make sure you are pursuing the right opportunity for your company. An effective Go/No Go process and presales competitive research can help you here.
Step 2: Develop Your Win Strategy. The win strategy is key. No amount of prep work will help if it doesn’t transform into a strategy to win the contract. To do this, focus on learning as much about the customer and your competition as possible, and use those insights to create your differentiators and win themes.
Step 3: Translate Strategy to Your Proposal. After all that prep work, it’s time to write! It might take a full six months with many, many revisions like in the example project here, but you can also create a winning proposal on short turnarounds for simpler projects. The key is to focus on the customer throughout your proposal and inspire them to work with you (while ensuring you get top points in the evaluation criteria).
Still not sure how exactly to make this happen? We have a few resources that can help you.
Bid to Win Training: This strategy course covers Steps 1 and 2 above. It focuses on competitive research to better understand your competitive landscape and how to use that to create your unique position. With that in place, the training dives into key meetings to hold for every RFP and how to use them to stay focused on your strategy at every step (much like in our example project above).
Persuasive Proposals Training: Our premier writing course gives you everything you need for Step 3 above. Inside the course you’ll learn specific writing techniques to use in your proposals to better engage buyers as well as how to write the most common proposal sections. There are over 27 guides, templates, and worksheets to help you on this journey, so it’s easy to write proposals even if you’re not a writer!
With either of the above trainings, you’ll develop key skills that will prepare you to pursue larger and more competitive contracts.