Outsiders Discover Value of Proposal Process
In Clayton Christensen’s book, Seeing What’s Next, the economist explains that process is a more important innovation than invention. That’s because invention can be copied, tweaked and improved by competitors. Process is difficult or impossible to copy because it is a more complex mix of culture, personality and motivation. It’s pretty hard to reverse-engineer process.
Lately, large consulting firms are publishing white papers announcing the importance of a strong proposal process. One of them, IDC, has a study out called, “Proposal Development Process as a Possible Differentiator in Consulting Services Win-Loss”. For $500.00 you can find out the “discovery” that the process used, determines whether a proposal wins.
As competition increases in a vertical market, consolidation occurs. I’ve watched several verticals consolidate, and I can always pick out the firms who will pull ahead — they are the ones with a winning proposal process.
In every case I know, once a robust process is put in place, the team’s ability to respond with a winning proposal improves.
“It does you no good to have the best technology if you can’t translate the benefit of that inventiveness to the decision-makers in plain language.”
As many firms face increased competition and longer sales cycles, their success depends on developing a more sophisticated sales process, with more attention to the proposal submitted.
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