Laura's Winning Ideas

To prove value, you should be tracking your wins and losses. Your hit rate is the percent of wins to losses. If your hit rate is improving, you are going in the right direction, improving your process, grooming your SMEs to write more effectively and executives to improve the flow of intelligence into the proposal process.

“Our hit rate is 40 percent. Is that good?”

I work across a broad range of industries. The target hit rate varies with the maturity of the industry.

In those industries in which complex sales (proposal competition being the end of the marketing pipeline) are predominant and precise, you’ll need a 70% hit rate so that your overhead expenses are in the competitive range.

Examples are government defense contractors, where the number of competitors is slim, the cost of producing the proposal high, and the precision and accuracy of the intelligence embedded in the proposal critical.

At the other end of the spectrum are industries new to RFPs because their clients are moving to the complex sales approach, and away from the consultative sales approach. Both the proposals and the review process by the client are less refined, less rigid, and more prone to influence from the remnants of the consultative sales process. In these industries 40% may be the target hit rate for that industry at that time.

Once you know the industry target hit rate, you can judge the maturity of your own firm by the distance from the industry target hit rate.

Another way to measure whether your hit rate is good or bad is to perform a diagnostic test on your team and then substitute in your current hit rate. Click here for a diagnostic test you can use to determine the level of development of your team. Once you find your level, use the hit rate you currently have instead of the hit rate used on my form (which was designed for one specific industry in a mid-range between the two described here). Now you have an idea of whether you have more to improve or are operating at a level suitable for your firm to remain competitive in their industry.

But don’t sit on your laurels! All markets mature, and those who don’t work on continuous improvement fall behind quickly.

In my own proposals, what was outstanding a few years ago is merely routine now. What was good enough to win a few years ago, won’t get you near the shortlist today.

The Stimulus, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 (ARRA), continues to release solicitations, all for projects to be completed in the next few years. Since I work with folks who are inventing new solutions, a good deal of funding is available for their work from the Department of Energy (DOE), USDA and other agencies.

And many of the applicants I’m helping have never written a proposal to the federal government. If this is your situation, here are a few ” How to ” tips:

1. Read the RFP -
   Some of my clients don’t want to wade through 60 pages before they get started writing. This is a big mistake. Don’t write a word until you’ve read the solicitation and understand what they want. You have limited time and need to focus on the requirements, not your own opinion of the best way to describe your technology.
2. Get your registrations in order -
   You’ll likely need a CCR, and this takes time and needs to be started first. If they have a specific portal to which you will load the proposal, get yourself registered there right away. You’ll need a DUNS number for your CCR, so even if you are undecided, get that application started.
3. Allow time for the upload process -
   What should take 10 minutes may take you hours. Don’t plan on rushing to upload your proposal at the last minute. If the servers are backed up, or you have a problem with one of your files loading, you may not make deadline. If you don’t, you will not be considered. No, this is not unfair. If you can’t read the instructions and follow them, the government doesn’t want to do business with you. Would you?

Some applicants I’m helping have experienced proposal teams in place but are getting help for the extra load. Here are a few tips for the more seasoned proposal teams:

1. Since the crash/debilitating delays/failure of the government-wide portal last year, agencies have set up their own portals. Each of them has a little different flavor, so register early and be extra careful to read each screen carefully. I’ve found several surprises.
2. The good news is that the page limits are severe. The bad news is that the agencies are receiving many proposals and have the same number of staff to review them. Do not veer from the evaluation criteria. Your TOC should mimic the RFP. Give them a way to speed through your proposal and they’ll have time to digest your message. Let your executives convolute the proposal away from the scoring criteria and reviewers won’t try to ferret out the point score, they’ll just skim and move on to the next proposal.
3. I’m finding it easy to construct strawman RFPs to get a jump on production. Agencies are tweaking RFPs from the early posts under ARRA, so you can work from these to storyboard and get your first review cycle complete by final release. Changes are nominal between rounds.

Let me know if I can help you! I’m on a roll with stimulus proposals and winning good work for great people.

Bio-Pharma is a new area of work at 1Ricci. We regularly work on important proposals with consequences for national security, but these Biologic Pharmaceuticals have important ramifications for public safety in the event of a terrorist attack.

BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) is charged with finding and supporting development of agents to protect the US population at large from attack with contaminants and agents like Anthrax, developing medical countermeasures, and stockpiling medicines for an emergency.

Here’s the description from the BARDA home page:

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides an integrated, systematic approach to the development and purchase of the necessary vaccines, drugs, therapies, and diagnostic tools for public health medical emergencies.

(Read on ...)