Educating is selling
Educating may be the pinnacle of selling. Educating the world at large, your target market, referral sources, clients, and prospective clients about why they need what you can expertly do for them is the highest and purest form of marketing. An education approach really helps with need recognition. If your market doesn’t know it has […]
Continue ReadingMore tips on nailing the sale – doing your best in pitch meetings and during shortlisting interviews
No matter how clever a professional or a ‘natural’ you are or how beautifully presented your tender or bid was, you’ll put in a far better performance – at a pitch, prospective client meeting, shortlisting interview or beauty parade, or whatever – with a little preparation. Maybe you’re great on your feet, maybe you enjoy […]
Continue ReadingBest practice referrals for professional services firms
Over the years JMA’s research has shown the most successful and profitable professional services firms benefit hugely from referrals (both from individuals external to their firm, and from internal referrals or cross-selling that occurs in-firm). In our latest study 70% of respondents rated their referral relationships or networks as “highly effective” and the number one […]
Continue ReadingIs this tender, bid or proposal rigged?
It’s widely known that public sector procurement rules generally have certain dollar thresholds where a need to ‘approach the market’ and obtain at least three bids will kick in. It might be for services or projects valued at over $80,000; or for even lower amounts (especially for local government bids). Given the obligation of public […]
Continue ReadingMeasuring more of what matters in your professional services firm
Too often the “feel good” factors and recency of wins overtake facts when it comes to measuring the success of business development initiatives and financial health of many professional services firms. Properly dimensioning real individual contribution to financial success of any professional services firm requires assessment of more than simply personal fee production. (Measuring personal […]
Continue ReadingClosed or invitation only tenders, bids and proposals
Firstly, what are closed or invitation only tenders, bids and proposals? In addition to the generally well-understood terms ‘tender’, ‘bid’ and ‘proposal’, there are ‘open’ and ‘closed’ processes, and then variations within each that can apply to professional services procurement. Open or public tenders, bids and proposals An open tender is just that, open to […]
Continue ReadingHow to run a kick-off meeting for your tender, bid or proposal
As we have discussed before, the difference between a winning tender, bid or proposal and a loser frequently comes down to what you know before you write a single word … not what you find out after you’ve written the document. An effective way to know more about a client is to gather your team […]
Continue ReadingHow the best Professional Services firms WOW their clients (and the lessons ALL businesses can learn from them).
In a global study on what clients value from professional services, the majority of clients (68%) valued specialised skills and expertise. Professional services firms generally recognise that this is the top value and deliver on this well, however, most almost completely fail to recognise the next two more significant factors that clients wanted: a firms’ […]
Continue ReadingWhy firms keep bidding on losers and what you can do about it
A crap ‘win rate’ or lack of bidding success is usually a direct result of bidding on too many losers, aka inappropriate ‘opportunities’. Too often, professional services firms are tempted by the potential boost in revenue, and go all out pursuing speculative tender and proposal opportunities. Generally these firms have no consistently applied or objective ‘bid-or-no-bid’ […]
Continue ReadingAvoiding buyer’s remorse
Do your clients ever suffer from buyer’s remorse? For many expert professional services – especially legal and accounting – purchase is not optional: it’s mandatory, driven by compliance requirements, or as an essential component of project delivery. Worse still, a fair slice of consumption is a true ‘grudge spend’, mandated by lenders, regulators, and opponents. […]
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Feature article
How to write a winning executive summary for tenders, bids & proposals
The executive summary is often the most read and scrutinised section of tender, bid or proposal submissions. However, in addition to pulling together a fully compliant and compelling bid (and under time pressure), it can be daunting to write an executive summary that helps clinch a ‘win’. This blog sets out some general principles, tips, […]
