Lost proposals…was your price really too high?
For many prospective clients, the fastest and easiest way to tell you that they’re not proceeding with your proposal, tender or bid is to say “sorry – the price is too high”. Sometimes this is the entire story. Other times, it is simply a quick way to avoid saying what’s really the problem – […]
Continue ReadingWhat to do when clients want a price negotiation
Having a price negotiation with a client is not always easy, but it’s an important skill and one that you’ll need to employ more and more. Clients bargaining with their professional services firm is not unusual. It’s perfectly reasonable for clients to care about their money, and it’s smart for you to show that you […]
Continue ReadingPricing lessons from a Big Six pricing specialist
With the ever-increasing debate around hourly billing and alternatives, and savvier and more demanding clients, professional services firms – and in particular, law firms – need to get smarter about how to manage pricing if they are to remain profitable. It seems inevitable in some areas of law (insurance, property) that it’s simply a race […]
Continue ReadingScoping work simply
Scoping and estimating professional services can be hard work. It’s an important skill for professionals to cultivate, as clients are increasingly demanding alternatives to the billable hour. And alternative pricing options are tricky to work through and develop if you don’t have a good understanding of your real costs to begin with. We see many firms, when asked […]
Continue ReadingPainful to replace
No one is irreplaceable. No expert, no professional, no one. But if you want to push yourself up the continuum towards “irreplaceable” status, here are some things to work on. Don’t just focus on routine work – no matter how profitable. Work that can easily be reduced to a set of rules, routines, instructions, or […]
Continue ReadingPre-proposal due diligence
Those who’ve done it know well that while tenders, bids, and competitive proposals are great ways to win work, it’s easy to squander precious time and money on bids with limited prospects of success. Here’s a simple framework for pre-proposal due diligence which our consultants find helpful in guiding professional service firm clients to correct […]
Continue ReadingPossible key selling arguments
Sorting through what’s important to your prospective client and determining what will differentiate you from your competitors can be a daunting task. In hard-fought competitions, how we deal with even minor issues can make the critical difference between winning, and losing. This list is a useful starting point in determining how best to position your […]
Continue ReadingBusiness development metrics
So many professional service firms we meet bemoan the track record of most of their folk in developing new work and new clients in attractive niches. More than occasionally a practice leader confides that their technically competent team knows only how to “feed on the carcasses I kill” or “live like a leech on me”. […]
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Feature article
Tender readability – tips to improve your tender presentation and some tender presentation no-nos
Tender readability remains a problem for some in the 21st century. I still see submission documents that cling to a handful of really old hat tender presentation and formatting techniques. I suspect this is because some of these ‘rules’ are viewed as being more appropriate to a ‘formal’ style of document such as a tender. […]