Bid Lifecycle

The Bid Lifecycle is designed to help you win more business, guiding you step-by-step through the complex process of bidding and submitting proposals. It has three intrinsically linked phases – the Capture Phase, the Bid and Pursuit Phase, and the Proposal Phase.

Bid Lifecycle Explained

All three phases of the Bid Lifecycle are designed to challenge the status quo, sharpen your win strategy, and motivate all those involved to perform at the very highest level. The Capture Phase deals with influencing your client’s requirements and positioning your solution at the very earliest opportunity. The Proposal phase deals with the challenges of developing a professional, high-scoring written response whilst the Bid and Pursuit phase takes a broader look at the pre- and post-proposal activities that you must closely manage to get in to a winning position.

Take the Bid Lifecycle Challenge

Take the Bid Lifecycle Challenge now by selecting your current stage of bid activity: answer ‘no’ to any of the questions posed and you risk compromising your chances of winning. We provide focused contractors, consulting, coaching and training at each stage of the Bid Lifecycle and can rapidly improve your chances of winning.

Opportunity Pipeline

How robust is your bid pipeline? Do you have visibility of the ‘must-win’ opportunities for next 6 months and beyond? Do your sales team have to formally ‘call out’ an opportunity before you support it? Or, is your pipeline of opportunities quite literally the bids and proposals you are submitting in the next few weeks?

In our experience, top performing bid teams know what is coming down the pipeline many months ahead and allocate resources appropriately creating, develop and work on a plan to win strategy. 

They frequently use the pipeline as a tool for justifying headcount growth within the bid team, whether it’s a permanent hire or contract support for one specific proposal. They will also use the pipeline to help sales teams gather the necessary intelligence on the anticipated competition, capturing as much detail as possible for use later in the Bid Lifecycle.

Customer Requirement Identified

Whilst the Bid Lifecycle is built on the premise that winning new business is cyclical, most sales processes start with the identification of a customer requirement.
In our experience, many salespeople first hear of a customer requirement when an RFP lands on their desk. RFP is stage eleven in our process, so if this is when you typically engage, you are already very much on the back foot.
Do you really know what is driving your customers’ requirements or are you simply responding to a list of discrete questions, shoehorning your solution into their response template? Are you constantly offering cake when your client simply wants an apple? Can you genuinely answer the ‘who, what, when, where, why, and how’ of their needs?
Does your bid process start at this stage or later down the line? Are you much more proactive and start at the end of the previous procurement cycle? Is this a recognised stage or gate in your bid process?

Solution Development

When we talk to clients about the importance of solution development early in the Bid Lifecycle, we often receive a dismissive glare that shouts (quietly) that it’s simply not possible to develop a solution without a detailed set of requirements.
In any sales process there is a huge amount of ambiguity right up until the point of contract signature, and often beyond into due diligence and transition. We believe clients that get to grips with this ambiguity early in the cycle are much more likely to influence the client’s requirements and, in many cases, write or heavily influence the RFP.
Do you start mapping out the solution at this stage, testing your assumptions with the client? If you do, you can put yourself in the driving seat very early in the procurement process.
If the client isn’t willing to enter constructive dialogue with you at this stage, you may need to question their motives. They may have good reason, but they may just be coming to market as a cost saving exercise, rather than to drive significant change.

Value Proposition Development

At times, developing value propositions can feel like getting blood out of a stone. The problem typically starts with all bid stakeholders having a different view of what a value proposition represents. A quick google of the phrase serves only to muddy the waters further. There is much talk of ‘a promise of value to be delivered’ or a ‘summary of how your product or service benefits your customers’.

Best practice defines it as ‘a statement in a proposal that specifically addresses how aspects of an offer positively affect the customer’s business. Value propositions should provide customer-specific statements that are quantified and describe tangible and intangible value.’

For us, the key word in this definition is ‘quantified’. It must be more than just a collection of features or benefits. If you talk about being innovative (don’t we all…), do you quantify it? If your focus is on sustainability, can you quantify it?
Your value proposition should drive your entire bid process and not be a last-minute insertion into your proposal. How pivotal is it in your bids?
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