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  • Bid/No Bid Decisions

    Most companies would be better off bidding fewer opportunities and winning more of them. Your bid decision process can be the difference between success and failure. Unfortunately, the idea of bidding less to win more sounds a bit too much like bidding less. It can be hard to convince companies of the need, and even harder to maintain the discipline needed. Here are some tips to not only make better bid/no bid decision, but also to get everyone on board.
    • There is a school of thought that says you shouldn't bother with RFPs or try to get business by submitting proposals. At the same time, there are companies that make a lot of money doing just that. So how do you know whether RFPs are worth responding to for your business?
    • Even though bidding something at the last minute is a bad idea, companies often can't resist. Here's how to develop bid strategies, The Wrong Way.
    • All proposals are not created equal. The kind of proposal you are bidding affects the approach you should take to winning. If you are used to doing things one way and you bid the wrong kind of proposal, it will be difficult to win. Over time, the opportunities you select to pursue will change your company.
    • If you watch how companies really behave, there is no milestone, review, meeting, or single point in time where they make thier bid/no bid decisions. Sometimes this is because they have trouble being decisive and committing, and sometimes it's because of the way opportunity knowledge builds over time. But it is important to realize that when it comes to bid/no bid decisions, you are dealing with a continuum and not a milestone. That is why you need a system instead of a decision to guide you to being selective about what you invest in pursuing.
    • When the customer has already decided who they want to win before an RFP is released, the procurement is often called “wired.” As in, “It’s wired for the incumbent.” Often this company has helped write the RFP. When an RFP is wired, most companies will "no bid" it. But what do you do when you have to bid it anyway? This article tells you what you can do to still win, even when the deck is stacked against you.

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