Making the Most of Your Time and Effort

Every company has the same problems when it comes to winning work - producing high-quality proposals within your budget - both time and money-wise!

Is it a good idea to propose on a project that's not a good fit just so that you can "get your name in front of the client"? No. That is the most expensive way to go about it!

So how do you decide what projects to chase and what projects to pass over? By building a solid Go/No-Go Process that has the buy-in of everyone involved!

Things to consider in your process:

• Has the opportunity been properly pre-marketed? (i.e. Does the client know you? Do you know the project and the potential issues?)
• Do you have the available Project Manager? (Both for executing the actual work as well as working on the proposal)
• Do you have relevant projects that match what the RFQ is asking for?
• Do you have the right staff and/or subconsultants to fill the necessary roles?
• Does your proposal team have the bandwidth to dedicate the appropriate level of effort? If not, is the opportunity important enough to hire an outside consulting firm to drive the proposal process?

If you’re not willing/able to spend the money and time to produce quality work, is it worth it to go after? If you’re not spinning your wheels on proposals you have no business going after, your staff has the time to devote to the proposals that you know you can win.