Background
A proposal usually contains the scope of work statements, requirements, solution, timeline, capability and capacity, communications plan and method of delivery mentioned, however the time to build a detailed proposal and comprehensive one at that is often too long and competition might beat you to it.
PROBLEM / OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT
With increase in competition and customer expectations to receive quality, comprehensive proposals with a quick turnaround, the business development teams need to be very efficient and precise in their proposal release mechanism, as they make the difference between companies ability to survive and prosper or sink to the bottom.
CRITICAL CONSTRAINTS
In custom requirements, the ability to rapid analyse and provide attractive solution composition is extremely crucial for a good proposal to be made.
KEY OBSERVATIONS
Proposal writing is a combination of technical know-how, solution construct, business analysis and documentation skills. One person with all such skills is rather rare and a good proposal writing team will carry these skills as separate individuals.
SOLUTION
Depending on the complexity and size of project requirements, the format of proposal would vary.
APPROACH TO SOLUTION
For concept level proposals, a presentation format and hypotheticals were factored into proposal, for standard requirements, a template driven format with timelines and budgets clearly articulated were provided. Continuous efforts to reduce the time to release a quality proposal was aimed at.
KEY SOLUTION METRICS
The time to release a proposal was reduced to less than 15 minutes for projects costing less than $10,000; with excellent customer response and rapid successful closures.
SOLUTION LIMITATIONS
Build a proposal, having it reviewed and approved is time consuming and unless sufficient historical data is available by project or solution types, rapid release of proposals is going to be challenge.
PROCESS APPLIED
Once a requirement is received, the business analysts reviews and understands the requirements, provide the solution requirements in form features and functionalities within a SLA time. The solution requirements are analysed and estimates provided by the technical team and based on the efforts, the sales team assigns the proposed budget, costs for the project. All need dedicated release time based on the size and categorization of project by size and value.
REVENUE IMPACT
Business was booked to capacity and management had to increase the pricing to only take on high paying customers. This was a way of saying NO, instead of actually turning away customers.
AD-HOC CONTRIBUTORS
Even when the client finds the cost outside their budget limits, they still carry a good outlook towards the business for their responsiveness and ability to rapidly respond.
KEY BENEFITS OF SOLUTION
The sales cycle is rapid, time is spent further on achieving a natural end to the opportunity, either as a success or a failure, which means the sales is focused on productive and quality clientele.