Business Development Roadmap
ProposeThe key step in any construction competitive bid is developing a winning proposal. If you have done your Position and Prepare work, you can focus now on how to communicate your offer both in the proposal and presentation. Propose includes:
- Draft Proposal: Ideally, you will use the information your gained in the Prepare phase to develop a draft proposal before the owner releases the Request for Proposal (RFP). Doing so puts you at an advantage because you will have more time to develop
the final version and focus on how to communicate your differentiators.
- RFP Analysis: If you did your Prepare steps, there should not be any surprises in the RFP. Use this step to analyze every sentence in the RFP to ensure that you meet all requirements.
- Win Strategy Validation: You created a win strategy during Prepare. After the RFP is analyzed, validate that your win strategy is still appropriate and communicate it to everyone on your proposal team.
- Final Proposal: Your final proposal should be as perfect as possible and present a compelling offer to the owner. If you developed a draft proposal earlier you can not focus on clear communication of the differentiators you offer to the owner.
Presentation: Perhaps the most important step in achieving a win, the presentation step involves selection of the right team and developing a presentation that is memorable and clearly differentiates you from any competitor’s presentation.
- Negotiation: If you are selected, you will be asked to negotiate the content of the contract. This is a time to demonstrate to the owner that you are easy to work with; however, it is also the time to ensure that you have what you need to be successful in performing the work.
Award: After the award and signing of a negotiated contract, your focus should be on preparing your team to perform at their best. Recognize the success but at the same time, lay the foundation with your team to do their best on the job.