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How Professional Service Firms Can Win More Bids, RFP's and New Business - YouTube
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- Hey gang
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First, thanks for the questions,
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I appreciate hearing from you all,
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and got some good ones, and
I appreciate the discussion.
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Got one today from someone
in the professional
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services space, a
contractor, that shared some
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frustration, they weren't
winning as much business
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with their bids, as he
thought they should,
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and we brainstormed a little bit.
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The conversation really
applies to professional
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services in general, so
I wanted to share three
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of the areas that we talked about,
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in case it helps you
with your preparation.
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So, really contractors,
construction, engineering
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in various forms, surveying,
anything that requires
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you to respond to an
RFP, put together a bid,
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put together a deck to
try to sell your business,
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either to folks you're familiar with,
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bust most likely folks you're not,
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to try and grow your business
and get more revenue.
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So, the three things
that we talked about was
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committee decisions,
proof, and adding value,
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and I'll go through those three now,
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and kind of explain.
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So, the first thing is
committee decisions.
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More than likely, most likely actually,
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the decisions that you are
going to be pitching to
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are being made by more than one person,
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there's a committee, there's
a group of people involved
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in the decision making process,
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of earning the business,
winning the business,
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deciding who gets the business.
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And inside that committee,
inside that group,
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are going to be people that
you can probably identify
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that process, receive,
and look at information
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in different ways.
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Make sure that the
materials you put together,
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either specifically
for the bid or the RFP,
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or in general representing your company,
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your website, your printed
materials, your social media
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accounts and whatnot,
understand and talk to
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the different ways in which
those people are looking
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for information, process
information, want to see
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the information.
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And how do you find that out?
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Well, I bet if you comb through
the experiences that you've
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had, both in pitching your
business, or in working
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with clients and customers,
you can see and recall
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a few different types of people in which
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the way they looked at
information, asked questions
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and processed what you were
sharing varied from each other.
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You can probably categorize those into
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two or three, or maybe
four types of groups.
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Visual people, detail
people, statistics people,
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emotional people, thinkers,
feelers, that kind of thing.
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When you put together your
website, your printed materials,
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and your pitch, in your
proposals, keep in mind that
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those folks are going to be
looking for the information
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in ways that matter most
to them, and so the more
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prepared you are with your information,
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the more persuasive you
can be in making your
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business case.
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Don't forget the obvious.
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I know that you eat, sleep,
breathe your business,
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but they don't.
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They probably don't know
as much about your business
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as you think they do,
or think they should.
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So, don't forget to remind
them of the obvious,
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the who, what, when, where
and why of your business.
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Start at that foundation so
when you build the specifics
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in answering what their looking for,
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they understand the
totality of your business,
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and all of the things that
they can bring to the table,
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the special story,
whatever makes you unique.
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Don't forget to add
that, because chances are
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as many people as you
think should know, do not.
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Second is proof.
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So, testimonials are
important, project case studies
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are important, reviews
are important, right?
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It's okay and encouraged to
ask people you've done business
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with to leave reviews,
hopefully positive ones,
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on Google reviews, social
reviews, industry boards,
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written letters of testimonials.
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Don't forget, often times
we get busy, as professional
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service providers, we
get busy in just doing
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the business, right?
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In following through, in
doing what we said we were
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going to do, and when we're
done, we breathe a sigh
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of relief and move onto the next one.
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That's what we do, that's
what we're programmed to do,
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in fact, that's what they're
paying you to do, right?
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It's okay to pause, and
ask for some feedback,
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ask for a letter, ask for
reviews, so that you can
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build that library.
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And the more diverse that
library is, in terms of
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business types, business
sectors, types of projects,
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size of projects, better
prepared you'll be to
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make a better business
case for your business,
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as you go into the next opportunity.
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And the last thing I want
to say is don't forget
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the additional thoughts and creativity.
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Oftentimes, bids and RFPs
are highly specific, right?
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And you, like every other
business, is going to
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answer their line-by-line
questions, and provide
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a line-by-line bid as to
what you are providing do,
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or looking to do.
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It's okay to also add, hey
listen there's a couple
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other ways in which we've
done this, that maybe faster,
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cheaper, better looking,
maybe it's more expensive,
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but it's more advanced and
has a better aesthetic.
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Maybe there's some creative
process that you can
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bring to them, or have
seen that you can bring,
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that wasn't mentioned and
probably won't be in the
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other proposals.
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First and foremost, you
want to answer the basics.
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You want to cover your basics
and answer the questions
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provided and provide the
information requested,
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but beyond that, showing
the little extra thought
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in bringing fresh ideas
is a good way for your to
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make impact with a group
that's looking at the same
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old answers from different
companies, right?
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So, remember, committee
decisions, have different
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people that process
information differently,
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so be persuasive in how
you're telling your story,
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but be prepared by
knowing how those people
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receive information, process information,
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and what information they're looking for,
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and tuck that away in your
website and your printed material
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Remember that, a lot of
people are doing homework
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on companies, your company,
that you may not needn't be
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aware of.
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You don't have to know
they're there anymore,
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the world we live in with
the digital age, with so much
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information out there, that you don't even
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have to know they're looking at them.
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So what are they seeing when
they're looking for you?
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Number two, don't forget
to proof, testimonials,
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case studies, reviews,
and make sure it's diverse
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so you can be ready and
have that library ready,
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and before you move on
to the next project,
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pause for a second, and do
a debrief on the project,
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and ask for a letter and
a review from those folks.
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It'll serve you well later.
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And additional thoughts
and fresh ideas are
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always welcome, even though
they may not be asked
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for in the RFP, we all
want to know that people
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are thinking about us, right?
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And they're going to hire
you to solve a problem,
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why not show that you can
not only solve the problem
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they're asking for, but bring
some additional perspective
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to the table as their partner.
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Hey listen, shoot me a
question if you have it,
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love having the discussions,
I hope this helps you,
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if you're in the
professional services field,
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do better with your bids and RFPs.
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Talk to you soon.
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