top 5 things every capture pro needs to know

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Robert Lohfeld, Lohfeld Consulting GroupCapture and Business Development ConferenceSeptember 23, 2014

Top 5 Things Every Capture Pro Needs to Know

The Association of Proposal Management Professionals

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Top 5 things to know to be a capture pro

Opinions may differ among capture professionals

Customer Solution Competition Price Process

Bob’s Top 5 Picks Eric’s Top 5 Picks Team attitude – it is everything Proposal manager – your best friend Poor performers – fire them fast Customer – if not speaking honestly

with you, you have already lost Can’t win – recommend a no bid



Two things you must know about capture

Capture is an intellectual game played by the best and brightest in our industry and the team who plays it the best usually wins

Best Informed Wins



My Top 5

What they are and why I believe they should be in the top 5 Customer – is everything

Solution – focused on strengths and the end game

Competition – know what they are going to do

Price – technical/ management evaluation is significantly more important than price, not

Process – don’t reinvent capture for every deal, build on what you have learned before



Number 1 – Customer

It is all about the customer

Why it’s important Customer knowledge has the highest correlation with winning

No customer knowledge = no bid

Best Informed Wins!

What happens when you ignore it Your proposal is sterile, abstract, flat, and is a dead looser





How do you make sure you succeed with it Start early

Define what you need to know to win

Capture has deliverables

What are the risks to watch out for Stagnate capture efforts – no forward progress

Tracking vs. capturing





How do I know I am succeeding with it Measure your progress on all Capture KPIs

Color score your progress monthly – Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red

What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it Technically, managerially, and politically smart

Very curious about everything

Best informed wins



Number 2 – Solution

Strength based solutioning

Why it’s important Best value tradeoffs focus on proposal strengths, weaknesses, and price

A compelling solution is rich in features that can be scored as strengths

Convey your solution so the evaluators can build their briefing to the Source Selection Authority

What happens when you ignore it No strengths give you a zero score



Number 2 – Solutioning


How do you make sure you succeed with it Challenge your team to create better solutions than they ever have before

Identify your strengths

Focus on the end game – draft your Source Selection Briefing

What are the risks to watch out for Stagnate capture efforts – no forward progress

Inability to get leadership to invest in solutioning




Number 2 – Solution


How do I know I am succeeding with it Set up a strengths budget for each section

Compare your strengths with your budget

What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it Lead the team by saying the solution is not good enough

A compelling solution is rich in features that will be evaluated as strengths



Number 3 – Competition

Obsess about the competition

Why it’s important What you don’t know will kill you

Learn everything about the competition

Your competition is learning everything they can about you

What happens when you ignore it You have no way of knowing if you can win

You have no way to neutralize your competitors strengths

You get blindsided by companies aligning in powerful ways





How do you make sure you succeed with it Create a competitive assessment

Keep up on street talk

Build on prior research

What are the risks to watch out for Competitive assessments are actionable, internet research is not





How do I know I am succeeding with it Black hat reviews are a good indicator

Teaming discussions can provide powerful feedback

Plan to neutralize competitor strengths and accentuate their weaknesses

What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it Technically, managerially, and politically smart

Very curious about everything



Number 4 – Price

Constrained budgets are driving change

Why it’s important Everything trades off against price

The government just doesn’t have the money they used to

What happens when you ignore it Your price can be 30% too high and you will fail!



Number 4 – Price


How do you make sure you succeed with it Start early and create pricing models

Research competitor pricing

Do your own tech/management – price tradeoff

What are the risks to watch out for Guessing vs. knowing



Number 4 – Price


How do I know I am succeeding with it Estimates and models improve over time

Pricing confidence will increase

What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it Technically, managerially smart with good pricing experience

Be a “gammer” and use the tricks



Number 5 – Process

Capture is a defined and repeatable process

Why it’s important Good process and good review will ensure you run a good, competitive capture

No process is what some people want

What happens when you ignore it Steps are missed in the process (think 9 KPIs)

Win probabilities decline

You bid deals that you shouldn’t





How do you make sure you succeed with it Capture is a disciplined process – follow it

If you don’t know where you are going, any path will get you there

What are the risks to watch out for Capture efforts stagnate – no forward progress






How do I know I am succeeding with it Measure your progress on all capture KPIs

Color score your progress monthly – Blue, Green, Yellow and Red

Create KPI color mosaics for each deal

What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it Be willing to follow a good process, but creative enough to continually improve the way it

is implemented

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Eric Gregory, Senior Vice PresidentShipley AssociatesCapture and Business Development ConferenceSeptember 23, 2014

Top 5 Things Every Capture Pro Needs to Know

The Association of Proposal Management Professionals



My Top 5

Team attitude is everything

Your Proposal Manager is your

best friend

Fire poor performers fast

If the customer is not speaking honestly with

you, you’ve lost

If you can’t win, recommend a no

bid.

1 2 3 4 5

Leadership creates the difference between winnersand losers



Critical Thoughts

Why it’s important

What happens when you ignore it

How do you make sure you succeed with it

What are the risks to watch out for

How do I know I am succeeding with it

What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it



Number 1 Team Attitude is Everything

Winning attitude is more important than a winning solution

Creating a winning team attitude is tough

Ignore the winning attitude and lose

Create the winning attitude by Example

Confidence

Mentoring

Coaching

Insistence



Number 1 Team Attitude is Everything

Watch for slumps, disaffection, clear morale issues, whining, and lack of accomplishment

Energy, accomplishment, creative solutions, self-policing, initiative, drive indicative of success

Leadership: Communication, clarity, vision, expectation, accountability, reward, decisiveness, interference running

The winner’s edge is not in a gifted birth, a high IQ, or in talent. The winner’s edge is all about attitude, not aptitude. Attitude is the criterion for success.

Denis Waitley



Number 2 Your Proposal Manager is Your Best Friend It’s the team stupid! Team begins here. Vision, knowledge, planning, action/schedule,message, tracking, solution, quality, process If the team of 2 fails, the team of 30 stands no chance Get the best proposal manager you canafford Working at odds. Not committed. No fire. Not helping to drive team. No proposal plan.Not active in capture, solutioning, and strategy.



Number 2 Your Proposal Manager is Your Best Friend

When Capture and ProposalManager click the team clicks Progress, focus, good customerreactions, team accomplishments,quality output, good questions, offers to help Leadership: Leave ego at the door, promote the team, make itclear proposal manager is the second, give them team face time



Number 3 Fire Poor Performers Fast

Can’t allow poor performanceto drag the team down Morale suffers, productivity suffers,energy decreases, creativity flags,actions slip, Pwin drops Be polite, be firm, be honest, emphasize good of the team Missed deadlines, asking same questions multiple times, poor qualityoutput, withdrawal from team, lack ofconfidence



Number 3 Fire Poor Performers Fast

Action taken swiftly results in immediate capture improvements

Team morale improves quickly People tell you you did the right thing People thank you for taking action

Leadership: Accountability, decisiveness,professionalism, concern, maturity, commitment

In the minds of great managers, consistent poor performance is not primarily a matter of weakness,stupidity, disobedience, or disrespect. It is a matter of miscasting.Marcus Buckingham



Number 4 If the Customer is not Speaking Honestly With You, You’ve Lost

Honest communication of needs, wantsissues, risks, preferences gets results When customers are evasive, they are looking for another solution Declare honesty/trust is important to you tohelp achieve a successful procurement Watch for misrepresentations, fabrications,contradictions, prevarications, and tales



Number 4 If the Customer is not Speaking Honestly With You, You’ve Lost

Customers are engaged, share, and converse. They agree, disagree, suggest, advise, and debate Leadership: Invite conversation, leaders listen, followers talk excessively.Leaders propose ideas and look forreaction.

Success is not certain until you are obsessed by your goal.

Vijay Dhameliya



Number 5 If You Can’t Win, Recommend a No Bid

The greatest sin is wasting time, money,and people on deals you can’t win. Great people turn mediocre underpoor leadership and decision making Courageous, smart, committed prosmake firm bid/no bid recommendations Beware the abdicator, the sniper, the hindsight expert, and the toady but makeyour recommendation regardless



Number 5 If You Can’t Win, Recommend a No Bid

First order metric of business development health…how many no bidsare you making? When you make clear no bid recommendations for the right reasons Leadership: Courage, honesty, thought,accountability, responsibility, andstewardship

It is only in our decisions that we are important. Jean-Paul Sartre

Bid

No Bid



Remember….

The essence of good capture is great leadership

A bad plan well executed is better than a good plan ill executed (the ones with the bad plan will figure it out and cream you)

He or she who blinks first loses

In the end, your self-respect is all you have left.

Go Win Business



Contact Info:

Eric Gregory

Senior Vice President, Consulting-East

[email protected]

703-690-9422

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Thank You

Bob Lohfeld

CEO, Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc.

[email protected]

410-336-6264

mailto:[email protected]

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top 5 things every capture pro needs to know

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capture pro needs

strengths focus

itno strengths

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