Top 5 Things Every Capture Pro Needs to Know

1. Robert Lohfeld, Lohfeld Consulting Group Capture and Business Development Conference September 23, 2014 Top 5 Things Every Capture Pro Needs to Know www.apmp.org The Association of Proposal Management Professionals

2. Top 5 things to know to be a capture pro • Opinions may differ among capture professionals Bob’s Top 5 PicksEric’s Top 5 Picks • Customer • Solution • Competition • Price • Process • Team attitude – it is everything • Proposal manager – your best friend • Poor performers – fire them fast • Customer – if not speaking honestlywith you, you have already lost • Can’t win – recommend a no bid

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Number 1 – Customer It is all about the customer • 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

7. Number 1 – Customer It is all about the customer • 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

8. 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

9. Number 2 – Solutioning Strength based 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 • Tracking vs. capturing

10. Number 2 – Solution Strength based solutioning • 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

11. 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

12. Number 3 – Competition Obsess about the competition • 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

13. Number 3 – Competition Obsess about the competition • 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

14. 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!

15. Number 4 – Price Constrained budgets are driving change • 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

16. Number 4 – Price Constrained budgets are driving change • 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

17. 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

18. Number 5 – Process Capture is a defined and repeatable process • 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 • Tracking vs. capturing

19. Number 5 – Process Capture is a defined and repeatable process • 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

20. Eric Gregory, Senior Vice President Shipley Associates Capture and Business Development Conference September 23, 2014 Top 5 Things Every Capture Pro Needs to Know www.apmp.org The Association of Proposal Management Professionals

21. My Top 5 1 2 3 4 5 Leadership creates the difference between winners and losers

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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 can afford • Working at odds. Not committed. No fire. Not helping to drive team. No proposal plan. Not active in capture, solutioning, and strategy.

26. Number 2 Your Proposal Manager is Your Best Friend • When Capture and Proposal Manager click the team clicks • Progress, focus, good customer reactions, team accomplishments, quality output, good questions, offers to help • Leadership: Leave ego at the door, promote the team, make it clear proposal manager is the second, give them team face time

27. Number 3 Fire Poor Performers Fast • Can’t allow poor performance to 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 quality output, withdrawal from team, lack of confidence

28. 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

29. Number 4 If the Customer is not Speaking Honestly With You, You’ve Lost • Honest communication of needs, wants issues, risks, preferences gets results • When customers are evasive, they are looking for another solution • Declare honesty/trust is important to you to help achieve a successful procurement • Watch for misrepresentations, fabrications, contradictions, prevarications, and tales

30. 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 for reaction. Success is not certain until you are obsessed by your goal. Vijay Dhameliya

31. 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 under poor leadership and decision making • Courageous, smart, committed pros make firm bid/no bid recommendations • Beware the abdicator, the sniper, the hindsight expert, and the toady but make your recommendation regardless

32. Number 5 If You Can’t Win, Recommend a No Bid • First order metric of business development health…how many no bids are you making? • When you make clear no bid recommendations for the right reasons • Leadership: Courage, honesty, thought, accountability, responsibility, and stewardship It is only in our decisions that we are important. Jean-Paul Sartre Bid No Bid

33. Remember…. Go Win Business

34. Thank You Bob Lohfeld CEO, Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. Rlohfeld@LohfeldConsulting.com 410-336-6264 Contact Info: Eric Gregory Senior Vice President, Consulting-East egregory@shipleywins.com 703-690-9422 Images provided through PhotoSpin subscription www.apmp.org