Even When The Brief Looks Stacked Against You, There’s Value in Saying ‘Yes’.

By Sue-Ella Prodonovich

In my view, it can be too easy to say ‘no’ to pitching for work that’s a long shot.

That’s because many firms adopt a ‘go/no go’ approach when deciding whether to pursue an opportunity presented by an Expression of Interest (EOI) or Request for Proposal (RFP). This involves asking a series of qualifications - or gateways - that assess each opportunity before investing precious resources to pitch. And those gateways usually go something like this:

Were we invited to propose? If not, say no.

Do we know anyone within the target organisation? If we don’t, say no.

If we know people, do we know anyone who has influence with the decision-makers at the target organisation? If we don’t, say no.

Do we have a compelling track record of doing this type of work? If we don’t, say no.

While on the face of it this approach is logical, I think it puts the emphasis on the wrong things altogether.

What if the pitch was re-framed? Instead of being about a singular sales goal of ‘winning’ it was part of your learning and development, process improvement, an entrée to relationships, or building awareness in target markets?

AN ALTERNATIVE approach*: starting with 'yes'

Every EOI or RFP is an opportunity - even if your first instincts are to believe that you have Buckley’s chance of winning the work because you don't know the right people in the client's business or the client doesn’t know you.

My advice is to flip things around, and instead of assessing your prospects of success as the sole criteria for whether or not to pitch, begin by thinking about the benefits of going through the tender process.

After all, firms can still win from the pitching process, even when they don't win the pitch.

Here's why:

1. It tells clients where your firm is at right now and introduces them to new Partners.

We’ve continued to go through one of the greatest periods of personnel change we’ve ever seen in Australia’s professional services sector. Meanwhile, the Australian Financial Review reported that in the past couple of years the total number of partners at Australia’s top 50 law firms is up by about 600 while the number of Partners in the ‘Big 4’ are down by about 500.

It’s hard enough for practitioners in firms to keep up to speed with these changes, so imagine how clients feel.

If you’ve just on-boarded some new practices or partners, do them a favour by pulling out all stops to help them pitch, even if doesn’t hit all your go/no-go hurdles. In the meantime, you’ll be introducing clients to your new team in a very concrete way.

2. It also educates colleagues about what you do and how you do it.

Professionals often ask me about how to build referral networks within their own firms so that they can collaborate on client solutions. But a major barrier to these efforts is actually knowing how your colleagues work and what they do. That’s even more true given the number of new partners.

Working together on something that leads directly to work, like a tender or a ‘chemistry meeting’, gives sharp minds the opportunity to focus in a very different way than, say, hosting an in-house training session. You’ll very quickly discover the cut of your colleagues' jibs.

3. It skills people up.

Even if this isn’t a pitch you’re likely to win, it’s one that will give your professionals real-world experience in what it’s like to tender. That means, when that lucrative tender does come up, you’ll have a team of seasoned players - not a team of rookies.

4. It forces you to work on your processes.

My view is that a firm’s processes are usually the number one thing that makes tenders hard work. By pitching frequently, then reviewing each submission and considering how you could have done things better, you’ll start to nail down your process and your precedents.

When better processes combine with the growing experience your team is getting, you’ll start to become an unstoppable force.

5. It makes you understand who you are and what you do.

You could sit around for weeks brainstorming ideas about what you do well and why you’re different... or you could do a pitch. Nothing is as powerful at making everyone on your team understand your brand - from finance through to fee earners - as forcing them to show why people should choose you above all others in a real-life environment.

6. It creates awareness.

Even if you don’t win, your name is out in the marketplace, and people know what you do. (Again, something that’s vital in this period of change.)

That means, that down the track, when the next RFP gets sent out, you’re likely to be a stronger chance. Besides, many of the clients’ people will move on at some stage and no doubt they’ll be doing RFPs elsewhere.

7. It helps you position yourself.

If you think you won’t get it because your fees aren’t aligned, or because you’re not a national player, you still get to say to the client, “here’s what a premium brand looks like” or “here’s what a specialist firm looks like.”

8. You get to test ideas.

You probably have a few ideas on scenario building or pricing or service delivery. Tenders give you the perfect opportunity to test them and see how they fly.

And besides…

Clients choose firms for different reasons all of whom have different positives and bring different things to the table. So, if your pitch is honest and original, your firm could be the perfect complement to the client’s roster.

And, even if you’re competing like-for-like against better-known firms that offer a similar service and a similar price, you may find that the front-runners all miss the mark, leaving you the Steven Bradbury of pitching firms.

* Caution: If your team are pulling out all stops, and all-nighters, just to stay on top of new business leads then this approach might not be right for your practice.

Oh, and if your firm needs help putting together a proposal strategy contact me at sueella@prodonovich.com.au

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