Are you strategic in your proposal management process?
On average, organizations boast a 47-53% win rate for total submissions and submit roughly 40 - 130 per year depending on the size of the organization – smaller firms submit toward the beginning of that range.
For a small business, a 50% ± win rate means using a significant amount of time and resources to only close near 20 proposals, which is usually still pretty hard to attain for a small business with limited access to larger contracts and resources unless they are providing services as a subcontractor. Your strategy dictates your wins versus the losses.
To strategically increase your proposal conversion rates:
- First identify your current close rate and average proposal responses per quarter. It’s simple math. If you submit 30 proposals per quarter and win 12 of them, then your win rate is 40% per quarter. Calculate the revenue that is generated from that win rate.
- Next, apply a goal to increase the identified win rate per quarter rather than annually. We find incremental goal setting to be easier to track and adjust.
Apply goals based on your current challenges. Perhaps you are unable to respond to every bid, not even the ones that are the most lucrative. Your pain point is a lack of resources or time. Hire a proposal consultant, leverage a proposal management tool or RFP software, or consider teaming options with organizations that have more resources. A goal for you could be to reduce responses to only substantial opportunities that generate higher revenue and to increase win rate at least 20-30%. The reduction in responses for more strategic wins will attain such a goal and create longer lasting partnerships.
- Finally, combine automation with strategic decision making and planning.
Your proposal conversion rates are influenced by your ability to replicate successful processes and strategically map them to your organizational needs. With incremental goal setting and the right resources your proposal conversion rate will increase.