How many times have you made a list of win themes and discriminators--or SWOT, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats--only to see that it reads like this: faster, low risk, best value, best of breed, world class, and people, processes, tools and technology?
This list does nothing to help you win government contracts or new commercial business--what bidder is going to brag about the opposite of these things?
Step 1- know the issues that drove the customer to ask for your bid, proposal or sales presentation. These are the things that underlie their requirements. You must know them deeply in oder to win.
Step 2 - Know what their vision for the future is- near, mid and long term. See it clearly, describe it in your own words. You may take a paragraph to say what they've written in a sentence. That's good-it means you are thinking deeply.
Step 3 - identify your discriminators in terms that respond to their issues and their visions. Quantify as much as possible. If they want to be the category-killer in their industry, what does that mean in terms of sales and market share? How will your company help them in terms of magnitude and time? Be specific.
No one who speaks in generalities ever wins. Those who dare to be specific, concrete and credible have a much greater chance of winning. You show that you really understand and have done the hard work to define the problem and come up with a solution.
Give the decisions-makers confidence that you know how to do the work and you have a much greater chance to win.
What technique or strategy have you used to win an important contract? Share your ideas through our comment link.
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