For the first time ever there is an optimization program designed to enhance an organization’s federal business development function, both from a corporate perspective and that of the individual business development director. Yes, for the first time. There are many programs, courses and studies on the proposal development cycle, but no program on the overall function of business development, whether at the corporate level or for the individual business development director. Look around. Ask around. Do a keyword internet search. Yes, perhaps there are a few certification programs in the private sector but for sure no comprehensive program pertaining to business development for the US Federal Government, undeniably the largest buying entity in the world.
Many organizations seek to penetrate the US federal government market, undeniably the largest buying entity in the world. Annual expenditures to contractors exceed $400 billion, $100 billion in the DC-metropolitan area alone. This market is complex with its own set of rules, both written and unwritten. Given the cost of pursuing an acquisition can range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to many millions, it is very important to understand this market and its unique forces and attributes. It is critical to be organized with the requisite processes, practices and procedures to interface internally from a business development perspective but most important with external stakeholders where the primary stakeholder is the US federal government. And let’s not forget about the all-important deal. One can win a program but lose, and lose big, during the execution of the award. Understanding, constructing and presenting The Deal is something most firms only get partially right, a costly mistake.
The People Buy From People™ Business Development Optimization Program is a combined consultancy and training program presenting an expert view of business development in the U.S. federal market. The program looks closely at an organization’s As-Is business development environment, makes changes and adjustments based on time-tested business development practices and techniques, resulting in the development of a To-Be business development environment for the entire corporation to follow. Specific attention is paid to Leadership involvement in the business development function to include program expectations, coverage for out-year opportunities, strategic support sessions, executive interface with clients, etc.
For both Leadership and Business Development Directors, the rollout of the new Business Development Environment is carefully planned, communicated and integrated into not just the business development function but the very culture of the organization itself. As for the individual Business Development Director, the program provides numerous instructional business development topics with varying drill-downs. The course shares lessons learned, and real life stories and experiences working with the US federal government, often in the form of vignettes. In short, the course covers in a condensed manner much of what a senior business development executive learned in several decades “performing” business development in the federal market. It goes well beyond “process” and focuses on winning; beyond formatting to content; beyond sequencing to actions and outcomes; and beyond guessing to having a strong knowledge of what is required to work in the world of federal government acquisitions. It does not focus on the proposal capture process but it does provide a few recommendations
The Return On Investment Is Significant
Given millions of dollars at stake in many acquisitions, imagine the increase in potential revenue if your win odds are increased just a few percentage points after engaging in this program. And what better way to learn how mid to large integrators price programs utilizing transition and O&M staff early to reduce the high costs of implementation to BAFO scrubbing techniques to gaming the evaluation criteria. And for your business development directors, the case based training scenarios offer, albeit drinking from a fire hose, lessons that can only otherwise be learned over 30 years of hard fought battles in the trenches. Other benefits include:
Better understand the inner-workings of the US federal government to include the highly complex budget cycle and federal acquisition processes
Better manage the complex corporate business development function through the incorporation of proven business development leadership practices specifically tailored to the companies’ product/solution suite, corporate culture and current/desired positioning with the full complement of stakeholders.
Build winning capture campaigns that have all the necessary steps as well as the subtleties that make the difference between winning and becoming the dreaded second best.
Accelerate beyond attending breakfasts, lunches and industry-wide forums to building relationships resulting in improved understanding of customer needs and requirements
Enhance specialized and pertinent skills in developing relationships that will lead to lasting business ties and friendships.
Position among the competition for improved collaboration and business results
Better understand some of the top tier contractors and their motivators while predicting their opportunity actions
Maneuver more effectively in a changing federal landscape through increased knowledge and appreciation of federal government actions
Better understand solution selling versus simply selling products or services
Appreciate process when it is needed but know when to avoid it in the federal sales environment
Better understand, and perform in the full business development cycle from turning over the rocks and building a pipeline, to qualifying and shaping opportunities, to delivering knockout proposal punches versus body blows and staying involved with the win and growing from the delivery of good government
Have a better appreciation of when to stand down from a pursuit saving considerable time and dollars for other pursuits
Better understand government-speak as well as beltway acquisition banter
Better understand the customer -- our government clients, and how to put yourself in their shoes
Understand common contractor actions government customers simply hate
Examine "been there, done that" federal sales experience.
A Message From Bob Lam, the Developer of the People Buy From People™ Business Development Optimization Program…
Business development is about winning…there is no prize for second place, except in multi-vendor awards and even then the term winning is questionable. Business development is a job for all employees in many mature companies. Business development is one of the most important business functions within an organization. It is a major function within an organization, often being the owner of the extended view of the corporate sales and revenue forecasts. It extends beyond lead origination to qualification, pursuit, bid and a myriad of post award activities. Business development is key to its many interfaces including research, competitive analysis, solution development, deal shaping, pricing, capture and sales. In short, business development is front and center in a corporation, any corporation. It is the key determinant of growth, and ultimately the success of an organization.
Program Specifics
A requisite outcome of the People Buy From People™ Business Development Optimization Program is for Leadership to come to agreement on an enhanced Business Development Environment. This includes the Business Development Director motivation model, interface between the various stakeholders and BDDers, recognition of the amount of time focused on out-year versus current year activities, use of probability adjusted pipeline characteristics, application of business development support tactics and agreement on internal and external business development metrics.
The first step of the program is to understand the Business Development As-Is model. After interviewing leadership and business development directors, existing practices and procedures are documented, noting strengths and weaknesses, and results or outcomes where available and recorded. Included is an understanding of the interfaces, functions and responsibilities of the greater stakeholder community. And finally, there is the analysis of the enterprise solution with specific attention paid to the public sector return on investment of company products/solutions delivered to customers.
The second step of the program is to build out the To-Be model. A total overhaul of the existing business development program is not anticipated as drastic and dramatic changes may indeed cause more harm than good. Thus, a progressive change program is sought that takes advantage of recognized strong business development practices as well as current practices defined by organizational-unique characteristics such as culture, size and depth of resources and goals.
Key to the To-Be model is the Business Development Environment (BDE). The BDE represents the new business development enterprise environment, complete with stakeholders and responsibilities, to include specific functions of both leadership and BDDers. Stakeholder groups are identified including major inputs, outputs and outcomes. Time spent on out-year business development opportunities versus current year sales is delineated.
Business Development Environment Anchors
Key to the Business Development Environment are various support anchors, used by both leadership and BDDers, to capture, record, task and track activities related to existing and future pursuits as well as to capture the state of business development affairs for probability adjusted revenue targets. Generic BDE anchors are customized specific to refinements made to the new To-Be business development model.
Bid Meter -- Per opportunity scoring mechanism depicting the relative health of an opportunity relative to existing program penetration. Mechanism is a living (i.e., intended to be updated) form with scoring changes based on client/opportunity penetration and understanding. Of importance is the Getting To Green subcomponent that presents next steps in further penetration/understanding of the opportunity. Over time, cumulative program scores will be a key indicator of win-ability.
Opportunity Pipeline -- Capture mechanism of key opportunity metrics. A noteworthy key is the collection of next fiscal year opportunity information and its compilation relative to established next fiscal year targets with specific attention on probability-adjusted revenue. Through the To-Be Model consultancy task, next fiscal year probability-adjusted revenue targets are established based on expected win probabilities and compared to actual projections. The intent is to start the new fiscal year, through “next fiscal year” business development efforts during the “current fiscal year” with a well-populated and qualified pipeline (i.e., on Day 1 of next FY, the cumulative financials of probability adjusted opportunities hopefully match planned BD financial targets). Compensation analytics can be driven from the percentage completion of targets. Also documented are current year sales driven from previous current “next fiscal year” positioning.
Opportunity Lead Profile -- Simplistic yet effective 4-quadrant chart for the data capture and presentation of key program values and considerations. The form is intended as a strategy discussion document keying on challenges, risks and rewards versus a program status discussion. Through the strategy discussion, leadership can share and work with the BDDer on strategies that have worked on other, perhaps similar opportunities. An expected outcome is the continual update by attending competitor researchers of competitor targeting, actions and outcomes.
Solution Overview Chart -- Per opportunity, living (i.e., intended to be updated) document depicting company solution. The intent of the Solution Overview Chart is a continual build, based on known facts and client preferences, of the proposed solution. It is made available for review by Leadership, capture and proposal teams, The Deal team and the Business Proposal Team. Key are the categories of information being presented to include benefits to the client and the client's client, and solution differentiation. Public sector return on investment is a key component of the overview. The completed document is an ideal exhibit, perhaps even as a solution driver in the Executive Summary and the subordinate technical and management sections of the proposal, as well as the Business Proposal.
Top Gun Business Development Training Program
Implementation of the Top Gun Training Program is proposed which focuses on 1) orienting the BDD to optimally engage in the new Business Development Environment (e.g., time management, custom data collection, strategy reviews); 2) enhancing the BDD’s effectiveness in the new Business Development Environment through the study and practice of relationship management techniques presented through real life public sector case studies; and, 3) enhancing individual BDD business development skills and knowledge through various learning activities (e.g., negotiation skills, program qualification and deal shaping).
The Top Gun Training Program is supported by actual business development programs and experiences. This case study focus allows, and facilitates, the adaptation of various techniques and practices to an individual’s unique style. Being authentic as a business development director is critical as there is no one right way of conducting business development. There are, however, many wrong ways.
Top Gun Training Program
Business Development Environment Rollout Information Program
Presentation and detailed discussions of the Leadership-agreed Business Development Environment. It is likely there will be substantive changes to the As-Is model in accountability, time expenditures, structured programed strategy sessions, and the types of data collected and acted upon, as well as any changes necessitated when looking at the full field of stakeholders.
Relationship Management Training Program anchored by the new Business Development Environment – People Buy From People™ is the key axiom of the Business Development Optimization Program and the development and management of relationships is the key activity. This training course goes into significant detail regarding finding and building relationships constructive to an organization’s business model as well as presenting techniques where you can evaluate and understand the actions of your clients and how and why the various relationships are different.
Turning Over The Rocks and Building The Pipeline Training Programanchored by the Opportunity Lead Profile, Bid Meter and the Opportunity Pipeline – This training program focuses on building the optimum next-fiscal-year opportunity pipeline, opportunity-by-opportunity, all the while weeding out those programs where you celebrate No-Bid decisions. Specific client investigation and evaluation techniques are detailed to include making the dreaded Cold Call, leveraging a full array of assets to include other clients and even competitors. The vast array of information needed to make The Bid decision is discussed in detail. It should be noted that while out-year opportunities are sought, new current year business development opportunities do occur and should not be ignored.
Qualifying And Shaping The Opportunity Training Program anchored by the Opportunity Lead Profile and Bid Meter – This training program focuses on identifying the optimum opportunities to pursue, raising the award probability of the opportunity fully recognizing that winning requires deal financials to be clearly understood and accepted. Examined are the many resources at your disposal, program investigation and shaping techniques, government dialogue timing challenges, and making the all important (no) bid decision. A case study of a Mega-Program pursuit is analyzed.
The Art of Negotiations Training Program anchored by in-line case studies – Negotiations occur at each and every phase of the business development cycle. This training program brings to life the negotiating techniques used in every day encounters, showing how to leverage these and other techniques in your day-to-day interactions with all stakeholders. Techniques are presented which go well beyond the basics of negotiating. Case study-based training is used.
The Deal Training Program anchored by the Solution Overview Chart – The Deal goes well beyond the “sale” number, focusing on all outcomes desired by the full array of stakeholders. Critical to any government deal are the merits of the offer, presentation of assumptions and rollout of the solution. As in most proposals, presentation is critical and The Deal includes discussions of presentation techniques to include the actual solution as well as the actual business proposal itself. Offer scrubbing techniques are analyzed. And very important is the presentation/discussion of such business proposal components as Assumptions, Cost to (Not) Change, and a fully vetted discussion on public sector return on investment.
