Advisory Services
Understanding You
We have advised clients who are involved in many styles of procurement, from straight service provisioning to PFI/PPP or BPO arrangements, bidding into both commercial and government opportunities.
Each of our clients is different, we also understand that each of your bids can differ. The procurer may place very exacting demands on your response. That is why our very first step is to understand you, your team and your opportunity.
We will structure our team to meet your specific needs and work quickly to establish a baseline. We have strong relationships with experienced professionals from the procurement-side and where necessary will involve them. The initial session will normally take the form of a day with your campaign leadership team and enables a fast-track launch for the project Our team will 'sanity-check' your position, make initial recommendations and agree the scope of our involvement.
Our people are not afraid to ask the 'dumb question' and will push you hard if we think you are wrong. We also know that in the bid environment we must add value quickly.
At the end of the initial session we will have...
- pushed you hard to develop a clear view of your real position
- driven you to focus on your clients requirements and the real value of your offer
- understood any weaknesses and identified possible remedies
- agreed the scope of our involvement
Our approach
Firstly, we work hard to understand you and your opportunity.
We recognise that all bids differ; you will employ different bid processes and tools and you may involve us at different stages. Through our experience we have developed a modular methodology that can be applied in different ways, according to your specific needs. Each part of the process is designed to provide value to a specific stage and process. If relevant, they can be delivered as a complete solution or deployed in a structure that adds incremental benefits.
Our methodology provides a framework driven to adding value. Our primary aim in developing this methodology has been to provide a mechanism that allows you to understand our approach. We have a number of techniques that we utilise within this method; these are deployed according to your specific needs and to add the greatest benefit to your bid. It is not a process that we look to follow regardless, ticking boxes along the way and protecting our behinds!
Our process allows us to recognise, highlight and record good practice within your organisation. Once the project completes our lead team member will present these back to you and allow your organisation to learn from the bid experience, whether good or bad.
Our experience
We have worked on a diversity of bids and industry sectors; the following list highlights the types of work we undertake, the right-hand column summarises some of our more recent projects.
Strategic opportunities
We invariably recommend that our clients involve themselves (and us) as early as possible. In this way the opportunity, client relationship and political climate are assessed, understood and become manageable. As a result the solution, and in some cases the published RfP can be shaped to significantly increase your win potential.
Audit
A process of reviewing the client's existing approach, procedures and resources, with a view to measuring against benchmarks and recommending and/or implementing a solution.
Innovation
In many cases we are retained within critical opportunities to ensure a real, sustained focus on client needs to bring (and maintain) an impartial perspective and to provide our innovative approach to defining, refining and communicating the value proposition.
Fire-fighting
The most painful of scenarios. As a bid matures, it is not uncommon for the team to lose sight of their win themes, key messages or value proposition. Tactical help is required to re-group, re-focus and sharpen up the proposal.
Lessons learned
Wherever we are engaged we will undertake a closing exercise to review the issues that have been highlighted from the project, and where lessons can be drawn to improve processes.
Let’s talk
We are called in to work with clients in a number of different ways, and at differing points in the process. We undertake activity for specific bid opportunities or as part of a wider strategic review of opportunity management & process.
Our approach is robust and measurable; it is also flexible and scalable. We understand how to work within specific client requirements and all guises
of bid opportunity.
We bring a very different, and we are told refreshing, approach.
We do not enforce a new way of working or Holy Grail. We understand you and your process and then focus our energy on delivering value to the areas where you need assistance most. We share our thoughts throughout and will suggest recommendations at the end of the project. Finally, our clients say they enjoy working with us.
If you would like to know more or discuss a specific opportunity then please contact us.