Robert Lohfeld, Lohfeld Consulting Group Capture and Business Development Conference September 23, 2014 Top 5 Things Every Capture Pro Needs to Know The Association of Proposal Management Professionals

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 2 Top 5 things to know to be a capture pro  Opinions may differ among capture professionals  Customer  Solution  Competition  Price  Process Bob’s Top 5 PicksEric’s Top 5 Picks  Team attitude – it is everything  Proposal manager – your best friend  Poor performers – fire them fast  Customer – if not speaking honestly with you, you have already lost  Can’t win – recommend a no bid

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 3 Two things you must know about capture  Capture is an intellectual game played by the best and brightest in our industry and the team who plays it the best usually wins  Best Informed Wins

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 4 My Top 5  What they are and why I believe they should be in the top 5  Customer – is everything  Solution – focused on strengths and the end game  Competition – know what they are going to do  Price – technical/ management evaluation is significantly more important than price, not  Process – don’t reinvent capture for every deal, build on what you have learned before

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 5 Number 1 – Customer It is all about the customer  Why it’s important  Customer knowledge has the highest correlation with winning  No customer knowledge = no bid  Best Informed Wins!  What happens when you ignore it  Your proposal is sterile, abstract, flat, and is a dead looser

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 6 Number 1 – Customer It is all about the customer  How do you make sure you succeed with it  Start early  Define what you need to know to win  Capture has deliverables  What are the risks to watch out for  Stagnate capture efforts – no forward progress  Tracking vs. capturing

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 7 Number 1 – Customer It is all about the customer  How do I know I am succeeding with it  Measure your progress on all Capture KPIs  Color score your progress monthly – Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red  What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it  Technically, managerially, and politically smart  Very curious about everything  Best informed wins

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 8 Number 2 – Solution Strength based solutioning  Why it’s important  Best value tradeoffs focus on proposal strengths, weaknesses, and price  A compelling solution is rich in features that can be scored as strengths  Convey your solution so the evaluators can build their briefing to the Source Selection Authority  What happens when you ignore it  No strengths give you a zero score

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 9 Number 2 – Solutioning Strength based solutioning  How do you make sure you succeed with it  Challenge your team to create better solutions than they ever have before  Identify your strengths  Focus on the end game – draft your Source Selection Briefing  What are the risks to watch out for  Stagnate capture efforts – no forward progress  Inability to get leadership to invest in solutioning  Tracking vs. capturing

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 10 Number 2 – Solution Strength based solutioning  How do I know I am succeeding with it  Set up a strengths budget for each section  Compare your strengths with your budget  What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it  Lead the team by saying the solution is not good enough  A compelling solution is rich in features that will be evaluated as strengths

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 11 Number 3 – Competition Obsess about the competition  Why it’s important  What you don’t know will kill you  Learn everything about the competition  Your competition is learning everything they can about you  What happens when you ignore it  You have no way of knowing if you can win  You have no way to neutralize your competitors strengths  You get blindsided by companies aligning in powerful ways

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 12 Number 3 – Competition Obsess about the competition  How do you make sure you succeed with it  Create a competitive assessment  Keep up on street talk  Build on prior research  What are the risks to watch out for  Competitive assessments are actionable, internet research is not

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 13 Number 3 – Competition Obsess about the competition  How do I know I am succeeding with it  Black hat reviews are a good indicator  Teaming discussions can provide powerful feedback  Plan to neutralize competitor strengths and accentuate their weaknesses  What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it  Technically, managerially, and politically smart  Very curious about everything

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 14 Number 4 – Price Constrained budgets are driving change  Why it’s important  Everything trades off against price  The government just doesn’t have the money they used to  What happens when you ignore it  Your price can be 30% too high and you will fail!

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 15 Number 4 – Price Constrained budgets are driving change  How do you make sure you succeed with it  Start early and create pricing models  Research competitor pricing  Do your own tech/management – price tradeoff  What are the risks to watch out for  Guessing vs. knowing

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 16 Number 4 – Price Constrained budgets are driving change  How do I know I am succeeding with it  Estimates and models improve over time  Pricing confidence will increase  What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it  Technically, managerially smart with good pricing experience  Be a “gammer” and use the tricks

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 17 Number 5 – Process Capture is a defined and repeatable process  Why it’s important  Good process and good review will ensure you run a good, competitive capture  No process is what some people want  What happens when you ignore it  Steps are missed in the process (think 9 KPIs)  Win probabilities decline  You bid deals that you shouldn’t

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 18 Number 5 – Process Capture is a defined and repeatable process  How do you make sure you succeed with it  Capture is a disciplined process – follow it  If you don’t know where you are going, any path will get you there  What are the risks to watch out for  Capture efforts stagnate – no forward progress  Tracking vs. capturing

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 19 Number 5 – Process Capture is a defined and repeatable process  How do I know I am succeeding with it  Measure your progress on all capture KPIs  Color score your progress monthly – Blue, Green, Yellow and Red  Create KPI color mosaics for each deal  What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it  Be willing to follow a good process, but creative enough to continually improve the way it is implemented

Eric Gregory, Senior Vice President Shipley Associates Capture and Business Development Conference September 23, 2014 Top 5 Things Every Capture Pro Needs to Know The Association of Proposal Management Professionals

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 21 My Top 5 Team attitude is everything Your Proposal Manager is your best friend Fire poor performers fast If the customer is not speaking honestly with you, you’ve lost If you can’t win, recommend a no bid Leadership creates the difference between winners and losers

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 22 Critical Thoughts  Why it’s important  What happens when you ignore it  How do you make sure you succeed with it  What are the risks to watch out for  How do I know I am succeeding with it  What leadership skills do I need to ensure success with it

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 23 Number 1 Team Attitude is Everything  Winning attitude is more important than a winning solution  Creating a winning team attitude is tough  Ignore the winning attitude and lose  Create the winning attitude by  Example  Confidence  Mentoring  Coaching  Insistence

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 24 Number 1 Team Attitude is Everything  Watch for slumps, disaffection, clear morale issues, whining, and lack of accomplishment  Energy, accomplishment, creative solutions, self-policing, initiative, drive indicative of success  Leadership: Communication, clarity, vision, expectation, accountability, reward, decisiveness, interference running The winner’s edge is not in a gifted birth, a high IQ, or in talent. The winner’s edge is all about attitude, not aptitude. Attitude is the criterion for success. Denis Waitley

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 25 Number 2 Your Proposal Manager is Your Best Friend  It’s the team stupid! Team begins here. Vision, knowledge, planning, action/schedule, message, tracking, solution, quality, process  If the team of 2 fails, the team of 30 stands no chance  Get the best proposal manager you can afford  Working at odds. Not committed. No fire. Not helping to drive team. No proposal plan. Not active in capture, solutioning, and strategy.

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 26 Number 2 Your Proposal Manager is Your Best Friend  When Capture and Proposal Manager click the team clicks  Progress, focus, good customer reactions, team accomplishments, quality output, good questions, offers to help  Leadership: Leave ego at the door, promote the team, make it clear proposal manager is the second, give them team face time

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 27 Number 3 Fire Poor Performers Fast  Can’t allow poor performance to drag the team down  Morale suffers, productivity suffers, energy decreases, creativity flags, actions slip, Pwin drops  Be polite, be firm, be honest, emphasize good of the team  Missed deadlines, asking same questions multiple times, poor quality output, withdrawal from team, lack of confidence

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 28 Number 3 Fire Poor Performers Fast  Action taken swiftly results in immediate capture improvements  Team morale improves quickly  People tell you you did the right thing  People thank you for taking action  Leadership: Accountability, decisiveness, professionalism, concern, maturity, commitment In the minds of great managers, consistent poor performance is not primarily a matter of weakness, stupidity, disobedience, or disrespect. It is a matter of miscasting. Marcus Buckingham

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 29 Number 4 If the Customer is not Speaking Honestly With You, You’ve Lost  Honest communication of needs, wants issues, risks, preferences gets results  When customers are evasive, they are looking for another solution  Declare honesty/trust is important to you to help achieve a successful procurement  Watch for misrepresentations, fabrications, contradictions, prevarications, and tales

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 30 Number 4 If the Customer is not Speaking Honestly With You, You’ve Lost  Customers are engaged, share, and converse. They agree, disagree, suggest, advise, and debate  Leadership: Invite conversation, leaders listen, followers talk excessively. Leaders propose ideas and look for reaction. Success is not certain until you are obsessed by your goal. Vijay Dhameliya

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 31 Number 5 If You Can’t Win, Recommend a No Bid  The greatest sin is wasting time, money, and people on deals you can’t win.  Great people turn mediocre under poor leadership and decision making  Courageous, smart, committed pros make firm bid/no bid recommendations  Beware the abdicator, the sniper, the hindsight expert, and the toady but make your recommendation regardless

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 32 Number 5 If You Can’t Win, Recommend a No Bid  First order metric of business development health…how many no bids are you making?  When you make clear no bid recommendations for the right reasons  Leadership: Courage, honesty, thought, accountability, responsibility, and stewardship It is only in our decisions that we are important. Jean-Paul Sartre Bid No Bid

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 33 Remember…. The essence of good capture is great leadership A bad plan well executed is better than a good plan ill executed (the ones with the bad plan will figure it out and cream you) He or she who blinks first losesIn the end, your self-respect is all you have left. Go Win Business

© 2014, All rights reserved | copyright 2014 | page 34 Contact Info: Eric Gregory Senior Vice President, Consulting-East Images provided through PhotoSpin subscription Thank You Bob Lohfeld CEO, Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc