Shipley Insights

Response: Plan to concentrate your proposal efforts on answering the most important questions. If you can submit an Executive Summary, put extra work into developing a strong narrative that pulls together all the threads from the different questions and themes in the request. In addition, spend time identifying, on an 80-20 basis, which are the most

How much do you consider this before posting? I regularly see posts from people and businesses patting themselves on the back for securing a new contract. Think about whether this self-congratulatory content is helping to improve your current or prospective client’s perception of you. Is this content better suited to internal communications to improve team

Have you spent a day writing a response to a word- or page-limited question in a proposal? And then spent two days eliminating the unnecessary words to bring it back within the limit? And then realised how much better the short version is? Customers limit word and page counts for exactly this reason. They want

2020 has seen us wrangling with all the administrative challenges of working from home. Telecommunications networks are feeling the strain. So are parents who are working remotely and sharing the space with children kept or sent home from school. Teleconferencing contends with competing demands. And some of you are struggling for the first time with

Many organisations tell us that they have a defined business development process – but only for specifically selected opportunities. Teams muddle through on other opportunities as best they can. To really switch on your organisation’s business development potential, you need to commit to a single, flexible, tailorable, scalable process – and for your leadership team

Have you ever used a previous Executive Summary and done a “search and replace” for the customer name? Yes, admit it! Every time you do that, you are effectively throwing out the work already done by your business development team. Instead, use Shipley tools including the Bidder Comparison, the Integrated Solution Worksheet and the Strategy

When you are bidding for a complex opportunity, you may want to pursue it with other organisations in a formal or informal teaming arrangement to improve your chance of winning. Select teaming partners using selection criteria based on customer requirements and issues. Identify probably selection criteria, including technical, management, past performance, cost, timing, funding, regulatory,