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A Shot in the Dark

11/10/2008

1 Comment

 
Posted by BJ
The resources required to develop a high-impact, high-quality proposal are too expensive and limited to be applied to unqualified opportunities. Many of you will have a process in place whereby a fully informed qualification decision is made prior to undertaking a proposal effort. We applaud you for that.

Those of you working within companies where little to no qualification is being done and where the norm is “if it moves, go for it!” should consider the following.

Submitting a proposal without a fully informed qualification decision is like shooting in the dark. I suppose, as the saying goes, it might be true that, “even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.” but that certainly isn’t a viable business model.

This seems to be the model used by a couple of companies which recently contacted me. One company, from China, sent me an e-mail letting me know “We have available for you best quality aluminum for any purpose, any size order no more how big. Please tell us your needs and we fill it for you. WE make excellent price.” Not having a need for bulk aluminum and figuring if I ever do I can probably find someone a bit more local, I deleted the mail.

The second company contacted me by phone. They offered, “We are your best source for your diabetic supplies.” Here too, thankfully, I don’t have need of such products and again, hit delete.

In both these cases, I suppose it can be argued that their cost for doing such marketing is extremely low and it is feasible for them to send out information in this fashion.

Proposals, as already stated, are much too expensive (by all measures) to take such approach. Even without the cost consideration, I can’t help but wonder how often companies acting like “blind squirrels” actually connect with someone interested in their “nuts”.​
1 Comment
Barbara Esmedina
3/26/2016 03:02:27 am

I currently work for one of the companies that respond to all RFPs we receive. In our industry (benefits administration) these opportunities should be carefully considered for ROI as well as chances of winning. We just don’t make enough money on some business to warrant the allocation of resources.

One lesson I learned from former employers (defense contractors) is that a budget assigned for each major RFP effort makes everyone involved aware of the cost to pursue an opportunity. When you have to sit down and figure the actual cost of your resources, you are much more focused in your responses.

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