DEVELOPING AND EXECUTING A WINNING STRATEGY FOR MAJOR PURSUITS

DEVELOPING AND EXECUTING A WINNING STRATEGY FOR MAJOR PURSUITS

Welcome to the exciting world of developing, leading, and executing winning strategies for major pursuits. The definition of a “major pursuit” will vary depending on your firm

but may include:

1. Client target
2. Geographic penetration
3. New market/service
4. Teaming partner success
5. New technology
6. Dollar volume (major program)
7. Multi-year engagement

However your firm defines it, the major pursuits can be classified as “must wins” or perhaps “game changers” for your firm. They have been an integral part of your strategic planning process and your firm has been planning and executing the pursuit for at least 12 months, some for more than two or three years. These major pursuits usually include the very best programs from the very best clients. Even within a firm, the dollar threshold for major pursuits may vary among the service offering of a firm.

As you lead your team during a major pursuit, you will need a roadmap to guide you and your team through all of the activities needed for success. Any good strategy begins with a well-thought-out and comprehensive discussion of many items, including background of the project, the anticipated selection process, the client assessment and inventory of critical issues, a competitive analysis, strategy development, an overall theme and selling points, documentation assignments (proposal and presentation), a pursuit timeline, and an overall calendar of events. We like to call these disciplined activities a major pursuits capture plan.

It takes a good marketer with superb facilitation talents to make a successful long-term major pursuit successful. Oftentimes, the process runs the gamut from cat herding to culling the “group genius” from many smart people that may have more of technical bent than a passion for marketing and measured strategy. The ability to develop a “results-oriented” agenda and to tweak it as you go along a given process is central to keeping the team moving and on track.

Knowing the client and being able to know what motivates them, what keeps them up at night, and what will drive their support for selection is the primary ingredient to the best recipe and the winning formula. You have to have a structured process to inventory the key decision-makers and the myriad of motivations and drivers for each one. There are public agendas and there are hidden agendas that are often the keys to unlock the winning strategy puzzle.

You have to have a good grasp on the competitive playing field for major pursuits. From your keen intelligence gained with the client you should be aware of the serious competition and know some particulars about them including their differentiators and strong selling points. There are several ways to determine what they are going to promote. This session will present two templates for harnessing this competitor pictures; one exercise called “Table Stakes” and another in a numerical system.

There are two things you must document. The first is effective documentation of the capture plan process and facilitated sessions. A quick turnaround keeps the strategy fresh and the interest level high. The second component of documentation entails identifying all of the required marketing materials including, submittals promotional materials and presentation items that will need to be produced during the major chase. Clearly defining responsibilities, content and timeframes is crucial to a streamlined team pursuit.

As the client’s needs become clear your team will be able to hone and refine the pursuit strategies.

Like the boats of ancient times, our pursuits need a leader/driver of all the players to make sure they a hitting the water in-time and with the right velocity. Distilling the single actions into one comprehensive strategic action takes craft, design and relentlessness.

Just like a puzzle with many interconnected vital parts, the major pursuit has critical pieces that have to be performed in order to assure your marketing success.

The broad categories of these key elements to review are:

1. Communications
2. Technical skills
3. Relationships
4. Planning
5. Resources

Master these things and your firm will be on its way toward developing and executing a winning strategy for major pursuits.