10
OPINION
Big game strategy
R ecently, I’ve managed some of the most complex pursuits I’ve come across in more than 13 years of professional marketing services. In some ways, I’d thought I’d seen everything, but I suppose that’s the beauty of our jobs. Our industries evolve, the ways our clients choose partners evolve, and thus, the way we win work evolves. As our industry and client expectations evolve, so must our strategies for winning complex, high-stakes project pursuits.
Mercedez Thompson
An integral part of our business development process and commitment to continuous improvement is making sure we debrief and apply lessons learned. So, coming off a busy season with some of our most challenging pursuits, I met with several of my pursuit team members as well as our sales and client-facing account teams to discuss what we learned and what we could have done better. Amid our complaints and opportunities, a common theme emerged: we had wasted significant time and effort – resources that could have been optimized through well-coordinated planning and strong leadership with clearly defined expectations. Here’s what we came up with: ■ Pre-RFP work is important but can be wasteful. Pre-RFP work is essential but can sometimes lead to inefficiencies. Our teams have seen significant returns by investing time in influencing the RFP and refining our win strategy. This includes
highlighting key strengths and differentiators while addressing the customer’s needs effectively. It also involves analyzing the competition, identifying critical customer pain points, and crafting a compelling value proposition. However, we have also wasted considerable time and effort making assumptions about the proposal format and the specific way clients would request information. In some cases, teams spent weeks creating infographics and slide decks that were ultimately unusable. That time could have been better spent documenting the client’s current state and developing resourcing and staffing plans. Moving forward, a key best practice is to focus pre-RFP efforts on strategy – shaping the RFP, identifying differentiation opportunities, and aligning the team for execution. We should avoid spending excessive time on scope-specific deliverables, responses, or visuals that may not
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THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 21, 2025, ISSUE 1582
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