CRMFederal - Pitch

If you are already making millions from federal contracts -- read no further. You know the secret to successful government sales.

I’d love to sell to the government but we are a small company and the losses have battered company moral, not to mention the lost revenue. It leads me to believe federal sales are more trouble than they are worth.”

“I found some bid opportunities I thought were a perfect fit for us, we even struggled through the proposal process, and submitted exactly as requested. We have been through this numerous times. I don’t know where we are going wrong.”

“So much time and effort went into our last proposal and we lost... again. I’m 99% convinced my company doesn’t stand a chance because I’m not an government insider.”

The #1 reason why you are losing federal is contracts is simple – You are not creating strong customer relationships.

We create relationships everyday, yet when it comes to government sales we forget who we are dealing with – people BUY governments DO NOT BUY. Without strong customer relationships you will never be successful at federal sales.

Successful federal sales require focused sales efforts to build trust-based relationships with federal customers. Winning federal proposals are based on the customer intelligence resulting from customer relationships.

The most common mistake made in the federal sales process is simply this; companies overlook the fact that the sales process is just the beginning of the process.

A winning sales pitch MUST be followed by a winning proposal.

Proposal writing should not be thought of as a separate process or discipline. Rather, it should be thought of as the critical last step in the sales process; the step necessary to close the sale. The entire process for opportunity identification to customer relationship building to proposal writing and finally contract award should be one highly structured process.

A company must have a sales plan that incorporates all aspects of the sale - from first contact with the client through the proposal submission.

A successful federal sales plan is comprised of the following tasks:

1. Identify an opportunity and build a customer relationship.

2. Manage the opportunity using the Customer Database.

3. Complete the Customer Intelligence Questionnaire (CIQ) as you build the relationship and communicate your solution to the customer.

4. Develop Selling Points based on the CIQ. The CIQ and the Selling Points will show how strong your relationship is with the customer.

5. Make a Bid/No Bid decision based on the strength of the customer relationship.

6. Write a Draft Executive Summary based on the CIQ and the Selling Points.

7. Develop a Proposal Outline and Schedule.

8. Hold a Proposal Kick-off Meeting.

9. Write the proposal based on the CIQ and the Selling Points. Your proposal will then reflect the strength of your customer relationship.

10. Control proposal versions

Most companies do not write federal proposals well and their proposal writing process is chaotic.

Writing a proposal is a very costly process. To do it well, a company must have a Proposal Manager with extensive experience and good writing and management skills. Unfortunately, the Proposal Manager can’t write the subject matter solution (called the “Technical Approach”) required by the customer. The drafting of the Technical Approach requires the participation of technical specialists. Many technical persons lack writing skills because their educational focus was naturally on other matters and they run for the hills when they hear the word proposal.

The 5 most commom mistakes made by companies bidding on a governmet contract:

1. Writing proposals that never had a chance of winning because the company did not have a pre-existing relationship with the customer..

2. Inadequate funding and an insufficient dedication of staffing resources to the project

3. Not having a highly structured, integrated sales and proposal writing process

4. A lack of understanding of “defensive” proposal writing

5. Not having an incentive system and structure in place that motivates your technical staff to write effectively

How can you avoid making these costly mistales?

1. Integrate the sales and proposal-writing process.

2. Implement a structured, documented and automated proposal-writing process.

3. Invest in building a database of up-to-date resumes and summaries of corporate experience.

4. Automate and "version control" your old proposals and Management Plan boilerplate.

5. Purchase CRMFederal, our web-based software product that integrates sales and proposal writing and focuses on building customer relationships.

What is CRMFederal? A Complete Business Process and Proposal Solution designed and written by Richard White.

CRMFederal is a new, proprietary product designed specifically for the federal services market. It will increase your federal win rate and reduce your proposal writing costs at the same time.

"After years of watching companies lose sales and revenues through haphazard proposal writing efforts and poor bid/no bid decisions, I’ve created a foolproof road map to improving your company's sales."

Richard White has over 40 years of experience in writing federal proposals. He has written proposals for federal contracts exceeding one billion dollars. His philosophy on proposal writing is:

Proposal writing is an inherently complex and chaotic process. It is an expensive and risky game that neither the government nor the vendor wants to play but must because taxpayer dollars are being spent. The game must be played by the government’s rules to a fault and this requires a highly structured and systematic process. The process must begin with a customer a customer relationship and provide a mechanism of technical specialists to translate customer requirements into a clear and concise solution. Without the relationship and the process, you will not win the game.

A win begins with a customer relationship.

Proposal writing should not be thought of as a separate process or discipline. Rather, it should be thought of as the critical last step in the sales process; the step necessary to close the sale. The entire process for opportunity identification to customer relationship building to proposal writing and finally contract award should be one highly structured process.

To sell successfully in the federal market you must have a structured process to develop customer relationships and write proposals based on the knowledge you gained from your customers.

CRMFederal is a Customer Relationship Management system that integrates the sales and proposal writing components of a successful sales program. The system is designed specifically for companies selling services to the federal government.

CRMFederal is comprised of ten web based tasks beginning with customer relationship building and ending with a completed proposal. Processes within tasks are activated through a web browser. Model proposal text and templates are provided in downloadable Word format.

Successful federal sales require focused efforts designed to build trust-based relationships with federal customers. Winning proposals are based on a thorough understanding of the customer's needs, and that information can only be acquired through strong customer relationships.

Proposal writing should not be thought of as separate from sales. Rather, it should be viewed as the critical last step in the sales process-- the step necessary to close the sale. The entire process, from identifying an opportunity, building the customer relationship, and writing a proposal, to final contract award should be considered one integrated process.

The market for proposal writing software is saturated with "convince them that you are the best" templates. The templates are designed for one to ten page commercial proposals and are ineffective for federal proposals.

Proposal writing is both an art and a science. CRMFederal uses models, templates, and guidelines for the non-technical parts of a proposal (the science). These features save significant amounts of proposal writing time and effort.

The most difficult aspect of proposal development is writing the technical approach (the art). This frequently involves several subject matter specialists who aren't good writers, are billable and not readily available, and abhor involvement in a proposal effort.

CRMFederal uses a table-driven approach to developing a technical solution to a customer's problem. Suggested formats for work breakdown structures are provided and then converted to linked tables of task and subtasks to generate a detailed outline of the technical approach. The table hierarchy points out to technical writers:

The table-driven approach to developing a detailed technical approach outline replaces techniques like story boards for adding content to a high level outline.

CRMFederal uses model text to assist proposal writers in generating a Management Plan. Models for the following Management Plan sections are provided; totaling over 40 pages of model text.

Contract Organization and Management
Contract Management Policies
Subcontractor Management and Relationships
Corporate Support/Project Management Office
Project Management System
Contract Schedule
Staffing Plan
Quality Assurance Plan
Risk Management
Transition Plan
Human Resources Plan
Information Security Plan
Physical Security Plan
Safety Plan