Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” has marked the start of Christmas since 1994. Whilst Mariah is recognised for her vocals, for many years her skills as a songwriter went unrecognised.
How does this relate to bid professionals? In my career, I’ve been both ‘singer’ as an account manager and ‘songwriter’ as a bid manager. How often does the former take all the glory (and bonus/commission), while the latter/team who has done most of the hard work isn’t recognised?
The song’s long-lasting success stems from it working as both a love song and Christmas song. Mariah understood her customer (the ‘paying public’) and what they wanted in a Christmas song (the ‘product’). She was competing with hundreds of years of songs and memories (aka ‘the incumbent’). To win the bid for a Christmas number one, she sprinkled in specific Christmas references her audience wanted: the tree, presents, Father Christmas, a stocking, reindeer, sleigh bells, children singing, mistletoe (aka her ‘win themes’). “That was my goal, to do something timeless that didn’t feel like the ‘90s,” Carey explained in a Good Morning America interview.
We can learn from her creative experience when bidding in a crowded marketplace. “I was working on it and thinking, ‘What do I think about Christmas? What do I love? What do I want? What do I dream of?’” she said. If you replace the “do I” with “does our customer”, it could help get your team’s creative juices going when coming up with hot buttons and win themes. We are often bidding for long-standing products or services, so brainstorming sessions are important to create something different – as Mariah did when she devised an adult take on a Christmas song to reach a new (and very large) demographic with something everyone could identify with.
However, in getting herself recognised as the writer of “All I Want for Christmas is You”, Mariah has also been criticised for not acknowledging the part her co-writer, Walter Afanasieff, played. He wasn’t mentioned during her Good Morning America interview. Does this ring any bells for you as a bid professional?
My wish for you is to stop being the Cinderella in your organisation. Give yourself the gift of inner confidence to speak out and ensure your worth is recognised. One way to start this is in your post-submission White Hat review. Make sure the contribution of the bid professionals is acknowledged, documented and circulated to senior management.
Virginia Ainscough
Virginia is the owner of Lanvine Services Ltd. She is the world’s first Certified Expert Capture Manager and is an experienced bidding and sales professional (M.ISP). She is highly skilled in Capture Management, Business Development, Bid Strategy, Sales and Bid Processes. Starting dialogues with clients to determine their needs and then working with a multi-disciplinary capture/bid team to win the opportunities is what Virginia finds most satisfying.
