Some Christmas presents in my childhood came as a complete surprise. There’d be a big box under the tree. My parents – always generous, despite scarce funds – would look on eagerly as I unwrapped whatever they’d decided would keep me quiet for the longest time.
And then there were the years when I’d asked for a specific gift. Wanted a bike, say. There was a bike-shaped thing wrapped up. Opened it. Guess what? Got a bike.
Reading an RFP is a bit like those Christmas morning gifts. Sometimes turning the pages is a voyage of discovery. You fix a grateful smile whatever emerges from the tinsel and get on with it.
And then there are the times when reading the document is a journey of validation. “I got a bike!” becomes “We knew it was coming! They’ve specified it in the way we wanted them to! They’ve used our language! They’ve asked the questions we’d predicted!” And with it comes a sense of “Game on: this is ours to win!”
So, here’s a challenge. Do you know the ten most important new business opportunities you’ll be working on in the year ahead, and your top ten renewals? And are you already actively preparing for each of them – and wiring them in your favour – with your sales and solutions colleagues?
Put another way: will your year ahead be filled with “bikes” rather than tales of the unexpected? Wouldn’t that be a great festive gift?
But realistically, if you’ve not already built momentum and got onto the inside track for 2025’s big deals before you hang up your stocking and reach for the sherry, you’re possibly already too late for next year.
So maybe I should ask for something simpler: the gift for you of twenty minutes in your CEO’s diary at some point in January. Why? So you can make sure they really understand that you’re the organisation’s real growth engine – its job protection and creation department. So you can make sure you have their support and sponsorship for your bid and proposal function to become the very best version of itself.
Maybe forget “Dear Santa” this Christmas. Write your “Dear CEO” letter outlining what they could do to help you to help them. Making sure that you get to the point where every deal is a “bike” might be part of your list.
Jon Williams
Jon and his team work with clients worldwide to help them establish winning proposal capabilities and to capture major deals. He has built and led numerous bid and proposal centres; managed, reviewed and benchmarked countless proposals; worked in over 35 countries; and trained many thousands of course participants.
