key accounts they would like to win months (or even years) before the sales proposal becomes a reality. A ready-made toolkit of content, processes, and research will help your team hit the ground running. Yet, when it comes to crafting a compelling RFP response, there are also many ways to proactively pursue a good sales lead before the company even knows it needs your services. Example: Perhaps they just announced they are relocating – a good sign of healthy growth. Maybe they just announced new products or a new round of funding, which could indicate potential need for a new infusion of innovative solutions and services to ignite their next phase of growth. By meeting with candidates and building a relationship, informa- tion you uncover could help your proposal rise to the top of the heap.


2. YOU CAN WIN IF YOU DON’T PLAY Sales teams don’t ever seem to have enough time, yet they continue to pursue sales leads that have a snowball’s chance in hell of succeed- ing. Many teams respond reactively to RFPs with the idea that, “You can’t win if you don’t try.” By taking a more strategic approach, however, and carefully analyzing past RFPs that failed and learning why they did, you can determine your chance of success – potentially saving time and resources so your team can move on to the surer bets.


3. MAKE IT PERSONAL Once you’ve engaged with the pros- pect and you understand the compa- ny’s position and needs, the next key step is explaining how your offerings can address their specific challenges to find solutions. Many people might think this is the easy part, but that’s not always true. Information about your offering should be carefully framed to continue to focus on the specific needs of the prospect – not on your solution itself.


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An age is called Dark, not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see. JAMES MICHENER


4. CONCISELY HIT THE KEY POINTS Once you’ve done the advance re- search and customized your response strategy to meet the unique needs of the client, a succinct proposal should articulate this by: • Summarizing your understanding of the prospect’s needs


• Indicating the positive outcomes of a partnership


• Showcasing positive results and use cases


• Providing evidence that your solution is up to the task and will be delivered on time, on budget, with specific outcomes


5. DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL There’s no question that each and every sales proposal takes company- wide energy and resources. Research- ing key markets and top companies and articulating that you understand their needs (while keeping product or service information up to date) is time consuming – but these actions must be leveraged as much as pos- sible. Create a content library and personalize, localize, and customize data so it can be accessed across


teams and used for future proposals. Likewise, integrate with a CRM system to build and nurture the relationships described above. Automated solu- tions can help you better manage resources and data so you can focus your time on activities that give you that extra edge.


Achieving success is all in the plan- ning. Sales teams no longer need to wait for the RFP to hit before they begin developing a winning proposal. In fact, these days that strategy may well leave you in the dust. By taking the time to proactively research good candidates, gain an understanding of specific industry trends and issues, and get to know your candidates while also refining and assessing existing content and results, your team will be prepared. A proactive approach drains the chaos out of fast RFP turnaround process and, in our fast-paced industry, helps ensure your proposal and team have that extra something to set you apart from the competition. 


Toby Murdock is general manager at Upland Software.


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