Business Development Audit
Presentation
Sample Audit Report
Sections 2003
Business Development Audit
Presentation
Report of Findings and Recommendations
 August 22, 2002
ii
Business Development Audit
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1
A. Current Business and Competitive Environment ...................................................................................34
B. Customer Focus ...................................................................................................................................43
C. Strategic Planning .................................................................................................................................47
D. Business Planning .................................................................................................................................51
E. Marketing Infrastructure .......................................................................................................................55
F. Sales Infrastructure ...............................................................................................................................58
G. Sales HR Systems ................................................................................................................................63
H. Sales Information Systems ....................................................................................................................73
I. Cross-Functional Synergy .....................................................................................................................76
J. Management Visibility ...........................................................................................................................81
K. Communication and Reporting ..............................................................................................................85
L. Marketing Process ...............................................................................................................................88
M. Sales Process .......................................................................................................................................94
N. Customer Delight Management ..........................................................................................................139
O. Sales Competencies ............................................................................................................................148
P. Proposal Quality .................................................................................................................................152
Q. Client Relationships .............................................................................................................................161#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
R. Differentiation ....................................................................................................................................167
Appendix A: Online Survey and Interview Participants
Appendix B: Sales Effectiveness Survey Group Summary
Appendix C: Proposal Evaluation Summary
1
Business Development Audit
Introduction
This is a report of our audit of Southwest Engineers’ business development
practices.
The audit was conducted by DeNeil Hogan Petersen and David Pugh
of Lore International Institute during July and August 2002. It
consisted of:
• Online Surveys
— General BD Audit Survey
— Account Management Survey
— Proposal Survey
— Behavioral Differentiation Survey
— Sales Effectiveness Survey
• Interviews
• Document Reviews
Of about 200 SWE employees, clients, and business partners invitedto participate in the audit, about 120 actually did participate, either asonline survey respondents or interviewees or both. They included
senior executives (SE), Sales Managers (SM), Business DevelopmentManagers (BD), Operations Managers (OM), ContractingSpecialists (CS), Proposal Specialists (PS), and clients (CL). Everyonetook the General BD Audit and Behavioral DifferentiationSurveys; 20 took the Account Management Survey; 60 took theProposal Survey; 13 took the Sales Effectiveness Survey; and 40were interviewed, either face to face or by telephone.The lists of SWE employees, clients, and business partners who wereinvited to participate in the various surveys are included in Appendix
A.
For the interview portion of the audit, which was very broad in scope,we developed interview guides consisting of 25 questions for clientsand 55 questions for internal participants. Because of the variety of
individuals and limited time, we did not ask every person everyquestion on the internal interview guide. Instead, we targetedquestions based on the interviewees’ roles.
The document review portion focused on proposals. Comments ondocuments other than proposals are included anecdotally, as appropriate,throughout this report.Methodology
Business Development Audit
BENCHMARK
In this portion of the audit, we examined several key processes thatresult in sales to customers, specifically:
MA. Sales Model
MB. Prospecting
MC. Pipeline Management
MD. Relationship Management
ME. Sales Management
MF. Strategic Account Management
MG. Proposal Development
Several key processes and tools were found in need of improvement,so we set the benchmark for this issue at 4.
Task 5
留學(xué)生dissertation網(wǎng)Assess the BD process and determine the extent to whichbest practices are integratedIssue M. Sales ProcessFindings • While SWE is apparently very good at building client#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
relationships, it appears to lack a common sales model andtools for moving through the sales cycle, always advancingand deepening the relationship.
• The pipeline of new business opportunities is probablyweaker than it could be because individuals are responsiblefor identifying and developing new prospects.
• Individual respondents are able to identify strategicaccounts, and some are aware of strategic account managementconcepts, but no formal strategic account managementprogram or account plans exist.
• SWE’s bid/no-bid process is widely perceived as arbitraryand too often controlled by one or two of the involveddepartments.
• SWE has no formal, companywide process or tools forpreparing proposals, and profit-center resources appearinadequate in some cases.
Business Development Audit
This issue encompasses several major, critical sales processes.Significant findings emerged in relation to four of these: the salesprocess itself, prospecting, strategic account management, and
proposal development.The Sales ModelSWE does not seem to have a specific sales model or process suchas consultative or facilitative selling for business development people
to use with customers to move through the sales cycleBusiness Development Managers and others who are responsible forwinning business need a way to determine where they are in theprocess with each customer and what sales techniques to use. Theymay be touting SWE’s capabilities and attempting to match thecustomer’s needs to those capabilities, rather than discovering the
customer’s needs and matching SWE’s capabilities to those needs.It’s a subtle distinction, but one that is critical to developing truepartnerships with customers.Organizations who pitch their capabilities, an archaic sales technique,are being outmaneuvered by skilled competitors who:
1. Build trust and credibility
2. Establish the customer’s needs through “no-pitch” dialogue that
subordinates the sales organization’s agenda to that of the
customer
3. Qualify opportunities during the dialogue with customers, and in
effect either abandon the opportunity or pre-close the opportunity,
even before a solution to the customer’s problem is offered
4. Build the solution in collaboration with the customer
5. Sell the solution by discovering the values important to the
customer and linking selling messages to fulfillment of those
customer values
6. Present solutions in a manner that is more customer focused thancapability focused
Each of these steps has an inherent set of skills which sales professionalspractice to attain competence and then use for their success.
A later section addresses the issue of sales skills in conjunction withthe Sales Effectiveness Survey.
Following is Lore’s Sales Effectiveness Model as an example of askill set.
M. SALES PROCESS#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
(CONTINUED)
96
Business Development Audit
Skill Description
SKILLS FROM LORE’S SALES EFFECTIVENESS MODEL
Basic Skills
Asserting Effective salespeople listen well but don’t hesitate to state their positionor say what they want.
Balancing communication Effective salespeople know when to talk and when to listen.
Developing expertise Effective salespeople develop sufficient expertise in their own fields totalk knowledgeably to customers. Customers consider them well
informed.
Giving effective presentations Effective salespeople are skilled presenters.Handling conflict Effective salespeople are good at identifying and resolving conflict anddisagreement.
Listening Effective salespeople pay attention to what is being said and then testfor mutual understanding.
Managing time Effective salespeople plan their daily activities based on urgency and
impact.
Negotiating Effective salespeople are skilled negotiators.
Persuading Effective salespeople are good at influencing others.
Planning and conducting Effective salespeople conduct successful meetings.meetings
Reading and adapting styles Effective salespeople communicate successfully with all types ofpeople.
Reading nonverbals Effective salespeople read and interpret the nonverbal cues that othersgive.
Soliciting and learning from Effective salespeople seek and act upon feedback from others.feedback
Working on a team Effective salespeople are exemplary team players.
Writing effectively Effective salespeople communicate clearly and convincingly in writing.
M. SALES PROCESS (CONTINUED)
Business Development Audit
Skill Description
SKILLS FROM LORE’S SALES EFFECTIVENESS MODEL (CONTINUED)
Selling Skills
Addressing objections Effective salespeople anticipate and address customer objections.
Building credibility Effective salespeople have high credibility. Their customers value theirideas and opinions.
Building trust Effective salespeople always act in their customers’ best interests.
Closing Effective salespeople know how and when to ask for a buying commitmentfrom the customer.
Cold calling Effective salespeople excel at calling people they’ve never sold to and
generating enough interest to continue the dialogue.
Communicating features and Effective salespeople always explain how what they are selling willbenefits benefit the customer.
Cost-justifying solutions Effective salespeople know how to apply financial principles to costjustifysolutions for their customers.
Creating value-added Effective salespeople are skilled at combining products and services insolutions ways that customers perceive as uniquely valuable.
Demonstrating products and Effective salespeople give effective, hands-on product/serviceservices demonstrations to customers.
Developing effective proposals Effective salespeople write clear, convincing proposals that addressspecific customer needs.#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Differentiating products and Effective salespeople demonstrate the competitive superiority of theirservices products and services.
Discovering issues and concerns Effective salespeople find out what really matters to the customer.
Establishing rapport Effective salespeople quickly establish a mutual comfort level whenmeeting someone new.
Planning sales calls Effective salespeople plan their sales calls and customer meetings.
Probing to uncover needs Effective salespeople help customers discover and define their needs.
Prospecting Effective salespeople generate a high number of good sales leads.
M. SALES PROCESS (CONTINUED)
98
Business Development Audit
Skill Description
SKILLS FROM LORE’S SALES EFFECTIVENESS MODEL (CONTINUED)
http://www.400190.com/dissertation_writing/http://www.400190.com/dissertation_writing/Questioning Effective salespeople are adept at using questions to gather informationand move the sale forward.
Setting customer expectations Effective salespeople ensure that their customers have realistic expectations.
Understanding and addressing Effective salespeople thoroughly understand and always try to deliverneeds what the customer needs or wants.
Understanding products and Effective salespeople have a thorough knowledge and understanding ofservices the products and services they sell.
Account Management Skills
Being a customer advocate Effective salespeople strongly advocate their customers’ interests withintheir own organizations.
Building customer relationships Effective salespeople build strong relationships with individual customerrepresentatives.
Building strategic alliances Effective salespeople establish partnerships with customers that helpboth organizations to achieve their business goals.
Coordinating project activities Effective salespeople coordinate internal resources to meet thecustomer’s expectations for timely implementation.
Developing account objectives Effective salespeople know what they want to achieve with their accountsand how they are going to achieve it.Identifying decision makers Effective salespeople identify and work with the real buyers and keyinfluencers in customer organizations.
Leveraging existing business Effective salespeople excel at generating new business from existingaccounts.
Managing accounts Effective salespeople spend the right amount of time on each account,
based on its priority.
Networking in customer Effective salespeople build broad networks of contacts at all levels in
organizations customer organizations.
Problem solving with customers Effective salespeople are considered trusted advisors and often operate
as insiders in their customers’ organizations.
M. SALES PROCESS (CONTINUED)
99
Business Development Audit#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Skill Description
Responding to customer needs Effective salespeople are very responsive to their customers’ needs.
Spending time with customers Effective salespeople spend the right amount of time meeting face to
face with their customers.
Understanding competitors Effective salespeople know their competitors’ products/services and
position in the marketplace, as well as what their customers think of
each competitor.
Understanding customers’ Effective salespeople have a deep understanding of how their
businesses customers do business.
Understanding customer Effective salespeople understand their customers’ key business
business metrics performance metrics.
Understanding customers’ Effective salespeople know their customers’ industries and who their
industries key players are.
Working the customer’s buying Effective salespeople operate successfully within the customer’s buying
system system and decision-making process.
Opportunity Management Skills
Developing effective pricing, Effective salespeople develop pricing, billing, and contracting strategies
billing, and contracting that are acceptable to the buyer and profitable to the seller.
strategies
Developing high-value Effective salespeople maintain a strong pipeline of new business
opportunities opportunities.
Pursuing the best opportunities Effective salespeople spend most of their time pursuing the most
profitable or otherwise attractive opportunities.
Qualifying opportunities Effective salespeople do not chase business that is not worth the effort.
Setting opportunity objectives Effective salespeople set ambitious but achievable objectives for major
sales opportunities.
SKILLS FROM LORE’S SALES EFFECTIVENESS MODEL (CONTINUED)
M. SALES PROCESS (CONTINUED)
100
Business Development Audit
Prospecting
It appears that SWE is in need of a formal system for identifying,
qualifying, and tracking new leads and prospects, although (because
the consensus is BD is doing a good job of maintaining the pipeline)
this might be given a lower priority than the sales and strategic
account management processes.
Strategic Account Management
Despite the reported existence of a list of strategic or national
accounts (one person called it a corporate responsibility list) and the
development of a specific approach to managing these accounts, we
felt strategic account management as a sales and customer relationship
concept and set of tools is relatively undeveloped at SWE. The
systems, knowledge, and some of the tools essential for strategic
account management are missing.
The organization that has not traditionally managed key customer
relationships may find the transition to strategic account management
(SAM) both difficult and time consuming. It requires more than#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
giving salespeople key account responsibility, and it is more than a
process or a set of tools.
The premises of strategic account management are that (1) you
should invest more of your resources in a relatively small number of
customers that generate a disproportionately large amount of your
revenue, and (2) strategic account management makes the selling
process more efficient and adds value to both your organization and
to your strategically important customers. The ultimate goal is a
mutual increase in value, and that goal is not attainable without
substantial investment.
SAM is a mindset, a way of doing business. It must be lived by
senior executives, not merely endorsed by them. It must permeate
your company and all of its functions. When only the Sales department
is responsible for customer relationships, SAM is doomed; when
it is everyone’s responsibility, it can enhance both your profits and
your key customers’ satisfaction.
Someone who is generally called an account manager must be
charged with managing the account and must be given the authority,
resources, tools, knowledge, and skills to do it.
Analyses of your customer, your competitors, and your position lead
systematically to the development of account strategies. These
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
101
Business Development Audit
account strategies are then compiled into an account plan, commonly
with a time span of 12 months. The account plan is the annual
portion of managing the longer-term relationship between your
organization and the strategic account. The strategies in the account
plan then drive the actions in building and maintaining your
organization’s relationship with the customer.
The Account Management Survey questions on pp. 110-118 reveal
the key activities and features of a strategic account management
program. Responses indicate some of these things, which could be
considered critical success factors, are already being done at SWE in
some cases.
Proposal Development
Like the Account Management Survey questions, the Proposal
Survey questions on pp. 121-129 indicate critical success factors,
many of which are happening about half the time according to the
online survey respondents.
SWE does not seem to have a formal, companywide proposal
development process or tools and, by all accounts, is suffering from a
shortage of resources for preparing proposals. Systemizing your
proposals is a huge undertaking and should probably be preceded by a
strategic account management program. We recommend you devote
your attention to your strategic account management and sales
processes before attempting to revamp your proposal system.
However, you should look to expand your resources fairly immediately,#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
with the eventual goal of developing a dedicated proposal staff.
In the meantime, those who have had Proposing to Win training and
feel the processes and tools are effective should continue to implement
and practice them.
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
C07. I know I can count on them to help me build effective
solutions.
Number of Responses: 44
Average: 3.7
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C08. They are excellent at helping me identify underlying
needs.
Number of Responses: 36
Average: 3.2
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Online Survey Results
041. We have an established and effective sales model that all
salespeople use.
Number of Responses: 29
Average: 2.8
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
!
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Business Development Audit
042. We have an excellent process for identifying new leads
or sales opportunities.
Number of Responses: 22
Average: 3.5
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
043. We qualify all new leads or prospects and pursue
only those prospects that meet our criteria for good
customers.
Number of Responses: 25
Average: 3.4
044. I regularly receive reports on the prime business
opportunities that we are tracking.
Number of Responses: 32
Average: 3.4
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
!
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Business Development Audit
046. We know about prime new business opportunities well
before our customers advertise them or announce them
publicly.
Number of Responses: 33
Average: 3.1
045. I am required to track all of my leads and report regularly
on my progress in developing those leads.
Number of Responses: 17
Average: 3.8
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
047. I am required to develop and pursue a certain proportion
of new business opportunities so my pipeline of new
business is always full.
Number of Responses: 17
Average: 3.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
105
Business Development Audit
049. A number of people in our key customer organizations
act as our sponsors. They are biased toward us and
want us to win. They help us whenever they reasonably
can and would prefer to work with us rather than our
competitors.
Number of Responses: 25
Average: 3.4
050. Strong trust exists between my company and key customers’
companies at the institutional level. This strong
level of institutional trust would survive even if key
people left either organization.
Number of Responses: 23
Average: 3.2
048. Our company always satisfies our customers’ needs. We
deliver with the highest quality and do not have problems
with errors in shipments, late deliveries, or other
problems that would impact customers’ views of our
ability to satisfy all of their needs.
Number of Responses: 21
Average: 3.0
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
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Business Development Audit
C09. They make me feel comfortable about our relationships
and I trust them.
Number of Responses: 45
Average: 3.9
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C10. They helped build a high level of trust between our
organizations.
Number of Responses: 42
Average: 3.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
051. The communication between my company and customer
organizations is outstanding.
Number of Responses: 21
Average: 3.3
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
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Business Development Audit
C12. Our cultures are compatible.
Number of Responses: 41
Average: 3.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
C11. Our organizations work well together.
Number of Responses: 39
Average: 3.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
052. Our company has a formal strategic account management
program.
Number of Responses: 19
Average: 1.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
108
Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
054. Our strategic accounts receive preferential treatment
from all parts of our company.
Number of Responses: 17
Average: 1.5
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
055. Account managers are the primary “owners” of the
relationships between key customers and our company.
Everyone in our company recognizes the account manager
is responsible for building the relationship and
does nothing in the account without involving the account
manager.
Number of Responses: 21
Average: 3.0
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
053. How many accounts is each salesperson or account
manager responsible for (on average)?
Number of Responses: 15
Typed answers:
20
3
Varies
0-1
10-25
20
N/A
30
50
3
20
3
12
25
?????
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
109
Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
057. Our account managers keep everyone in our company
informed about events or changes in customers’
companies. The appropriate people are always kept well
informed about the status of key accounts.
Number of Responses: 23
Average: 3.4
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
056. Every time people in our company contact someone in a
key customer organization, they inform the account
manager what happened and what they learned. All
customer contacts are routinely reported to the account
manager.
Number of Responses: 24
Average: 2.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
NOTE: The next 30 questions are from the Account Management
Survey, in which respondents (Business Development Managers and
Sales Managers) were asked to think of a specific key account and#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
answer questions based on that account. The General BD Audit
Survey questions resume following the Account Management Survey
questions (denoted by an A in front of the question number).
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
110
Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
A01. Did your company specifically designate this customer or
prospect as a major strategic account?
Number of Responses: 20
A02. Was a strategic account manager assigned to manage
this major account or prospect?
Number of Responses: 20
A03. Was an executive sponsor assigned to this account
or prospect? [An executive sponsor is a high-level
executive in your company who is responsible for the
account and maintains senior-level relationships with
the customer’s key people.]
Number of Responses: 19
A04. Did your company create a formal account team for this
account? [An account team usually consists of a number
of people from different functions who are responsible
for building the account relationship under the guidance
of the account manager.]
Number of Responses: 17
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL
!
!
111
Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
A05. Do you have a written account plan for this key
customer?
Number of Responses: 17
A06. Does your account plan include a thorough analysis of
the customer and their needs?
Number of Responses: 17#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
A07. Does your account plan include a comprehensive
analysis of your competitors for the account?
Number of Responses: 17
A08. Does your account plan include a detailed self-analysis of
your own position in the account?
Number of Responses: 16
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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112
Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
A09. Does your account plan contain a SWOT analysis of the
customer?
Number of Responses: 15
A10. Does your account plan contain a SWOT analysis of your
own position in the account?
Number of Responses: 16
A11. Does your account plan include an overall vision
statement for what you want to achieve in the account?
Number of Responses: 15
A12. Does your account plan include specific and concrete
account objectives?
Number of Responses: 15
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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113
Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
A13. Does your account plan list the action steps required to
accomplish each objective?
Number of Responses: 15
A14. Does your account plan include a contact plan for
managing periodic contacts with key customer
representatives?
Number of Responses: 16
A15. Is your account plan a living management tool for you?#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Do you use it on a weekly or monthly basis to track your
progress in the account and manage implementation of
your account strategy?
Number of Responses: 14
A16. Does this strategic account receive preferential
treatment from all parts of your company?
Number of Responses: 19
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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114
Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
A17. Have key people in your company developed strong,
personal trust relationships with key customer
representatives?
Number of Responses: 19
A18. Have you developed good peer-to-peer relationships at
all levels between your company and the customer’s
organization (e.g., CEO to CEO, vice president to vice
president, funtional manager to functional manager,
project manager to project manager)?
Number of Responses: 19
A19. Have you conducted formal assessments or surveys of
customer satisfaction with this customer?
Number of Responses: 17
A20. Do you have a formal process for reviewing
opportunities and determining whether or not to
bid on them?
Number of Responses: 18
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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115
Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
A21. Before pursuing an opportunity, do you analyze the
customer’s key issues and requirements and develop a
win strategy?
Number of Responses: 16
A22. When you have ongoing projects with the customer, does
your account manager remain involved in the project and#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
follow up on customer satisfaction?
Number of Responses: 18
A23. How true is this statement: “The account manager
is the primary ‘owner’ of the relationship between this
key customer and our company. Everyone in our
company recognizes the account manager is reponsible
for building this relationship and does nothing in the
account without involving the account manager.”
Number of Responses: 16
Average: 3.1
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
Not True (1)
(2)
Somewhat True (3)
(4)
Completely True (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
A24. How true is this statement: “Every time people in
our company contact someone in this key customer
organization, they inform the account manager what
happened and what they learned. All contacts with
this customer are routinely reported to the account
manager.”
Number of Responses: 17
Average: 2.4
Not True (1)
(2)
Somewhat True (3)
(4)
Completely True (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
A25. How true is this statement: “Our company always
satisfies this customer’s needs. We deliver with the
highest quality and do not have problems with errors in
shipments, late deliveries, or other problems that would
impact the customer’s view of our ability to satisfy all of
their needs.”
Number of Responses: 19
Average: 2.9
Not True (1)
(2)
Somewhat True (3)
(4)
Completely True (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
A26. How true is this statement: “A number of key people in
this customer’s organization act as our sponsors. They
are biased toward us and want us to win. They help us
whenever they reasonably can and would prefer to work
with us rather than our competitors.”
Number of Responses: 18
Average: 4.2
Not True (1)
(2)
Somewhat True (3)
(4)
Completely True (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
A28. How true is this statement: “The communication
between my company and this customer’s organization
is outstanding.”
Number of Responses: 18
Average: 3.6
Not True (1)
(2)
Somewhat True (3)
(4)
Completely True (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
A29. How true is this statement: “The account manager
keeps everyone informed about events or changes in
this customer’s company. The appropriate people are
always kept well informed about the status of this key
account.”
Number of Responses: 17
Average: 4.1
Not True (1)
(2)
Somewhat True (3)
(4)
Completely True (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
A27. How true is this statement: “Strong trust exists
between my company and this customer’s company at
the institutional level. This strong level of institutional
trust would survive even if key people left either
organization.”
Number of Responses: 18
Average: 3.8
Not True (1)
(2)
Somewhat True (3)
(4)
Completely True (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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Business Development Audit
A30. Which of the following four buyer-supplier relationships
does your company have with this customer?
Number of Responses: 18
Vendor (Undifferentiated Supplier)
Preferred Provider
Partner (Informal Partnership)
Strategic Ally (Formal Alliance)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
058. Communication between operations and contracts is
effective and fosters our ability to respond to customer
requirements.
Number of Responses: 5
Average: 4.2
059. Communication between proposal managers and contracts
is effective and fosters our ability to respond to
customer requirements.
Number of Responses: 4
Average: 4.2
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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Business Development Audit
060. Communication between senior management and
contracts is effective and fosters our ability to respond
to customer requirements.
Number of Responses: 5
Average: 4.2
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
061. Post-sale efforts between contracts and operations are
effective and help us respond to customer needs.
Number of Responses: 4
Average: 3.8
062. Salespeople communicate early and effectively so that I
have time to anticipate RFP needs.
Number of Responses: 5
Average: 2.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
063. Salespeople effectively facilitate communication with the
client on contractual issues.
Number of Responses: 5
Average: 2.4
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C13. They ask us for clarification when they are unsure what
we need.
Number of Responses: 40
Average: 3.9
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
NOTE: The next 34 questions are from the Proposal Survey, in
which respondents (Estimating Specialists) were asked to think of a
specific proposal and answer questions based on that proposal. The
General BD Audit Survey questions resume following the Proposal
Survey questions (denoted by a P in front of the question number).
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Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P01. Did you begin working on the proposal before the RFP
was released?
Number of Responses: 61
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P02. Did you presell your solution to the customer before the
RFP was released?
Number of Responses: 58
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P03. Did you have strong relationships with the customer’s
key decision makers and influencers before the RFP was
released?
Number of Responses: 59
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P04. Had you done work for this customer before responding
to the RFP?
Number of Responses: 59
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Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P06. Had you been able to influence the content of or
requirements in the RFP prior to its release?
Number of Responses: 57
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P07. Did you develop and execute a win strategy before the
RPF was released?
Number of Responses: 57
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P08. Did you identify a proposal manager for this proposal
before the RFP was released?
Number of Responses: 57
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P05. Did you introduce your key people, including the project
manager, to the customer befor the RFP was released?
Number of Responses: 59
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P10. Had you been managing this customer as a strategic
account before this opportunity arose?
Number of Responses: 56
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P11. Was the salesperson responsible for this customer active
in pre-proposal planning and strategizing?
Number of Responses: 57
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P12. Were senior executives in your company actively
involved in pre-proposal planning or strategizing?
Number of Responses: 58
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
留學(xué)生dissertation網(wǎng)P09. Did you establish a proposal team before the RFP was
released?
Number of Responses: 58
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P14. Did you analyze your competitors’ activities prior to the
RFP release?
Number of Responses: 57
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P15. Did you hold a kickoff meeting to initiate proposal
development?
Number of Responses: 56
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P16. Did you analyze the RFP and create a checklist of all of
the customer’s requirements?
Number of Responses: 53
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P13. Did you systematically analyze the customer’s key issues
in this opportunity and determine how you were going to
respond to them?
Number of Responses: 58
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P18. Did you conduct a high-level executive review of
your proposal strategy before you started writing the
sections?
Number of Responses: 50
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P19. Did the proposal manager create a comprehensive
outline of the proposal before the writers started writing
their sections?
Number of Responses: 48
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P20. Does every section of the proposal have a theme
statement linking features and benefits?
Number of Responses: 48
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P17. Did you storyboard the proposal before writing the
sections?
Number of Responses: 49
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P22. Does the proposal contain a moderate number of visuals
that illustrate the key issues, features, and benefits of
your offer?
Number of Responses: 52
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P23. Did you create a separate brochure-style executive
summary for the proposal?
Number of Responses: 56
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P24. Did you conduct a red team review of the proposal before
its final revisions?
Number of Responses: 47
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P21. Is the proposal focused on what the customer needs
and wants (the customer’s key issues) rather than on
what you have to offer (your products, services, and
company)?
Number of Responses: 54
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P26. Did your customer ask you to clarify any points in your
proposal?
Number of Responses: 56
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P27. Did you write a best and final offer for the customer?
Number of Responses: 57
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P28. Was your proposal team able to be completely dedicated
to writing the proposal without also having other ongoing
jobs?
Number of Responses: 55
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P25. Did you give an oral presentation to the customer?
Number of Responses: 55
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P30. Did you have support on this proposal from a proposal
development group?
Number of Responses: 55
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P31. Did the customer state that price was the most important
factor in determining the winner of this bid?
Number of Responses: 56
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P32. Did you offer the lowest price on this bid?
Number of Responses: 44
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P29. Did your company designate this proposal as a “mustwin”
opportunity?
Number of Responses: 53
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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Business Development Audit
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
P34. If you partnered, did you have the partnering agreement
in place before the RFP was released?
Number of Responses: 52
Yes
No
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P33. Did you team with any other companies in responding to
this proposal?
Number of Responses: 58
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
064. Senior management is available and active in contract
negotiations.
Number of Responses: 5
Average: 4.0
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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Business Development Audit
065. Senior management is helpful during contract
negotiations.
Number of Responses: 5
Average: 4.2
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
067. I have access to proposal managers to help clarify issues
and coordinate approaches to contractual issues.
Number of Responses: 5
Average: 4.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
066. I am aware of upcoming opportunities in time to
contribute effectively to the proposal process.
Number of Responses: 20
Average: 3.4
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
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OM
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CL
!
SE
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CL
!
!
SE
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!
131
Business Development Audit
068. I have access to senior management to help clarify
issues and coordinate approaches to contractual issues.
Number of Responses: 5
Average: 4.2
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
069. I’m comfortable with the level of input I receive from
senior management during the negotiation process.#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Number of Responses: 5
Average: 4.0
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
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CL
!
SE
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!
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Business Development Audit
Interview Results
035. Do you suspect opportunities are being missed?
! ! ! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
036. How many and what kind are being missed?
! ! ! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
037. Why are they being missed?
! ! ! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
The majority of people we interviewed said BD is on top of things
and few opportunities slip under the radar screen. Everyone said
yes, they suspect opportunities are being missed, but few attempted
to quantify the missed opportunities or suggest reasons for missing
them. Ideas included government, oil and gas, smaller projects, and
even large ones where SWE doesn’t have regional presence.
038. How do you go about finding new customers or
prospects?
!
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
The BDMs we spoke with all said they are individually responsible
for prospecting. This alone would lead us to expect variations in the
number and quality of opportunities in the pipeline around the
country.
039. How effectively does the company manage
opportunities once they arise?
! ! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
Most people said the company does a pretty good job of managing
opportunities, though resources for estimating and preparing
proposals were widely acknowledged to be problematic.
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
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Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
040. What could be done to strengthen the pipeline of new
customers and opportunities?
! ! ! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
Suggestions for strengthening the pipeline included BD “taking a
longer-range view” (working upcoming opportunities further out in
the future), Operations taking more responsibility for getting new
work, and improving the bid/no-bid decision-making process. The
majority of interviewees said it doesn’t always work like it’s
supposed to, with one or two of the three involved departments
controlling things.
041. How effectively does the company develop and manage
relationships with customers?
! ! ! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
042. How thoroughly integrated are your relationships with
customers?
! ! ! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
Most interviewees seemed to feel the company does a good job of
managing relationships, but were not sure thoroughly zippered#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
networks of counterpart relationships exist in all instances. Some
questioned whether relationships are with the right people—that is,
whether they are high enough in the customer organization or
whether they are the actual decision makers and influencers.
043. How are major accounts managed?
! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
There was a clear sense among the people we interviewed that
managing major accounts is important. However, account management
occurs on an individual basis by selected members of the BD
group and presently seems to apply only to Customer X and Customer
Y. The company has not developed the support systems for
account management or documented account plans. There has been
no account management training to our knowledge.
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Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
044. How do bid/no-bid decisions get made?
! ! ! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
045. Do you ever decide not to bid? If so, how often does
this happen, and why do you typically decline?
! ! ! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
046. What could be done to improve the bid/no-bid
decision-making system?
! ! ! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
Hardly anyone told us the bid/no-bid decision-making system works
well. Almost everyone in Business Development seems to feel the
company too often decides not to bid due to a shortage of estimating
(not execution) resources. We were unable to uncover any formal,
documented, companywide criteria for making bid/no-bid decisions.
Suggestions for improving the system had to do with adding or
sharing resources.
047. What is your role in proposal development, and how
much time do you spend on proposals?
! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
048. What, in your opinion, is good about your proposals?
What do you do well, from a process standpoint?
! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
049. What could you do better with your proposals, from a
process standpoint?
! ! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
The people we interviewed were involved in proposals in a management
or contributing capacity. We did not get to talk to any of the
people who actually assemble the documents, but it sounded like they
135
Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
are extremely busy. Those we did interview said they always follow
the customer’s instructions. Most said they need more resources,
either for preparing estimates or for writing proposals. Some BDMs
told us they are not directly involved in proposals and even that they
have been instructed not to get involved—just bring in the package
and walk away. Others said they always stay involved or at least try
to, covertly.
For Questions C11-16, clients and teaming partners were asked to#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
think of their relationship with SWE as having three not necessarily
linear but cyclic phases: (1) relationship building and needs analysis,
before a specific opportunity to do business arises; (2) solution
definition, after an opportunity begins to develop, before they ask for
competitive bids; and (3) solution presentation, after their needs are
fully developed and they issue a request for proposals, either written
or verbal.
C11. What does SWE do well in Phase 1 (relationship
building and needs analysis)?
!
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
Answers usually focused on relationship building and openness or
honesty in providing information.
C12. What could they do better in Phase 1?
!
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
Several interviewees felt SWE could be more proactive in identifying
and chasing opportunities and, in general, less regional—i.e., focus on
corporate rather than regional capabilities—because sometimes
regional people aren’t as knowledgeable on specific types of
projects.
C13. What does SWE do well in Phase 2 (solution
definition)?
!
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
Most interviewees said SWE does a good job of understanding and
assembling resources for projects.
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Business Development Audit
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
C14. What could they do better in Phase 2?
!
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
A few interviewees would like more help with constructability
analyses and feasibility studies and feel SWE could develop a more
thorough understanding of what it’s going to take to be competitive.
C15. What does SWE do well in Phase 3 (solution
presentation)?
!
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
A clear majority cited thoroughness and attention to detail in
preparing bids as Phase 3 strengths, and a few mentioned asking
good questions to clarify requirements.
C16. What could they do better in Phase 3?
!
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
Those who had suggestions for improvement talked about getting
more detailed and competitive in pricing and developing better
scheduling discipline. A few suggested taking on more risk, and one
said he wished SWE people could make more decisions at lower
levels.
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Business Development Audit
Recommendations
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
!
!
!
!
!
!
• Seek out and institutionalize an
effective sales process with accompanying
skill and tool sets.
• Develop and implement an effective
system for identifying, developing,
and tracking prospects.
• Formally identify your strategic
accounts, then develop and communicate
objectives and action plans for
those accounts.
• Consider strategic account management
training for senior executives#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
and Business Development Managers.
• Examine the bid/no-bid process to
ensure it is based on a consistent set
of specific business criteria.
• Seek out and institutionalize an
effective proposal development
process and tool set companywide.
1. Benchmark our current business development performance in order to track future progress.
2. Identify weaknesses and potential areas of improvement in performance or personnel for all business
development-related activities, to be regarded as developmental areas. Obtain recommendations on
how to develop these areas, including actions we can take immediately while retaining current
resources.
3. Better understand the current state of our sales and business development organization to help us
make decisions on how to restructure to better meet our goal of opening new strategic markets.
4. Obtain recommendations on how to improve both our proposal development and proposal
presentation processes and ultimately increase our win rate.
5. Determine the effectiveness of our bid/no-bid decision process for strategic projects.
6. Gain an understanding of how to better differentiate SWE to clients and be considered the vendor of
choice more often.
SWE OBJECTIVES
1 2 3 4 5 6
138
Business Development Audit
1. Benchmark our current business development performance in order to track future progress.
2. Identify weaknesses and potential areas of improvement in performance or personnel for all business
development-related activities, to be regarded as developmental areas. Obtain recommendations on
how to develop these areas, including actions we can take immediately while retaining current
resources.
3. Better understand the current state of our sales and business development organization to help us
make decisions on how to restructure to better meet our goal of opening new strategic markets.
4. Obtain recommendations on how to improve both our proposal development and proposal
presentation processes and ultimately increase our win rate.
5. Determine the effectiveness of our bid/no-bid decision process for strategic projects.
6. Gain an understanding of how to better differentiate SWE to clients and be considered the vendor of
choice more often.
SWE OBJECTIVES
1 2 3 4 5 6
M. SALES PROCESS
(CONTINUED)
!
!
• Consider hiring professional proposal
managers, or provide proposal
management training for the existing
proposal specialists.
• Provide guidelines for the involvement
of BD professionals in proposals
that are consistent across all
profit centers.
2
Business Development Audit
A. Current Business and
Competitive Environment
B. Customer Focus
C. Strategic Planning
D. Business Planning
E. Marketing Infrastructure#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
F. Sales Infrastructure
G. Sales HR Systems
H. Sales Information Systems
I. Cross-Functional Synergy
J. Management Visibility
K. Communication and
Reporting
L. Marketing Process
M. Sales Process (includes
sales model, prospecting,
pipeline management,
relationship management,
sales management, strategic
account management, and
proposal development)
N. Customer Delight
Management
O. Sales Competencies
P. Proposal Quality
Q. Client Relationships
R. Differentiation
1. Develop an understanding
of the business and competitive
environment
2. Assess the quality and level of
business development inputs
3. Assess the BD infrastructure
and determine the extent to
which the systems facilitate the
process
4. Assess cross-functional
relationships and determine the
extent to which the BD process
is effectively integrated within
the organization
5. Assess the BD process and
determine the extent to which
best practices are integrated
6. Assess the skills of the sales
force and determine the extent
to which they have competencies
required for effective
business development
7. Assess the outputs to determine
the level of effectiveness
of the BD process
Tasks Issues
For this audit we designed seven tasks, each with an associated set
of issues. Each issue has a set of related data elements, which are
listed at the top of the report section for each issue.
Tasks and Issues
Questions from both the online surveys and interviews have been
renumbered to appear sequentially in this report. Client questions are
denoted by a C in the number.
3
Business Development Audit
You gave us the following objectives for the audit:
1. Benchmark our current business development performance in
order to track future progress.
2. Identify weaknesses and potential areas of improvement in
performance or personnel for all business development-related
activities, to be regarded as developmental areas. Obtain
recommendations on how to develop these areas, including
actions we can take immediately while retaining current resources.
3. Better understand the current state of our sales and business
development organization to help us make decisions on how to
restructure to better meet our goal of opening new strategic
markets.
4. Obtain recommendations on how to improve both our proposal
development and proposal presentation processes and ultimately
increase our win rate.
5. Determine the effectiveness of our bid/no-bid decision process
for strategic projects.
6. Gain an understanding of how to better differentiate SWE to
clients and be considered the vendor of choice more often.#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Our recommendations appear at the end of the section for each issue,
linked to your objectives.
To meet your benchmarking objective, based on the findings, we have
assigned numeric ratings on a scale of 1 to 10 for each of the 18
issues. In the left column, next to the heading for each issue, is a bar
graph showing the numeric ratings for the 2002 audit.
These ratings are largely subjective and are intended only as benchmarks.
They reflect the opinions of the auditors, based on research
and experience with other E&C firms we have audited and worked
with over the years.
Client Objectives
4
Business Development Audit
SWE has a reputation for quality and integrity and appears highly
profitable. The clients we interviewed are very happy and able to
cite specific, positive behavioral differentiators SWE is already
demonstrating. The sales force is experienced, technically proficient,
and loyal. SWE employees appear to be excellent self-managers,
and turnover is low. However, a shortage of support staff and other
resources, coupled with inconsistent or conflicting strategic directions
and perceived inequity in the bonus program for BD professionals,
has the potential to create a morale problem in tandem with an
economic crisis.
The various profit centers and functional groups appear to be siloed
and often at cross-purposes. The organization is already very lean
and could be that much more efficient if everyone were working
toward clear and consistent goals.
In general, SWE needs to:
• Increase communication and collaboration among and within the
various profit centers and functional groups.
• Invest in critical BD systems, tools, and resources.
• Formalize and execute a strategic account management program.
• Build and strengthen the professional sales skills of its business
development professionals.
• Further define its product/service differentiation while continuing
to differentiate behaviorally.
• Focus on client goals and issues rather than SWE’s capabilities in
written and verbal communications with clients.
The scope of this audit was very broad. Rather than inundate you
with assessments and action items, we have limited our findings and
recommendations to the above priorities. The boldfaced findings at
the beginning of each section should be considered highly significant,
and the recommendations at the end of each section should be
considered high priorities.
Overall
Assessment
5
Business Development Audit
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Numeric Ratings
Summary
A. Current Business and Competitive Environment
B. Customer Focus
C. Strategic Planning
D. Business Planning
E. Marketing Infrastructure#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
F. Sales Infrastructure
G. Sales HR Systems
H. Sales Information Systems
I. Cross-Functional Synergy
J. Management Visibility
K. Communication and Reporting
L. Marketing Process
M. Sales Process
N. Customer Delight Management
O. Sales Competencies
P. Proposal Quality
Q. Client Relationships
R. Differentiation
Below, for purposes of summarizing 2002 and comparing future
years’ performance (should you wish to do so), are the numeric
ratings for each issue.
6
Business Development Audit
Respondent
Feedback
Following are the online survey participants’ responses to the three
narrative questions at the end of the General BD Audit Survey:
• What three improvements would you suggest to
increase this organization’s business development
effectiveness?
• What three strengths of the organization could
you identify for the business development team to
capitalize on?
• Is there anything else not covered in this survey
that you feel would be helpful for the audit team
to understand?
Except for correcting spelling and occasionally punctuating for clarity,
we have left the narratives as written by the respondents, about a
third of whom are clients. The auditors’ observations and recommendations
conclude this section.
In addition, the Sales Effectiveness Survey respondents identified and
prioritized a number of organizational needs. These are detailed in
the SES Group Summary (Appendix A). Our recommendation is that
you prioritize and try to fill these needs.
For example, 86 percent of the respondents—which included clients,
managers, and colleagues of those who took the survey—identified
improved coordination with others who interact with customers as an
organizational need. In fact, most of the choices related to account
management were affirmed as organizational needs by over 70
percent of respondents. This is a strong mandate for a formal
strategic account management program.
Seventy-six percent of respondents cited better resources and/or
procedures for preparing proposals, and seventy-five percent said
they need better strategic planning information.
Business Development Audit
152
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
BENCHMARK
This issue examines SWE proposals from a product perspective, with
three data elements:
PA.Internal Assessment
PB.Our Assessment
PC.Client Assessment
We looked at five proposals and three pre-qualification documents.
The internal assessment of proposal quality is much higher than ours
because, whereas your focus is on compliance and cost, ours is on
demonstrating to the client that the benefits of your offer equal the
client’s business goals. Recognizing compliance, but considering an#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
overall failure to present (to the uninformed reader) a compelling
case for choosing SWE, we set this benchmark at 4.
2002
Task 7
Assess the outputs to determine the level of effectiveness
of the BD process
Issue P. Proposal Quality
Findings • The proposals submitted for our review appear to be fully
compliant, but are lacking in:
— Executive summaries
— Customer focus—i.e., they appear to be driven by
SWE’s capabilities rather than the customer’s goals
and issues
— Evidence of thoughtful competitive analysis
— Obvious win strategies beyond technical excellence
and/or pricing
— Strong, customer-focused sales messages
— Visuals
• Except by following the client’s instructions for organizing
the proposal, SWE does not differentiate itself well or at
all—behaviorally or in terms of services—in the proposals
we reviewed.
Business Development Audit
153
P. PROPOSAL QUALITY
(CONTINUED)
C33. Their proposals respond to the areas we identify and
want solutions for.
Number of Responses: 38
Average: 3.7
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C35. Their proposals are clearly written.
Number of Responses: 37
Average: 3.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C34. Their proposals are delivered on time.
Number of Responses: 39
Average: 4.1
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Online Survey Results
SE
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SE
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SE
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Business Development Audit
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P. PROPOSAL QUALITY
(CONTINUED)
C38. Their proposals include an executive summary that is
useful in selling the solution to senior management.
Number of Responses: 31
Average: 3.4
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C37. They use graphics effectively to explain the more complicated
portions of their proposals.
Number of Responses: 25
Average: 3.4
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C36. Their proposals are well organized and easy to read and
understand.
Number of Responses: 36
Average: 3.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
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OM
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CL !
SE
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CS
CL !
SE
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CL !
Business Development Audit
155
P. PROPOSAL QUALITY
(CONTINUED)
C39. Their proposals are clearly superior to others we receive.
Number of Responses: 37
Average: 2.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C41. Their proposals provide us with compelling reasons to
choose them over their competitors.
Number of Responses: 33
Average: 2.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C40. Their proposals don’t require explanation to senior
executives.
Number of Responses: 32
Average: 3.1
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
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CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
SE
SM
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OM
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CL !
Business Development Audit
156
C42. Their proposals influence us to give them the work.
Number of Responses: 34
Average: 2.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
P. PROPOSAL QUALITY
(CONTINUED)
Interview Results
052. What, in your opinion, is good about your proposals?
What do you do well, from a product standpoint?
! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
053. What could you do better with your proposals, from a
product standpoint?
! !
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
Answers to proposal quality questions tended to be about taking care
to understand the requirements and follow the customer’s instructions
regarding organization and content. Few of the interviewees had
much to say about what SWE proposals actually say, and those who#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
did said the writing could be better.
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
Document Review Results
The following SWE proposals and pre-qualification packages were
submitted for our review:
• Project 1
• Project 2
• Project 3
• Project 4
• Project 5
Business Development Audit
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P. PROPOSAL QUALITY
(CONTINUED)
• Project 6
• Project 7
• Project 8
The pre-quals lack project- or even client-specific introductions and
appear to consist primarily of marketing sheets and untailored
boilerplate. The proposals tend to be very procedural, have no theme
statements or other sales narrative, do not explicitly cite or discuss
client issues, and do not provide the uninformed reader with a compelling
case for choosing SWE. By and large, they appear to be
collections of bid forms, procedures, and boilerplate. If these proposals
are truly representative, without strong relationships and a great
deal of verbal pre-selling, we would predict losses.
There was not much overt selling going on in the proposals we
reviewed, except in cover letters. Features are often presented as
benefits in themselves. Other benefits are often implied or stated in
vague terms, or the benefit is actually a feature (an excellent quality
or safety program, for example). The specific, bottom-line, endresulting
benefits are rarely stated.
The proposals we reviewed were customer focused in that they
appeared to follow the client’s proposal instructions and focused on
the client’s project, but few showed any obvious recognition of the
client’s issues with regard to selecting a contractor.
Client responses to the online survey questions tend to support our
impressions and suggest the proposals we reviewed may indeed be
representative.
We saw no evidence of any specific win strategy beyond highlighting
SWE’s strengths. Effective proposal strategies not only highlight
your strengths, but also mitigate your weaknesses, neutralize the
strengths of your competitors, and ghost (i.e., subtly play up) your
competitors’ weaknesses.
Except for one brochure-style executive summary, the proposals we
reviewed lacked themes and visuals, and this was their primary
downfall in the scoring. None of the others had even a traditional
narrative executive summary. The larger ones have lots of divider
tabs with several different styles of documents behind them, creating
the appearance of a collection of unrelated documents.
SWE’s proposals (and the recipients’ evaluations of them) would
undoubtedly benefit from theme statements at the tops of proposal
sections and brochure-style executive summaries. These should be#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Business Development Audit
158
P. PROPOSAL QUALITY
(CONTINUED)
primarily visual and should be organized not around the requirements
or the solution, but the customer’s issues and priorities.
Using Lore’s Red Team Review tool, we evaluated and scored the
five proposals against the following criteria:
A. Is the proposal compliant?
1.Meets all RFP/ITT requirements for outline/
organization
2.Meets/Answers all RFP/ITT requirements/questions
regarding the offer/solution
3.Meets all RFP/ITT requirements for page limitations,
format, graphics, etc.
B. Is the proposal responsive?
1.Addresses client’s key issues, concerns, hot buttons,
needs, and/or values in addition to the stated requirements/
questions
C. Does the proposal sell throughout?
1.Sections begin with effective theme statements:
features, benefits, and specificity including quantification
if appropriate? Themes answer “Why us?”
and “So what?”
2.Proposal differentiates us from the competition at all
levels (themes, visuals, text)? Answers “Why us?”
and “Why not them?” by emphasizing our strengths,
mitigating our weaknesses, neutralizing the competitors’
strengths, and ghosting their weaknesses
3.Proposal demonstrates client focus rather than selffocus
Does not create impression of arrogance, of
“Trust us, we’re the experts”
4.Proposal associates substantive, bottom-line benefits
with all key features
5.V isuals/Figures include full-sentence, interpretive
captions linking features and benefits
Business Development Audit
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P. PROPOSAL QUALITY
(CONTINUED)
6.Key (first) visual in each section amplifies the theme
D. Does the proposal communicate?
1.Sections organized deductively: main idea first,
supported by details and proofs, end with summary
restating the main idea
2.Proposal written in active voice, absent of jargon and
wordiness
3.V isuals communicate their main messages in eight
seconds or less
4.Has boilerplate been tailored to this client and
procurement? Is boilerplate “invisible”
5.Proposal employs ample white space, emphatic
devices (boldface, embedded themes, bulleted lists,
etc.), and personal pronouns to give the proposal a
“voice”
Our evaluator gave each volume a score of 0-5 on each of the 15
criteria, for a best possible score of 75 points. Except for one
brochure-style executive summary, the proposals submitted for our
review had very similar characteristics and scored very low—much
lower than the actual win record would lead one to expect—and
within a very few points of one another. A summary evaluation with#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
a collective score is included in Appendix C.
Business Development Audit
160
1. Benchmark our current business development performance in order to track future progress.
2. Identify weaknesses and potential areas of improvement in performance or personnel for all business
development-related activities, to be regarded as developmental areas. Obtain recommendations on
how to develop these areas, including actions we can take immediately while retaining current
resources.
3. Better understand the current state of our sales and business development organization to help us
make decisions on how to restructure to better meet our goal of opening new strategic markets.
4. Obtain recommendations on how to improve both our proposal development and proposal
presentation processes and ultimately increase our win rate.
5. Determine the effectiveness of our bid/no-bid decision process for strategic projects.
6. Gain an understanding of how to better differentiate SWE to clients and be considered the vendor of
choice more often.
SWE OBJECTIVES
1 2 3 4 5 6
Recommendations
P. PROPOSAL QUALITY
(CONTINUED)
! ! !
! ! !
! ! !
! ! !
• Develop and use competitive
analysis and strategy development
tools, such as a SWOT or key issues
analysis, on all proposals.
• Ensure that your win strategies not
only highlight your strengths, but also
mitigate your weaknesses, neutralize
your competitors’ strengths, and
ghost your competitors’ weaknesses.
• Use theme statements and visuals
with captions to convey sales
messages in proposals.
• Prepare brochure-style, highly visual
(as opposed to textual) executive
summaries for major proposals.
Business Development Audit
161
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
BENCHMARK
This issue is comprised of two elements:
QA. Understanding and Alignment
QB. Client Impact
Both the online surveys and the interviews indicate strong relationships
with most clients, so we set this benchmark at 8.
2002
Task 7
Assess the outputs to determine the level of effectiveness
of the BD process
Issue Q. Client Relationships
Findings • SWE seems to have excellent relationships with key
clients. Most of the clients we interviewed called SWE a
partner or strategic ally and expressed high levels of
comfort with SWE’s culture and ways of doing business.
• Online survey responses related to client relationships
and impact were more mixed and indicate the need for
specific strategies around alignment and impact.
Online Survey Results
C43. They understand my business and strategic direction.
Number of Responses: 42
Average: 3.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
Business Development Audit
162
Q. CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS
(CONTINUED)
C44. They provide me with services and solutions that are
relevant to my strategic direction.
Number of Responses: 42
Average: 3.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
C45. I’m delighted with their knowledge and expertise on the
types of solutions that help me achieve success.
Number of Responses: 42
Average: 3.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C46. They consistently demonstrate superior knowledge of
my organization and industry.
Number of Responses: 44
Average: 3.3
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
Business Development Audit
163
Q. CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS
(CONTINUED)
C47. They understand our business and its needs.
Number of Responses: 45
Average: 3.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C48. I’m satisfied they understand and are aligned with our
mission and objectives.
Number of Responses: 39
Average: 3.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C49. Their services are having a positive impact on our
business.
Number of Responses: 30
Average: 3.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
Business Development Audit
164
Q. CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
(CONTINUED)
C50. This impact is measurable.
Number of Responses: 27
Average: 3.7
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C51. This impact can be linked to our bottom line.
Number of Responses: 25
Average: 3.9
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
C52. We are more successful as a result of doing business
with them.
Number of Responses: 33
Average: 3.7
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
PS
CS
CL !
Business Development Audit
165
Q. CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS
(CONTINUED)
Interview Results
C17. Given four choices—vendor, preferred supplier,
partner, or strategic ally—how would you characterize
your relationship with SWE?
!
SE SM BD OM CS PS CL
Most of the 17 clients we interviewed called SWE a partner
or strategic ally. Three or four said preferred supplier , and
two said vendor.
Business Development Audit
166
Recommendations
Q. CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS
(CONTINUED)
!
! !
• Make alignment and value planning
part of your opening-game discipline,
by planning how to (a) demonstrate
alignment with each client’s vision,
mission, and values and (b) deliver
value in every contact, as part of
account planning.
• Implement the GIFBP (goals-issuesfeatures-
benefits-proofs) methodology
in all written and verbal communications
with clients. By taking
care to discover and then base your
messages on the client’s goals—
especially their bottom-line business
goals—you automatically supply the
metrics by which you can later
demonstrate the impact of your
services and solutions.
1. Benchmark our current business development performance in order to track future progress.
2. Identify weaknesses and potential areas of improvement in performance or personnel for all business
development-related activities, to be regarded as developmental areas. Obtain recommendations on
how to develop these areas, including actions we can take immediately while retaining current
resources.
3. Better understand the current state of our sales and business development organization to help us#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
make decisions on how to restructure to better meet our goal of opening new strategic markets.
4. Obtain recommendations on how to improve both our proposal development and proposal
presentation processes and ultimately increase our win rate.
5. Determine the effectiveness of our bid/no-bid decision process for strategic projects.
6. Gain an understanding of how to better differentiate SWE to clients and be considered the vendor of
choice more often.
SWE OBJECTIVES
1 2 3 4 5 6
167
Business Development Audit
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
BENCHMARK
In this portion of the audit, we looked at two kinds of differentiation:
RA. Product/Service Differentiation
RB. Behavioral Differentiation
Despite good reports from clients on SWE’s behavioral differentiation,
we felt you could do a much better job of differentiating SWE
services from those of competitors—hence, the 2002 benchmark of
6.
2002
Task 7
Assess the outputs to determine the level of effectiveness
of the BD process
Issue R. Differentiation
Findings • According to the clients we interviewed, SWE has been
behaviorally differentiating itself from its competitors
intuitively and quite well, and is somewhat positively
differentiated in terms of its services (quality and safety in
particular).
• Systematic development of product/service differentiators,
coupled with more deliberate behavioral differentiation,
would help SWE win more work and take client relationships
to the next level.
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
070. Our customers perceive that we are clearly superior to
our competitors in some important ways.
Number of Responses: 37
Average: 3.6
Online Survey Results
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
168
Business Development Audit
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
071. I can clearly differentiate our products and services from
those offered by our competitors.
Number of Responses: 34
Average: 3.2
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
NOTE: The next 28 questions are from the Behavioral Differentiation
Survey. These questions are denoted by a B in front of the
question number.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Making money
Providing high-quality services
Being state of the art or cutting edge
Following policies and procedures#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Being collaborative; working well in teams
Delighting customers
Beating the competition
No response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Making money
Providing high-quality services
Being state of the art or cutting edge
Following policies and procedures
Being collaborative; working well in teams
Delighting customers
Beating the competition
No response
Employees: Number of Responses: 112
B01. Candidly, the highest value in this company seems to be:
Clients: Number of Responses: 52
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
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CS
CL !
169
Business Development Audit
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Employee Average: 3.6
B02. This company’s services are highly differentiated from
competitors’ services. It’s easy to distinguish this
company from the competition.
Clients: Number of Responses: 51
Client Average: 3.3
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 4.0
B03. This company goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure
that customers get what they need and are delighted with
what they get.
Clients: Number of Responses: 50
Average: 3.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL !
170
Business Development Audit
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 3.8
B04. This company routinely treats customers in ways that#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
positively differentiate it from the competition.
Clients: Number of Responses: 51
Average: 3.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 4.0
B05. Customers would agree this company’s employees are
friendlier and more helpful than competitors’ employees.
Clients: Number of Responses: 48
Average: 3.7
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL !
171
Business Development Audit
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 3.8
B06. This company encourages and supports employees who
go the extra mile for customers or otherwise treat them
in exceptional ways.
Clients: Number of Responses: 39
Average: 3.7
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 3.8
B07. This company’s executives and employees walk the talk;
they behave in ways that are consistent with what they
say.
Clients: Number of Responses: 50
Average: 4.1
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
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CS
CL !
172
Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 108
Average: 3.2
B08. It is increasingly difficult for this company to differentiate
itself from competitors based on service uniqueness.
Clients: Number of Responses: 50
Average: 3.0
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 81
Average: 3.2
B09. This company’s competitors rapidly copy any innovative
service feature it introduces.
Clients: Number of Responses: 29
Average: 2.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
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173
Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 102
Average: 3.4
B10. This company’s services are more of a commodity now
than they have ever been.
Clients: Number of Responses: 45
Average: 2.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 109
Average: 3.5
B11. Increasingly, this company is being forced to compete on#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
price alone.
Clients: Number of Responses: 49
Average: 3.3
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
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174
Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 106
Average: 3.2
B12. This company doesn’t do enough to use behavior toward
customers as a tool and strategy for differentiating from
the competition.
Clients: Number of Responses: 43
Average: 2.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 101
Average: 3.2
B13. This company understands how its competitors treat
customers and knows which behaviors customers really
like and which ones they don’t like.
Clients: Number of Responses: 45
Average: 3.4
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
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CS
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175
Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 3.4
B14. This company understands how customers perceive the
way they are treated and knows which behaviors customers
really like and which ones they don’t like.#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Clients: Number of Responses: 48
Average: 3.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 3.4
B15. This company’s procedures for serving customers result
in exceptional customer treatment that differentiates the
company from its competitors in a positive way.
Clients: Number of Responses: 48
Average: 3.4
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
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176
Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 102
Average: 3.4
B16. Candidly, beyond customer service, this company has not
examined ways in which behavior toward customers
could give it a competitive advantage.
Clients: Number of Responses: 33
Average: 2.8
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 4.1
B17. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
easy to work with.
Clients: Number of Responses: 52
Average: 4.1
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL !
SE
SM
BD
OM
ES
CS
CL
!
!
!
!
!
!
SE
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177
Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 4.1
B18. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
professional.
Clients: Number of Responses: 52
Average: 4.3
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 109
Average: 3.8
B19. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
nice.
Clients: Number of Responses: 49
Average: 4.0
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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178
Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 3.8
B20. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
efficient.
Clients: Number of Responses: 51
Average: 4.0
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 110
Average: 3.9
B21. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
smart.#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Clients: Number of Responses: 52
Average: 4.0
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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179
Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 109
Average: 4.0
B22. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
outgoing.
Clients: Number of Responses: 51
Average: 4.2
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 109
Average: 4.1
B23. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
aggressive.
Clients: Number of Responses: 52
Average: 3.6
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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180
Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 110
Average: 4.0
B24. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
responsive.
Clients: Number of Responses: 52
Average: 4.1
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 111
Average: 3.8
B25. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
creative.
Clients: Number of Responses: 52
Average: 3.7
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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181
Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 110
Average: 3.8
B26. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
flexible.
Clients: Number of Responses: 52
Average: 3.7
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Employees: Number of Responses: 109
Average: 3.8
B27. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
personable and caring.
Clients: Number of Responses: 51
Average: 4.0
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
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Business Development Audit
Employees: Number of Responses: 106
Average: 2.8
B28. Customers would describe this company’s employees as
routine.
Clients: Number of Responses: 46
Average: 2.7
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
Strongly Disagree (1)
(2)
Somewhat Agree (3)
(4)
Strongly Agree (5)
No Response
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
Interview Results
C18. What, in your opinion, differentiates SWE from the
competition in a positive way?
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SE SM BDO M CS ES CL
Positive differentiators mentioned by this group focused on behaviors,
especially being honest and responsive. More than one client said
SWE is a true partner instead of an adversary, the implication being
that other contractors are adversarial. SWE doesn’t play games or
try to get whatever they can. Quality and safety programs were also
mentioned frequently. One client mentioned SWE’s ability to embrace
change and continuously improve its own processes, not doing
something a certain way because that’s the way it’s always been
done. Another client cited a good following of construction people so
new people don’t have to be hired each time.
“SWE people follow projects,” he said, “and God bless ’em for that.”
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Business Development Audit
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
C19. What differentiates them in a negative way?
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SE SM BDO M CS ES CL
Negative differentiators commonly mentioned by client interviewees
include change orders, regional inconsistencies, and (less often)
pricing or scheduling discipline. One client said he thinks SWE is
more economical than other contractors, then qualified his statement
by saying he thought there were some hidden costs and he’d seen
multipliers creep up over the years to a degree he felt was more than
industry driven.
C20. What behaviors, positive or negative, do you see as
being characteristic of SWE as an organization?
!
SE SM BDO M CS ES CL
Integrity, honesty, and open communication were the most frequently
cited characteristic behaviors. Several interviewees mentioned
SWE’s casual, friendly, “southwestern flavor.” By and large,
behaviors seen as characteristic were positive. Excessive change
orders—or “change-order city,” as one client put it—were mentioned#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
a few times.
Otherwise, the interviewer noticed a tendency to talk about personal
characteristics or social behaviors rather than specific business
development behaviors, like helping to discover and define needs and
requirements. We also noticed the client answers did not include the
things SWE employees frequently said they do, like take extraodinary
care to understand the requirements, respond quickly to requests, or
follow proposal instructions to the letter.
184
Business Development Audit
1. Benchmark our current business development performance in order to track future progress.
2. Identify weaknesses and potential areas of improvement in performance or personnel for all business
development-related activities, to be regarded as developmental areas. Obtain recommendations on
how to develop these areas, including actions we can take immediately while retaining current
resources.
3. Better understand the current state of our sales and business development organization to help us
make decisions on how to restructure to better meet our goal of opening new strategic markets.
4. Obtain recommendations on how to improve both our proposal development and proposal
presentation processes and ultimately increase our win rate.
5. Determine the effectiveness of our bid/no-bid decision process for strategic projects.
6. Gain an understanding of how to better differentiate SWE to clients and be considered the vendor of
http://www.400190.com/dissertation_writing/choice more often.
SWE OBJECTIVES
1 2 3 4 5 6
Recommendations
R. DIFFERENTIATION
(CONTINUED)
!
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• Make differentiation planning part
of your opening-game discipline,
developing and planning both
behavioral and product-service
differentiators during account
planning.
• Develop and implement specific,
market-level strategies for overcoming
negative differentiators.