Archive for May, 2009
Saturday, May 16th, 2009
In response to my post on 5 reasons you shouldn’t participate in a pitch, Sarah Larkins at Cvent created a wonderful planner-centric set of tips for creating a winning Request for Proposal. This is a must-read. Enjoy.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
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What is this man doing?
Find out about this really cool event idea at David Stark’s Sketchbook blog.
If you’ve never dropped by David Stark’s blog for a shot of inspiration, I thought I’d share that his blog is my guilty pleasure. In my opinion, David has to be one of the most inspiring designers in our industry. A true innovator, he breaks away from convention to create designs that are more like art installations than temporary decor. And more importantly his ideas are thought provoking and relevant, not self-serving and pretty (for the sake of being pretty).
For more on David Stark visit his website.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
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The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
After seeing these images of designer Max Azria’s home, I’m left feeling very inspired. A wonderful orchestra of colors – burnt orange, deep purple, black, bold yellow and silver. Stunning.
Photographs via Bazaar
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
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The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
We’ve all been there. We put our heart and soul into a proposal only to find out that we didn’t win the project. For many, the process ends there…but in fact, it can be just the beginning. You can find a lot of articles that will provide tips on how to win proposals, but nary a one that will tell you how to turn a proposal loss into a business win. So, here are my tips…
1. Contact the winning bidder
Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and congratulate the winning bidder. Ask if there’s anything you can do to help them on the project. You’d be surprised how many people win the pitch, then try to figure out how they’re going to get it done. Building a bridge may allow you to work on the very project you just lost.
2. Use it as an opportunity for improvement
Find out why you didn’t win. If possible, schedule a face to face to discuss this with the customer. I do want to caution that if you don’t know the customer very well, the likelihood that they’re going to be totally honest with you is not high (that is, unless their decision was purely price driven). Think about it, if your proposal was lacklustre or one of your presenters had distractingly bad breath, you probably won’t hear about it. Another strategy is to ask why the winner won. It’s easier to deliver good news about someone else than negative news about you. Either way, remember that even the smallest feedback can garner great business insights and help you submit a better proposal next time around.
3. Leave the door open
Just recently I interviewed 3 headhunters to fill a position for my company. After making a decision to go with one, I called the other 2 to deliver the news that they handn’t won our contract. One left the door opening by saying that if, after a few weeks, we weren’t satisfied with the results we were getting with our headhunter they would honor the awarded rate and, more importantly, reiterated how they could address all of our service requirements. I can guarantee you that if we encounter any issues, that recruiter will be top of mind. The other?…not so much.
Care to share your own success stories or tips?
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
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. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
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The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
Tags: Business Inspiration
Very delighted to find ready2spark in the #9 spot out of the thousands of event blogs :) Check out some other great industry blogs here.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
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The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
Pre-qualifying a customer’s request for proposal is the key to success. The worst thing any business can do is respond to everything that comes their way. Doing so wastes resources and time and takes your eye off of the fruitful opportunities that can win you your ideal customers. So, what are my top 5 reasons why you SHOULDN’T participate in a proposal?
1. It doesn’t fit with your business + sales strategy
Before you even think about pitching a piece of business, you need to identify your short and long term business strategy. Every single client you work with will either propel you towards your goals or distract you from getting there. A good sales plan fits like a puzzle piece into the broader strategy and should identify the following:
- What do you do better than anyone else in the market?
- What are your weaknesses? And, what do your competitors do better than you?
- Where are the untapped needs in the market and can you fill them?
- What key trends will affect your positioning in the next 5 years?
- Based on this information, who are your ideal customers? – think demographic as well as psychographic (industry segment, business size, # of employees, budget, what they value in a supplier, what are their product / service needs?, etc).
2. You haven’t set proposal goals
Do you know what your close rate is on proposals and do you know what you want it to be? If not, figure this out before you move forward with any other pitches. You have to know how successful you are, why you were successful and why you lose business. Without that information it’s very difficult to improve your proposal process.
3. You can’t offer a unique benefit to the end customer
Coco Chanel once said: “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different”. I’d go one step further and say that in order to be considered one must always be different. If you don’t believe that you can offer something of unique value to the customer, why invest time in the proposal?
4. It’s a fishing expedition
It’s critical to understand how serious the client is about hiring a new vendor. Many clients use requests for proposals to ensure their incumbent is competitively priced or, in some cases, to drive down their incumbent’s pricing with lower bids from other vendors. Participating in these proposals is a waste of time. You need to ask the right questions to understand what type of proposal scenario you’re walking in to. Don’t be afraid to ask poignant questions in the initial discussion: How many companies are you requesting a proposal from? Who are they? And, who is the incumbent? Assess this list of competitors. Are they of your calibre? Do you have something to offer that can win you this business? It’s also key to get to the heart of your customer’s drivers. Why are they going through this process instead of using their incumbent? What did they not get from their previous supplier? And, what are their criteria for selecting a new supplier?
5. They want the milk for free
There’s a great debate between event professionals on whether to do spec work. Spec work is when you provide creative in the proposal phase with no guarantee that you’ll win the business and no fee for your time / ideas. Many believe it shouldn’t be done. After all, why give your great ideas away for free? Doing so could result in the client extracting the best ideas from the more expensive vendors and giving those ideas to the least expensive vendor to roll out. Others argue that when you’re selling ideas, the only way to show your capabilities is to show your ideas. Regardless of which camp you fall in, if the requirements make you feel uncomfortable spend time questioning if the payoff is worth the potential expense.
What other reasons do you believe should help determine whether you want to participate or not?
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
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The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
Tags: Business Inspiration
Mind the Curb is an uber cool natural media company. Never heard of a ‘natural media company’? That’s because they’re the world’s first. Mind the Curb creates branding opportunities using vehicles that have no impact on the environment. Goodbye traditional billboards, transit ads and posters. Hello snow, sand, sea water and plants. This unexpected approach to branding has generated an incredible amount of buzz – not only for Mind the Curb, but also for their clients.
It’s a really interesting idea that should inspire everyone to think outside of the more traditional forms of promotion.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
