Posted by Jon
What do sales and bid teams really think of the way they're engaged via their clients' procurement processes?
I get to see several hundred proposals a year - and, in parallel, very many of the RFPs to which they're responding. And whilst the proposals vary from poor to very good, I'd argue that the RFPs vary from very poor to... well, mediocre at best.
Further, I'd argue that very many buying teams fail to solicit the best proposals - and best offers - from the supply market as a result. Sub-standard RFPs within poorly managed purchasing processes therefore directly damage their organisations. (The 2016 Strategic Proposals white paper on "The World's Worst Procurement Awards" shares further perspectives on this - available free on our downloads page, if you're interested).
But those are my personal perspectives. What do you think?
We've just launched our latest survey, soliciting the views of those involved in bidding - whether bid / proposal professionals, salespeople, subject matter experts of senior managers - of their prospects' procurement processes.
It should only take a couple of minutes to complete: do click here and let us have your thoughts. (Please encourage colleagues to complete it, too. The more views, the merrier!). It's aimed primarily at UK-based teams, but we'd welcome contributions from elsewhere, too.
We'll be following this with the flip-side survey later in the year, soliciting buyers' views of bidders.
We've had a fabulous response already since the survey launched a few days ago. That's great, because the more responses we get at this stage, the more likely procurement folks are to respond later in the year. So we'd really appreciate your views, and will share the conclusions later this summer.
What do sales and bid teams really think of the way they're engaged via their clients' procurement processes?
I get to see several hundred proposals a year - and, in parallel, very many of the RFPs to which they're responding. And whilst the proposals vary from poor to very good, I'd argue that the RFPs vary from very poor to... well, mediocre at best.
Further, I'd argue that very many buying teams fail to solicit the best proposals - and best offers - from the supply market as a result. Sub-standard RFPs within poorly managed purchasing processes therefore directly damage their organisations. (The 2016 Strategic Proposals white paper on "The World's Worst Procurement Awards" shares further perspectives on this - available free on our downloads page, if you're interested).
But those are my personal perspectives. What do you think?
We've just launched our latest survey, soliciting the views of those involved in bidding - whether bid / proposal professionals, salespeople, subject matter experts of senior managers - of their prospects' procurement processes.
It should only take a couple of minutes to complete: do click here and let us have your thoughts. (Please encourage colleagues to complete it, too. The more views, the merrier!). It's aimed primarily at UK-based teams, but we'd welcome contributions from elsewhere, too.
We'll be following this with the flip-side survey later in the year, soliciting buyers' views of bidders.
We've had a fabulous response already since the survey launched a few days ago. That's great, because the more responses we get at this stage, the more likely procurement folks are to respond later in the year. So we'd really appreciate your views, and will share the conclusions later this summer.