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Outside Opinions – Utilizing Cold Eyes to Discover True Differentiators

Posted by Communications on Oct. 14, 2021  /  Subscribe 0

By Josh Roberts – Rainmaker Productions President & SMPS Colorado Chapter President

As marketers our job is to creatively identify what makes us different, and frankly, better than our competition – our team’s differentiators.  When preparing proposals at any level, but especially for larger or strategic opportunities, the hustle and bustle of the development and production can sometimes result in the team being so focused on checking off the requirement boxes that true differentiators are missed or forgotten.  Why? Because sometimes it’s hard to stand back and look at your message objectively and holistically, with so much else that must be done.

The solution is quite easy, and you may have even utilized it before.  Cold eyes are fresh eyes – they are people outside of your core proposal team, that can provide that objective and holistic view.  Without any prior involvement, they come with a fresh perspective and the time and energy to focus on identifying those key differentiators that will bring home the win.  There are many benefits to asking people outside the proposal team, to review, question, and/or validate what you’ve done up to that point.  These people may be internal to your company, but outside of the core proposal team, like executives, other technical disciplines, or leaders in different geographical locations.    In some cases, you may not have internal team members available for this cold eye review process and may need to need to go outside of your organization to engage someone for an objective look.  Do you have to spend money with a consultant?  Not necessarily, but it can be a great strategy and investment.  When identifying cold eye review participants, start with your network and who you think adds value.  Ask yourself, “Whose opinion do my team and I value most?”

As an interview coach and strategist who supports teams across North America, I’m often asked to provide cold eye reviews early in the pursuit process to help define ‘the edge’.  This gives the team a boost in clarifying what will help win them the job.  I’m not claiming to have all the answers, but I often bring a different perspective and find or connect dots that teams miss. 

Marketers and business developers are often so bogged down by the RFP process and qualifying metrics, that they miss checking the back story for those key differentiators that will get the clients attention and sometimes are enough to put the team over the edge against the competition.  It’s easy to get jaded, overconfident, or even worse – complacent, because you’ve built proposals so many times.  It is also hard to build a new step into your already stressed schedule.  You can do it!  Having a well-defined plan, buy-in from your team, and a schedule that everyone is committed to will allow you to successfully build in the extra time for these reviews. 

Here are my suggestions for when to incorporate outside opinions into your process. Ideally you would have cold eye reviews at each of these steps but being involved at any of these points in the process will benefit the final product.

• After the first strategy session where key internal team members, partners/subconsultants and the project manager have been established

• After win themes have been developed

• At approximately 80-90% completion of the proposal (some firms may refer to this as the Red Team review)

From my experience working with teams on major pursuits, I have identified true differentiators that have been missed.  Below are several examples of areas that cold eye reviews may identify, question, or push the proposal team to re-evaluate.

• The power of the relationships that exist on the team and track record with a client. Have you identified all the relationships your project team has with the client’s team? Do you fully understand the relationships of your partners/subconsultants?  Have you done the research of your track record with the client?  Even if you have some blemishes, are you ignoring them or facing them head-on?

• What local really means to the client. Efficiency, keeping on schedule and budget, and employing local firms may be more important to some clients than others. Did you build your team to meet these expectations of the client?  Can your team differentiate themselves by committing to a locals-only based team?  What intel do you have on your competitors and how they will sell themselves to the client?

• Establishing the empathy of team players who have diverse experience in their career. Do you know the experience of your team? Are you only focusing on their current role and not their prior experience? 

• Total firm experience. Most firms have relevant experience outside of the local geographical area that may be important to showcase to the client as part of building win themes.  Do you have an understanding for your firm’s entire portfolio? Do you know what the key issues are for the client and where that experience may lie within your firm?

You can see from these couple of examples, the questions and topics cold eye reviewers may identify are not earth shattering – but that is the point.  It is often the simple differentiators we tend to overlook.  When preparing for your next project pursuit, I challenge you to find your true power, to differentiate your message and your firm.  Don’t be afraid to utilize cold eye reviewers, the people you know and trust with the biggest strategic dot-connecting brain and harness their power to help reveal yours and win.

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