Winning New Business : The Critical Success Factors is an essential new research report which focuses on the most vital of all questions – how can your company win more new business?

CONTENTS

Executive summary

Winning new business: a global perspective

Why winning new business is getting tougher
The research and its methodology
Meet the superbidders and the rest
Headlines from the research
Why the superbidders win more new business than the rest
What separates the winners from the losers

How to win a place on the shortlist

The three big questions in buying decisions
Management briefing: Understanding the role of internal stakeholders
Qualification: selecting and evaluating opportunities
Winning a place on the shortlist
Checklist: key shortlist questions
Shortlist best practice: where the superbidders score
Management briefing: How to use reputation to build market position

Key activities in winning new business

Five important questions and six vital answers
Creating a buyer-seller bond
Understanding the customer’s buying centre
More about buying centres
Contacting customers
Communicating key messages about company and product
Management briefing: Shaping things to come
Understanding the great divide

Managing an effective new business team

Winning new business starts with leadership
Management briefing: The two-team bidding strategy
Recruiting and managing a new business team
Management briefing: International operation and communication
Creating a winning team spirit

Negotiating to a successful close

What matters when you start to negotiate
How to out-negotiate the competition
Checklist: structure, layout and format of proposals
Setting the negotiation in context
Management briefing: The art of changing the spec
The art of closing the deal
Knowing when to walk away
Management briefing: Price for profit
Negotiating a partnership relationship
Partnerships: comparing the winners with the losers

A new model for winning business

Introduction: learning from best practice
Model A: the pre-bid phase
Model B: understanding the client and the buying decision
Model C: assembling, leading and managing an effective bidding team
Model D: negotiating to a successful close

Appendix 1 – Winning new business checklists

Checklist 01: Winning new business strategy
Checklist 02: Target prospects, requirements, sectors and markets
Checklist 03: Available offerings
Checklist 04: Communicating corporate capability
Checklist 05: Competitor analysis
Checklist 06: Creating initial awareness
Checklist 07: Importance of competitive bidding
Checklist 08: Obtaining invitations to bid
Checklist 09: Evaluating business opportunities
Checklist 10: Understanding prospects
Checklist 11: Understanding buying decisions
Checklist 12: Managing bid teams
Checklist 13: Formulating proposals and bid responses
Checklist 14: Pricing proposals
Checklist 15: Presenting a bid or proposal
Checklist 16: Negotiating contracts
Checklist 17: Evaluating bidding outcomes
Checklist 18: Managing the new business team
Checklist 19: Managing channel and value chain relationships
Checklist 20: Managing customer relationships
Checklist 21: Selecting key accounts
Checklist 22: Understanding the individual customer
Checklist 23: Establishing and building key account relationships
Checklist 24: Locking out the competition
Checklist 25: Building business partnerships
Checklist 26: Evaluating and managing key account performance

Appendix 2 – Survey questionnaire statistical data

Appendix 3 – Further reading