“Contract title” defense

You won last contract a couple of years ago, a big one, and you were so happy about it.

Time runs fast and now the new RFP is going to be published again. You feel as the owner of the work and from your point of view you deserve to continue handling this contract.

But the reality is other, you have to jump to the ring and defend your title.

First you have to remove from you and your team’s head some behaviors that will not help you:

• Arrogance.
• Limit yourself to the use of the same team that is working on the service.
• Limit your solution to what you are offering right now, killing the out-of-box thinking.
• Focus on maintaining the jobs and losing the focus on having the right team/right price.
• Deny the existence of negative past performance.
• Underestimate the ability of the competitors to sell a low-risk and low-cost transition story.

You have been invited again, so I’m sure you are doing well, but you have to change your mindset and force yourself to do not fall into the trap.

What can I do then?

You are out, so assume and transmit to the team that you are out. I remember a manager moving the offer team to a room in the other side of the building to physically remind the team that if they want to come back to their seats, they have to win the right to do it. Do not show you are just hungry, show you are starving.

Challenge your past performance, and the weak points of your model, so you have to be honest and serious about this. Don’t be complacent, you are out!.

Emphasize innovative thinking and fresh ideas, Add new people that promotes new ideas. Challenge your existing solution and think of ways to improve it.This potentially can generate conflicts, so be very carefully on this.

Listen customer feedback from a third party, gain perspective taking information from a trusted source, do not assume that you know how the client feels about your delivery.

This is a new deal, so manage it as a new win, a new logo. Show enthusiasm for this new logo, this new opportunity…

Show Corporate commitment to the RFP, identify people in your customer that are important (start from scratch) and visit them, identify people in your organization that needs to show-up. Your customer wants to understand your whole company is committed on their business, to have senior management showing the importance of this RFP is important.

Any other thing we have to think about? Just step into the ring and fight for a new contract!