Lambay Professional

Business Development and Executive Coaching

Helping you
find your form

If you’re sick of continually missing out on winning large public and private sector contracts read on…

How are you performing?

Try running a marathon without training for it and you will have a terrible time – with a nice injury to boot. Enter a procurement competition without doing your homework and you’ll waste valuable time and money. You’ll also damage your team’s morale as well as your own reputation in the market.
Most contracts are won or lost in the years and months leading up to the competition. This is where the gaps are closed, the offers crafted, and the prospects influenced. Rare is the organisation that can sleepwalk its way through a business development cycle and take the spoils. Yet, I see organisations, who should know better, try this year in, year out.

Test your
performance levels

This free health check provides you with tailored insights into how your business development process is performing and how you can improve it.

It takes less than two minutes…

TAKE THE TEST

Developing clear approaches to the complex issues

I’m Dara Lawlor.  I’ve worked as a management consultant for nearly 18 years.  I train and support business development teams to improve their performance across the entire commercial cycle in order to increase their win rates. I’m also a trained executive coach and help senior managers and executives transition into and perform in very challenging environments.  As a keen sportsman I get a kick out of performing as well as I can, whatever the circumstances.  I provide my clients with the environment and tools that helps them find their form. My vision for them is that they win by taking responsibility for their own success.

ARRANGE AN APPOINTMENT
Drop me an Email
Dara Lawlor

THE APPROACH

The Business Development Performance Cycle

When I work with business development and sales teams I follow this four-phase performance cycle:

BUILD

Nothing succeeds or endures without solid foundations

You’ll need a compelling and relevant value proposition, a well-trained business development team, a solid proposal management process and a library of powerful marketing materials.

TUNE

Each opportunity is different

You’ll need to build a strong relationship with your prospect so that you can develop a clear understanding of their concerns as well as influence them. You’ll also need to do your homework on your competitors. Calibrate your approach so that you are in tune with your prospect.

PERFORM

It’s Showtime!

Do the work in phases one and two and you’ve every chance of success here.

REVIEW

Win, lose or draw, always carry out a review

You’ll always learn from it and as the song goes, “if you get it wrong, you’ll get it right next time.“

Nothing succeeds or endures without solid foundations

You’ll need a compelling and relevant value proposition, a well-trained business development team, a solid proposal management process and a library of powerful marketing materials.

It’s Showtime!

Do the work in phases one and two and you’ve every chance of success here.

Each opportunity is different

You’ll need to build a strong relationship with your prospect so that you can develop a clear understanding of their concerns as well as influence them. You’ll also need to do your homework on your competitors. Calibrate your approach so that you are in tune with your prospect.

Win, lose or draw, always carry out a review

You’ll always learn from it and as the song goes, “if you get it wrong, you’ll get it right next time.“

Like a bicycle chain each phase is linked and reinforces the others

Having completed the health check you will now know which areas of the business development performance cycle require more attention.

TAKE THE TEST

Here’s a summary of the services on offer for each phase:

BUILD

Nothing succeeds or endures without solid foundations

The work in this phase is ideal if:

You are a young organisation and are building a business development function
You are an established business that is underperforming in procurement processes
Arrange An Appointment

WHAT’S INVOLVED

Boost Your Bids

A comprehensive training programme that prepares your business development team to participate in public and private procurement competitions. Your team will learn about the key processes and tools required.

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Words That Win

This is a writing workshop that teaches you how to write clearly and with impact.

Learn more »

Build Your Team

This work focuses on building your business development team and – through the use of psychometrics – ensuring that the right people are in the right roles. It also concentrates on mobilising the appropriate team processes and practices.

Build Your Value Proposition

This work – a set of stakeholder interviews and workshops – results in the development of an attractive and relevant value proposition. It also focuses on building a foundation of marketing materials for use in future procurement competitions.

TUNE

Each opportunity is different

The work in this phase is ideal if:

You have firm business development foundations and want to calibrate your offer to the requirements of your prospect
You are struggling to influence your prospect
Arrange An Appointment

WHAT’S INVOLVED

Focus Workshops

These workshops focus on the following:

  • Developing a clear understanding of your prospect’s requirements and concerns
  • Establishing where you stand relative to your competitors in the eyes of your prospect
  • Fine-tuning your value proposition
  • Developing a proposal strategy

Ongoing Support

Ongoing support and training with key members of your business development team that focus on building influence with your prospect.

PERFORM

It’s Showtime!

The work in this phase is ideal if:

You are new to taking part in procurement competitions or have gaps in your business development foundations and need a guiding hand in completing a response
You are experienced in responding to RFPs but want a third party to QA your work
Arrange An Appointment

WHAT’S INVOLVED

Quality Assurance

This involves making recommendations on response strategy as well as assessing the internal processes being used by the business development team and the quality of the material being produced.

Ongoing Support

Ongoing support and training with key members of your business development team that focuses on improving how they perform during the process.

REVIEW

Win, lose or draw, always carry out a review

The work in this phase is ideal if:

You want an independent party to conduct a post-award debriefing with the client
You wish to review your overall performance – process and proposal – after a particular procurement competition
You want to conduct a full diagnostic on how your business development function and value proposition are performing
Arrange An Appointment

WHAT’S INVOLVED

Independent Client Debriefing

An independent debriefing with your client post-award in order to find out how they felt about your proposal.

Individual Proposal Review

A post-award analysis of the quality of the final submission as well as the performance of the business development team and the underlying process.

Business Development Diagnostic

An assessment of your recent submissions, current bid processes, materials and team in order to identify any gaps that may exist.

Value Proposition Review

A review of how your value proposition is performing in the current marketplace.

Testimonials

Dara has helped us win a number of lucrative high-profile contracts, and as a result we have grown our business. Being new to tendering I was initially overwhelmed by all that was involved. Dara was patient and supportive as he guided me through the process. I could not have done it without him. I highly recommend him. He’s a complete professional and will help you succeed.

Stephen Murphy, Head of Service Delivery
Circet Ireland & UK

I’ve been working with Dara for over five years.  During this time he has helped me win numerous public and private sector contracts, paving the way for the takeover of IWM by EnviroChemie in 2020.

Conor O’Donovan, Managing Director
IWM

Since I started working with Dara I’ve begun to win contracts.  He has improved the quality of my proposals considerably, ensuring that they resonate with the relevant buyers.  His knowledge of the public and private sector procurement markets has made it much easier for me to make good decisions on what and, more importantly, what not to bid for. It’s been money very well spent.

Mary Power, Managing Director
Media365

Business Development Resources