Finding your form
so you're fit to win
If you want to build a healthy business through winning the right contracts read on...
How are you performing?
SMEs struggle to win and retain large contracts because their leaders are primarily focused on operational and tactical work. Their beliefs and the lack of a coherent business development strategy lead to underinvestment in people, processes and product development. This results in a stagnating business with an uneven portfolio of contracts.
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...
Developing clear approaches to the complex issues
My name is Dara Lawlor. I’m a business consultant and executive coach. I work with both early-stage and established SMEs who employ a minimum of 20 people. I’m known for helping them build healthy businesses through winning the right contracts and some of them have sold their businesses as a result. My work with the leaders of SMEs involves resourcing them so that they can step away from tactical operations to focus on the strategic work of growing the business. This involves developing them and their teams so that they can build solid foundations to make clear and powerful offers to the market that leads to a vibrant and growing business.
SMEs are the real engine of the economy and the key to a nation’s vitality. They can spring from a garage, the mind of a returning emigrant or indeed that of a newly arrived immigrant. They provide a path, build careers, feed families and develop their surrounding communities.
If they are adequately resourced and supported, their leaders will be able to build the confident, nimble and resilient organisations that our nations need.
I’m a keen sportsman, and the lessons I’ve learned from participating in numerous triathlons inform my approach to supporting my clients so that they are fit to win.
SPECIAL REPORT
Download the PDF Guide
The Keys to the Kingdom
The Keys to the Kingdom is a method for determining whether or not you are on track to winning or retaining a large contract.
Our Business Development Workshops
Boost Your Bids
Boost Your Bids is a programme that develops your peoples’ skillsets so that they can increase their win rates. The work focuses on improving performance across each phase of the commercial cycle.
Words That Win
A lot of business communication is weighed down by complexity and can be difficult to understand. It stalls progress, results in lost opportunities, and causes confusion. Words That Win is a writing workshop that teaches you how to write clearly and with impact.
THE APPROACH
ORBiTAR
The Business Development Performance Cycle
When I work with SME leaders and their business development teams I use this six-phase performance approach:
OUTCOME
What do you want?
REALITY
What’s going on under the hood?
BUILD
Nothing succeeds or endures without solid foundations
TUNE
Each opportunity is different
ACTION
It’s Showtime!
REVIEW
Win, lose or draw, always carry out a review
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.
Here’s a summary of the services on offer for each phase:
OUTCOME
What do you want?
The work in this phase is ideal if:
WHAT'S INVOLVED
Strategy Workshops
These workshops will help you clarify your ambition, what you are going to offer, and the market you want to play in.
REALITY
What’s going on under the hood?
The work in this phase is ideal if:
WHAT'S INVOLVED
Business Development Diagnostic
An assessment of your recent submissions, current proposal processes, materials and team in order to identify any gaps that may exist. Learn more »
BUILD
Nothing succeeds or endures without solid foundations
The work in this phase is ideal if:
WHAT'S INVOLVED
Boost Your Bids
A comprehensive training programme that prepares your business development teams to participate in public and private procurement competitions. Your team will learn about the key processes and tools required. Learn more »
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. Learn more »
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:
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
Contract Renewal Strategy
This involves developing an approach so that you are well-prepared for an upcoming contract renewal and aren’t blindsided by a competitor.
Ongoing Support
Ongoing support and training with key members of your business development team that focus on building influence with your prospect.
ACTION
It’s Showtime!
The work in this phase is ideal if:
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:
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.
Value Proposition Review
A review of how your value proposition is performing in the current marketplace.
