The science of opportunity identification

Much has been written about capture and proposal management. At most companies it is a well-defined, documented and integrated procedure. Likewise, most business development organizations are well acquainted with the Step, Stage or Gate Review processes.What many business developmentorganizations have notdocumented or institutionalizedis an opportunityidentification andqualification process. Asa result, companiesoften struggle to understandwhat it involvesand how to integratecapture management and opportunityidentification processes.Capture management and opportunityidentification are not interchangeableterms. Capture management is based onan opportunity that has already been identified,whereas opportunity identificationdenotes the primary identification andqualification of those opportunities.Capture management concerns the pursuitof opportunities. The opportunityidentification process pertains to selectingthe right opportunities to pursue.Business development organizationsthat work with clients to solidify relationshipsand shape prospects for more thana year produce win rates that exceed75 percent. Companies focused on short-term,opportunities, with less than a yearof client interaction and intelligence-gathering,experience a win rate of lessthan 15 percent.Opportunity identification involvesearly intelligence gathering to avoid pooropportunities and substantiate the selectionof opportunities with valid data. Inthat way, the business development teamis driven to find the best opportunities.Once identified and validated, it's the captureteam's job to ensure that these opportunitiesare won.Intelligence is critical to both processes.Good intelligence plays a significant rolein disqualifying low probability opportunitiesearly. It's this same valid intelligence,gathered during the opportunity identificationphase, which then feeds the captureprocess and helps craft a winning offer.Capture and proposal management is acostly endeavor.Weak, flawed ormissing intelligenceon the front enddrains bid and proposalfunds if notlinked to a processthat uncovers andpresents high probability opportunities topursue.This front-end process must drive thestandard, since the capture manager mustrely on the information gathered duringthis stage to make an informed businessdecision about the risk profile of theopportunity and balance it with the winpercentage. Lack of intelligence leads topoor business decisions, frequently basedon gut feelings and not on customerexpectations or input.Many capture managers lack experiencein asking the hard questions early to disqualifya lead. Unfortunately, only muchlater do they conclude there's little chanceof winning the bid. By then, they've ofteninvested too much capital to make thehard decision to cut their losses and walkaway from the project.Obtaining better intelligence on thefront end, which in turn drives the captureprocess, is the solution. Writing a first-rateproposal is no match for submitting onethat actually addresses the problem. Andthe only way to understand the problem isto develop a relationship anchored on confidenceand trust before the request forproposals is ever released.It just makes sense for contractors tobalance their bid and proposal funds withquality intelligence, especially in an era ofdwindling opportunities and increasedcompetition. Early teaming among yourbusiness development and capture managementprofessionals,togetherwith subject-matterexperts using astructured opportunityidentificationand qualificationprocess,results in a winning outcome and an enviablereturn on time, talent and budgetresources.