Strategic Tendering for Professional Services: Win More, Lose Less

by Matthew Fuller, Tim Nightingale

Overview

WINNER: Business Book Awards 2018 - 'Selling The Dream' category (1st edition)

In an increasingly competitive professional services sector, it is vital that firms have an effective tendering strategy. The advantages gained from winning and retaining clients can be transformative, and the cost of losing key tenders can be catastrophic.

Strategic Tendering for Professional Services provides end-to-end best practice guidance, from the crucial decision of which request-for-proposals to respond to, right through to the all important face-to-face presentation and post-pitch follow-up.

Now in its second edition, this practical book captures insights from both sides of the market through interviews with both proposal professionals and decision makers from the client side. Focusing on key considerations, including the need for diversity and inclusion, providing evidence of global citizenship and how public sector pitching differs from the private sector, this book is packed with features and tools to help professionals turn guidance into practice.

Strategic Tendering for Professional Services is the essential guide to improving your pitches, honing your tendering skills and boosting your win rate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789668445
Publisher:	Kogan Page, Ltd.
Publication date:	03/29/2022
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Matthew Fuller is Head of Business Development, Americas & EMEA at White & Case, based in London, UK. He has led global business development and marketing teams at Allen & Overy and Herbert Smith, and has run training programmes throughout the world advising partners on proposals best practice.

Tim Nightingale is a founding director of Nisus Consulting, providing market research and client insight services to the professional services sector. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a full member of the Market Research Society and a member of the Professional Services Marketing Group (PSMG). He is based in Kent, UK.

Table of Contents

** Chapter - 01: Introduction; ** Chapter - 02: To pitch or not to pitch?; ** Chapter - 03: What does the client want?; ** Chapter - 04: Diversity; ** Chapter - 05: Planning to win; ** Chapter - 06: The procurement predicament; ** Chapter - 07: Smart pricing; ** Chapter - 08: Global citizenship; ** Chapter - 09: Writing success; ** Chapter - 10: Public sector pitching; ** Chapter - 11: Presenting to win; ** Chapter - 12: Following up and post pitch feedback; ** Chapter - 13: Technology and tools; ** Chapter - 14: There has to be a better way

Editorial Reviews

"This is a very well researched and thoughtful guide for all those involved in the purchasing and provision of legal services. The holistic approach taken is market leading in every respect."

Andrew S Garard

"For too long it has been a case of General Counsel on the one side and private practice lawyers pitching or responding to tenders on the other with a whole load of assumptions and miscommunication in between. This book delves deep to answer the questions that don't get asked early enough in the process if at all, and that, if the parties fully understood and aligned on, would make for enduring and fruitful partnerships."

Alexis Alexander

"I can't count now many times lawyers and others have asked me for clear, relevant, practical guidance on their tendering efforts - and here it is. Essential reading for those focused on their businesses, their clients and their own careers. Goes without saying - highly recommended."

Patrick McCann

"This book is a recommended read for all those involved in competitive pitching in professional services and other markets. Its secret is to provide simple and practical guidance on the essential issues, backed and supported with concrete examples from real people in the real world."

Oliver Brettle Partner

"This new edition neatly summarises best practice behaviours, is informative and easy to read, packed with useful tools and tips. I think this it is an invaluable read for anyone wanting to win more work in professional services in 2022 and beyond."

Paul Cripps

"In essence, this book is for partners, directors, associates, BD professionals, those working in-house and anyone working in professional services firms who want to win more pitches or manage the process more time and cost effectively. The first edition was a hit and won an award at the 2018 Business Book Awards. And this second edition brings it bang up to date."

David Morley

"Pitching is a skill. It is an essential skill for a lawyer. This book will improve pitching skills. Frankly, you would be foolish not to read, assimilate and practice the advice it contains."

Consultant and former partner Slaughter and May Nigel Boardman

"Strategic tendering or pitching has never been more important - in fact, it has to be the number one focus for firms and BD professionals who really want to make a difference. A wonderfully insightful book written by authors who really do get it."

David McClune

"This book should be the only port of call for all professionals involved in tendering. Brace yourself for a brave new world in which Matthew Fuller and Tim Nightingale reinvent the 'pitch'. They chart the shift from a traditional approach based on 'FOMO' (fear of missing out) to one based on an investment in strategic relationship building. Their new best practice aligns the needs and interests of those who procure professional services with the capabilities and interests of those who supply them, by creating a shared common goal characterized by four things: strategic thinking, problem solving, trust and the pursuit of excellence."

Simon Slater

"Essential reading for those who want to survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive professional services sector."

Tony Williams

"You may think that your sheer brilliance and reputation in the market - either as a firm or as an individual - wins you work. If you think that, prepare to be destroyed by anyone who has read this book!"

Graham Vinter

"When I started in advertising I was told pitching is to business what taking a driving test is, well, to driving. You first need to learn how to pass the test, then to drive. That was then. Now a client expects you to be born Fangio. This book will, to carry on the internal combustion metaphor, put a tiger in your tank, before your next new business presentation."

Alasdhair MacGregor-Hastie

"This is exactly the book that the market is missing! A very well structured, pragmatic and complete overview of best practices in pitching. Well written by one author, who himself has led many pitches at top tier professional service firms, and by a second who has made his lifework uncovering the key drivers of client satisfaction in professional services firms."

Dean Universityof Amsterdam Business School Professor Marc Salomon

"Improving pitch effectiveness in a professional services firm can benefit from the theory of marginal gains. Small changes can and do have a big impact on win rate. This book is an insightful instruction manual on how to deliver them."

James Stringer

"This is exactly the book that the market is missing! A very well structured, pragmatic and complete overview of best practices in pitching. Well written by one author, who himself has led many pitches at top tier professional service firms, and by a second who has made his lifework uncovering the key drivers of client satisfaction in professional services firms."

Dean University of Amsterdam Business School Professor Marc Salomon