Pursuit Strategy - How to Make an Informed Go/No-Go Decision

By Maria Marzoeki, FSMPS, CPSM

How many times in the past couple of years has your team elected to respond to a solicitation issued by a client you either didn’t know or hadn’t spoken with? This is all too familiar for many marketers.

Committing valuable time of the technical team and marketing staff to a pursuit like this can constitute a waste of time as other consultants may have already spoken with the client about the project or have developed a strong relationship with them. Submitting a document that is either non-responsive or weak is a misuse of the client's time and branding your firm as a non-responsive timewaster is probably not the first impression you want to make with a prospective client.

Your team should always keep in mind that, while it is feasible that every solicitation is an opportunity for some firm… not every solicitation is an opportunity for your firm. When your team is truly serious about pursuing a pursuit or a pop-up, a few basic questions should always be asked to figure out what you know and what you don’t know about a pursuit. The answers to these questions can provide you with much needed insight on whether to further the pursuit or not. 

 Some of the questions I’ve asked in the past have included:

 –   Do we have a relationship with this client? If not, how do we overcome someone who does?

–   Has the firm done this type of work before? If so, what was the outcome of that project?

–   Did we know about the solicitation and project before it was released? If not, how do we write a compelling proposal?

–   Have we spoken to the client? What was the outcome of that conversation?

–   If we haven’t spoken to the client, what strategy do we have to win the project?

–   Is there adequate budget to complete the project and be profitable? If not, is there a strategic reason to pursue it?

When doing your go/no-go, look at it as doing a “gap analysis” in what you know and what you don’t know about the project and client. Be honest about your go/no-go answers and remember, the purpose of doing a stringent go/no-go is to figure out if the pursuit is really worth your time and effort and helps you make an informed decision.

Instead of pursuing a pop-up project, a better approach is to wait until the selection is made, visit the client to start a relationship, and speak with them about what your firm does best. If asked why you didn’t submit on the previous solicitation, communicate that because you didn’t speak with them about this project before the solicitation was out, you didn't feel you knew enough about it to submit a comprehensive proposal. The client should appreciate your honesty here.

So, for your next pop-up, what will your team’s answer be?