The world of bids and proposals is an all-or-nothing game. There are no prizes for coming second. For that reason, every part of your submission needs to be flawlessly executed, and your team’s resumes are no exception.
Yet, when speaking to bid professionals, we often hear the same thing: "Our existing resume processes pose some challenges, but they're good enough for now." This complacent mindset means they never get to the crux of the issue.
What’s more, settling for "good enough" doesn't result in win rates staying the same, as you might expect. Rather, a passive approach pushes your firm backward as competitors invest in new technology and improve their proposal quality.
In this blog we’ll look at the three key ways outdated resume processes are killing your firm’s success rate, and why inaction is not the answer.
1. Untailored, unpolished resumes ruin credibility
In the competitive proposal landscape, half-baked resumes don’t cut it. Clients demand hyper-personalized documents tailored to their RFP, with dedicated sections that speak directly to their needs. At the same time, they expect professional formatting that meets their requirements.
These sound like the basics, but often resume processes are left to the last minute, and standards are lowered as the deadline looms. The result: generic resumes with typos or inconsistencies. Not only does this reflect poorly on the individuals proposed, but it also raises red flags about your firm's overall level of diligence and attention to detail.
The firms that win these engagements use technology to ensure every aspect of their proposal is personalized to the nth degree while automating formatting elements to ensure a consistent approach.
2. Manual processes = Opportunity costs
If you're solving the challenge above by manually formatting and tailoring resumes, kudos to you for the effort! However, the reality is you're operating at a significant disadvantage. Every minute you spend manually copying, pasting, and reformatting documents takes time from other equally important aspects of the proposal, such as nailing your messaging, refining your pitch deck, etc. And, if you’re like the bid managers we speak to, that’s a lot of minutes!
Perhaps you do manage to pull off this gruelling process every time, working late nights to assemble a well-rounded proposal. In those cases, a different opportunity cost arises. By putting all your eggs in one basket, you’re sacrificing a range of other RFPs. High-potential projects get deferred or completely missed because you simply don't have the resources or time to put forward an effective submission. As a result, your pipeline remains stagnant while more nimble competitors are given a free run.
3. Lack of visibility leads to sub-par staffing
Operating without a centralized resume system also results in a gaping blind spot regarding your firm's capabilities. When staff data is dispersed across disconnected files, you can never truly see the big picture.
This fragmented visibility means: 1) You're never totally confident you've assembled the most qualified team for each proposal, and 2) You lack a comprehensive view of your firm's full skill set, meaning you risk mispositioning your capabilities and leaving opportunities untapped.
Without a single source of truth, you're forced to take stabs in the dark and settle for readily available team members, instead of guaranteeing your best candidates are presented. Can you really trust such critical decisions to chance?
The path forward
We understand bid teams are pushed to the brink, constantly being asked to outperform competitors with limited resources. With so much to do, and so many competing priorities, we can understand why ‘good enough’ processes become the norm.
But make no mistake, inaction is a costly decision in itself. While your competitors steadily sharpen their processes, you're left working twice as hard for increasingly diminished results.
With proposal automation tech, such as Flowcase, you can put an end to bid burn-out and put your firm’s best foot forward, every time.
