Company: Strategic Proposals, London, UK
Company Description: Since 1999, Strategic Proposals has helped organisations win new work and retain existing contracts by helping to create winning proposals, pitches and sales collateral. Proposals are key to winning and retaining business. As the UK’s leading proposal management specialists, we’ve helped clients in nearly 40 countries to win major deals and to radically improve sales.
Nomination Category: Thought Leadership Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Integration of Thought Leadership into the Sales Process
 Nomination Title: Strategic Proposals thought leadership - woven into everything we do.
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the thought leadership achievements since July 1, 2020 of the nominated organization, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
- Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 197 words used.
Strategic Proposals helps organisations win new work and retain existing contracts by helping to create winning proposals, pitches and sales collateral. Proposals are key to winning and retaining business. As the UK’s leading proposal management specialists, we’ve helped clients in nearly 40 countries to win major deals and to radically improve sales.
Our team of amazing proposal managers, writers and designers are thought leaders in their field. We’re agile, dynamic, friendly but most of all, really good. We only employ experienced proposal experts – for example our 24 APMP-certified consultants in the UK have an average of over 15 years experience.
Proven expertise and experience didn’t happen overnight or by accident. Since 1987 we’ve been at the forefront of evolving best practices and thought leadership in the bid, proposal and sales profession. And we continue to define its future direction.
We’re fiercely competitive, and passionate about winning, while being extremely collaborative - often working alongside internal bid specialists. The business delivers tangible results for our clients. Since the start of 2021, the SP UK team has helped clients to win £6.8bn of business, with a capture rate of 92%. Thought leadership is inherent to our success.
- Outline the organization's thought leadership achievements since July 1 2020 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 240 words used.
Since the beginning of July 2020, we have shared our expertise and thought leadership widely. From research, papers, webinars and presentations, to activities like our UK “Rising Stars” programme, providing free training and development for 25 of the brightest younger / newer people in our profession.
During this time, we’ve designed and introduced a two-day course for APMP Capture Practitioner qualification, focusing on all the critical elements that happen throughout a bid, especially in the early formative stages. We’re leading the development of the soon-to-be launched Writing Certification with the APMP – quality writing is fundamental to the business development lifecycle.
We publish regular webinars in partnership with leading sales consultants and since July 2020 have recorded and published 15 of these. We provide the only training material on bidding in the institute of Sales Management / Professionals Learning Management System, available free.
During 2021 we developed and launched “My Proposal Coach” which allows bid/proposal/sales specialists to assess their skills and experience in a detailed, structured training needs analysis model. It generates a tailored, personalised report recommending development opportunities.
Our free online Proposal Benchmarker tool allows organisations to objectively assess their capabilities, recommending opportunities for improvement. In turn, that leads to primary research reports such as our recent “How to win – 2022” webinar and white paper.
We run an annual free “Spring Webinar Series” sharing our latest ideas, trends and advice. It has been attended by 854 people since July 2020.
- Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the team's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 215 words used.
There are numerous excellent consultancies in our profession. We pride ourselves on the successes we help our clients to achieve, their kind feedback, and our tangible contribution to the profession:
- More APMP Fellows (4) than any other UK organisation
- More APMP staff (4) who’ve served as UK CEO than any other organisation
- More APMP certification classes and passes than any other UK organisation (27 classes covering 353 candidates in the past year) – helping to grow APMP UK membership
- More Fellows (5) of the Institute of Sales Professionals than any other UK bid / proposal organisation.
- Large social media following: [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]
- We have over 4,000 on our company LinkedIn account – [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]
- The interest in the activities we undertake to “give back” to the profession – such as our Rising Stars programme and Spring Webinar Series.
To give just one client quote:
We view SP as market leaders in the crowded proposal market. The quality of their work for us is always outstanding. And their experience and research means that we can rely on them to bring real insights and thought leadership.
Head of Strategic Bids - Professional Services
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 156 words used.
We’ve generated 116 detailed reports since June 2020 for companies who’ve used our ‘Proposal Benchmarker’ tool that’s designed to test capability to develop compelling proposals and gives practical advice on improvements to ultimately win more business. This demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that organisations can win more sales – and more efficiently and successfully.
As a result of one of our cent benchmarking projects, a major organisation has reported a win rate increase from 26% in mid-2021 to over 60% now.
Last month a client in financial services commented “the document you supported really shows what we have to offer our potential new customers, and the tone, the content and the format really helps put that across”.
Attached are 4 url's:
1. A video with a little bit more about us
2. Our free resources, sharing thought leadership (on our website)
3. Sharing thought leadership - a link to our LinkedIn page
4. Some client testimonials
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