What is your proposal success rate? If you are a partner in law, accounting, an engineering firm, or any practice that involves selling intellectual property, tracking your proposal success rate is critical. You can use a simple formula. The number of winning proposals divided by the total number of proposals submitted in a given period – weekly, monthly, or annually. The leading experts have more than 90% proposal success rate. Writing a proposal is an investment. It costs time, money, and imagination. You don’t want to send a proposal to every small opportunity that you here about. You don’t want…
Want to be an effective CEO? Don’t let people wait at the reception…
When I was working in a bank way back in 2002, I often made people wanting to meet me wait for hours at the reception as I completed my desk tasks or internal meetings. After twenty or so minutes, I would come to meet them. Of course I would find them so bored and unhappy about the mistreatment for the long wait. Those close to me would advise me never to keep them waiting again. Others would just get to business. Fast forward to today, people are poor time keepers. And it is so annoying. If you are a CEO…
Who are you?
Your biggest obstacle to growth is poor mindset. This morning, a top executive came to my office and said “Mustapha I looked at your proposal, and I thought maybe we find a better way of doing this assignment. I like your value offering and methodology, but your fee is a lot. I am suggesting, we have an internal staff to work with you so that they will do all your field work under your guidance. This will help us work with you within our budget that is 60% less what you proposed. What do you think?” This executive is brilliant.…
Specialize and die
Developing economies cannot reward specialization. Majority of buyers are less exposed or traveled and do not yet understand what good looks like. They cannot easily tell the difference between exceptional service and average service. They don’t focus on value delivery. They focus on the cost since they need any service. In markets where clients want a kickback and just any output, there is no reward for specialization. Such a market is anti-experts. When you specialize, you stick to a particular field and seek to be the best by studying and applying all the principles. You spend over 90%…
Do you deserve a seat on the table?
I hope you had a fantastic Easter holiday. Me too. Today, just like I keep telling you, I want you to remember that life is about making choices – of what you do and what you will not do. Successful people make the right choices at the right time which others fail. Consider an investment example, when Umeme announced their initial public offering (IPO), those who made the right decision to buy shares made a fortune. Also, Uganda Clays share price once peaked, and then fell flat. Those who decided to sell at the right time, made a killing. Every…