Your Proposal Didn't Win? Make Sure You Get Something From Losing
You've just been turned down for a big project you've been trying to land and your ego is bruised, your confidence shattered, and you're feeling pretty low. Don't worry though, there's still hope left in this world because hopefully some day you may be able to win a similar type of job. But until then, it's time to take the rejection as hard as possible and figure out what went wrong so that you can do better next time around.
When the opportunity is gone, the only thing you can do is analyze your proposal and figure out what went wrong. Sometimes it was an elegant presentation, sometimes it was a superior design, sometimes it was a more aggressive sales pitch and sometimes it was good old-fashioned networking. The real battle starts once your proposal has been rejected and there's no more real-time feedback. You're in all by yourself now, trying to figure out what went wrong and how to overcome the next time around.
You broke this rule if: You didn't get any feedback
Whenever I turn down a proposal, I make sure to always give some form of feedback on it. You don't have to be nice about the feedback, but you should be honest. Why? Because it helps the other party develop and grow, which in turn keeps them from kissing your ass? No. It's just good karma man…
I can remember a time when I had a proposal shot down from someone. I believe that I nailed the requirements with my work and that my price was fair, so why did they say no? I had to find out what was going on behind the scenes so I contacted everyone who had submitted a proposal for it, including those who won and those who lost. I found out that this was a huge sales pitch for the business in question and that they wanted to give the sales person an opportunity to close a sale. I discovered that this is one of those special times where you want to be able to make your own luck. If you fail, at least you know what went wrong so that you don't repeat it next time.
You broke this rule if: No one else submitted a proposal for the job
Twice in my career someone has left me messages saying they had submitted a proposal but didn't have any luck getting it picked up. In one case, the reason it didn't get picked up was because they didn't spell the name of the company right and in another case, they forgot to include a breakdown of costs. I guess that's why I'm here: to tell you that without a proposal, there is no job. Even if you're in contention for the job, it doesn't matter if you don't have a proposal. If you don't have an actual physical copy of your work on their desk, it never happened .
You broke this rule if: You don't know who else submitted a proposal for the job
Since you've already lost, the next thing to do is to find out who else is in contention or maybe even on the verge of being in contention for the job. It's very unlikely that you'll have two great proposals sent to one organization within 24 hours of each other from different people, but it's very possible. I always like to wait 72 hours before asking for feedback because if you beg too much, they may think you're trying too hard and want nothing more to do with your company. The more poised, professional way of doing things is to wait one day and contact the people who submitted a proposal for the job. I always like to try and give 60 percent of the credit to whoever submitted it, because if they didn't have a good proposal, then it means that your work was great and that you'll be able to get the job done much easier (even if it's just working with them).
You broke this rule if: You didn't sell yourself enough
You broke this rule if: Your price was too high or too low
This is probably the most simple rule of all regarding job proposals. If your price is too high or too low, you're going to be turned down before you've even started. In the event that you have a really great proposal and a really good price, you can get away with a lower price. If your price is too high, it means that there's no room for negotiation or discussion and if your price is too low it means you're going to be underbid. You also have to decide whether or not to play hardball in this situation. Sometimes the best thing to do is give an outrageous price and they'll come back with something more favorable. In this case, you've still got the upper hand because all they can do is reject the offer and not work with you at all. If you're the only one who's submitted a proposal, this method can be used. If you've got competition, then I'd stay away from it.
You broke this rule if: Your proposal wasn't perfect
Sometimes it's just not your day and sometimes no matter how hard you work at something, it just isn't going to go your way. This is where you need to make sure that your proposal shines because if it doesn't, there's really nothing more that you can do to save the day. Don't leave anything out in terms of your presentation; everything should be as good as possible.
Conclusion
The winning proposal is like the key to a relationship between you and the client: if they don't trust you, they aren't going to work with you. Before your proposal is all set up, make sure that you're willing to work as hard as it takes in order to get to where you want.
If your proposal is a piece of crap, it's time for some soul searching and some deep thinking about what went wrong and how to fix it. Just remember, when someone says no, there isn't usually any other option…or is there? You can always try selling yourself on why they should say yes.