Whether he coined the expression or not, ‘the best defense is a good offense’ was made popular by the American boxer and actor, Jack Dempsey.
In a sporting or military context, the adage references how proactively attacking your opponents or enemies is the best way to protect yourself as your opposition will be too occupied defending themselves to stage an attack of their own.
In a business context, the adage explains how a proactive, offensive strategy will enable you to gain an advantage over your competitors.
It’s an approach professional services firms should apply to their business development efforts – particularly when positioning to win a major account or defending an existing client.
Leading professional services firms (and ‘leading’ does not necessarily mean the largest – there are leading firms of every size) don’t wait for an RFT to land before they mobilise their resources. Rather, they start preparing well in advance.
Months ahead of time.
Get on the front foot
What are your competitors doing to gain an advantage over you and position to win the next big opportunity?
- They’re updating their profiles to include the projects or matters their team members have managed for the client, or those that they’ve completed for other clients of a similar nature
- They’re developing detailed case studies in anticipation of them being requested in a forthcoming RFT
- They’re pursuing awards so they have third party recognition and endorsement of the work that they’ve performed for the client or others
- They’re asking for testimonials from clients for which they’ve recently achieved something significant
- They’re mining their HR, practice management, finance and other systems so they have hard data to point to as proof of their achievements
- They’re challenging their data capture capabilities so that when the time comes they will be able to extract evidence to support their claims (it’s staggering how many firms still don’t capture the data they need to be able to respond to questions about local sourcing and investment)
- They’re developing new or updating existing policies and processes to demonstrate that they understand contemporary challenges and risks
- They’re scrutinising other RFTs from the last twelve months to identify recurring themes and ensure they’re not surprised when asked detailed questions about such things as ESG, modern slavery, Indigenous procurement, or how they actually measure their carbon emissions.
There’s no excuse for being caught off guard. If your firm has a major opportunity on the horizon, get on the front foot. The best defence is a good offence.
