How to Harness The Power Of Analytics For Measuring Proposal Automation Success

In this four-part series, we have been looking at the ability of proposal automation to generate powerful, personalised, automated proposals. We have shown how we can encourage sales reps to be better proposals writers without them even knowing it!

But, as proposal professionals, how can we measure the organisational impact of proposal automation? What data points can we capture beyond win rate and revenue or proposal throughput and content downloads? And what can we do to translate this data into meaningful information and actionable intelligence?

I presented How to Automate Proposals and Influence People at the APMP's 13th Annual UK Conference with Darrell Woodward, and received excellent feedback from our audience. During the session, we highlighted the role that reporting and analytics plays in the continued relevance of a successful proposal automation implementation – considering what to measure, why, and striking a balance between strategic and tactical metrics.

In Part 4 of our series, we look at the impact of proposal automation as a valuable new stream of business intelligence for measuring proposal success and helping to inform corporate and field marketing strategies. Here are a few of the key elements that we believe are critical to success.

Considering what to measure, and why

The “if you can't measure it, you can't manage it” maxim is often attributed to Peter Drucker – the inventor of modern management. It is a simple, powerful principle that is easily overlooked in the clamour for more tangible deliverables from a proposal automation implementation.

If you can't measure it, you can't manage it - Peter Drucker

In this vein, be sure to define a set of project objectives that firmly reflect your firm’s organisational goals: for you, your team, your SMEs, the user community and your sponsors. Identify what to measure, in a quantifiable way, to set meaningful targets and deliver actionable business intelligence back into the firm at an appropriate reporting cadence.

Delivering business intelligence to validate strategy

Our approach to proposal automation – combining boilerplate, blended and bespoke messaging – enabled us to derive a valuable new stream of business intelligence that helps refine the messaging, measure success and influence sales behaviour. This includes tactical reporting on sales messaging usage and opportunity throughput, as well as strategic reporting on the pitching behaviour of sales colleagues, and marketing campaign metrics. Delivering this information back into the business helps to reinforce corporate go-to-market strategy and wins the proposal centre a position of influence in the development of future initiatives.

Striking a balance between strategic and tactical metrics

One example of a tactical metric we use is content usage. For example, retiring content due to low consumption helps to control the maintenance burden on the knowledge management team, while providing Subject Matter Experts with feedback around high usage of their content strengthens their support for your programme – tie that usage data to your SMEs experiencing fewer RFP "fire drills" – and you have an instant proposal automation advocate!

Striking a balance between strategic, tactical, and operational metrics is vital for delivering meaningful new streams of management information to all stakeholders

You can further extend the influence and power of proposal automation by providing strategic reports to business leaders that helps them better understand the messaging being delivered to customers. For example, what trends are we seeing in positioning specific products or services in certain sales geographies that we should amplify across the firm, or need to adjust? And how are our sales colleagues following up their proposals with a proactive "call to action" – telephone call vs. proposal review meeting vs. client workshop?

In summary: How to Harness The Power Of Analytics For Measuring Proposal Automation Success

• Identify early what to measure, in a quantifiable way, to create a new stream of valuable business intelligence.

• Provide a wider range of more detailed reports by employing a modular, deeply granular approach to content development.

• Strike a balance between tactical and strategic reporting metrics to maximise impact in the field and at corporate.