Professional Services Insights: How to Get Executive Buy-in for Proposal Management Software
Proposal Management
Apr 19, 2024
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an excessive amount of challenges especially in the supply chain and business market. However, in 2021, the economy started to bounce back, causing business requests and revenue opportunities to pour in for many companies.
To better understand how companies are navigating this surge in new business opportunities, we at QorusDocs, interviewed a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the proposal management arena, an often-overlooked, high-stakes area of operations.
As a result of these conversations, we created a report, Not Your Average Benchmark survey, that found the deal velocity for companies is up a median of 50%. Additionally, enterprises reported seeing a median improvement of 59% for business win rates this year.
Although this influx in request for proposals (RFPs) and sales proposals have led to new business opportunities, it has also created a number of new complications for business and proposal development teams. Our latest report highlights RFP development trends and findings for companies to think more about as we head into 2022 including lost revenue opportunities, automated benefits, and collaboration considerations.
For B2B enterprises looking to enhance their proposal response processes and gain an edge over the competition, this new data offers valuable insights into the effectiveness of proposal management software and how it elevated companies in 2021, leading to increased revenue and new business opportunities.
Proposal management supported companies’ stream of RFPs
This past year, companies’ growth was significantly obstructed due to the pandemic’s impact on profits, revenue opportunities, and overall business operations. However, 2021 saw the economy bounce back, resulting in more sales and business opportunities for enterprises.
Participants in the QorusDocs survey saw a notable rise in RFPs this past year as the economy recuperated. Sixty-four percent of survey respondents reported an increase in the volume of RFPs received in 2021, compared to 2020, with most experiencing around 30% more requests. Additionally, 64% of companies using proposal management software reported seeing an increase in business win rates in 2021 over last year.
In the U.S., 2021 brought an unprecedented stream of revenue due to the uptick in business requests. In Q2, corporate profits in the U.S. alone jumped a staggering 9.7% to a record high of $2.42 trillion, following a 4.5% rise in the previous period.
For businesses utilizing proposal management software this past year, they were able to manage revenue and complete time-sensitive RFPs in a personalized, streamlined fashion. The automated software enables customers to improve the efficiency and quality of proposals, ultimately supporting an increase in win rates and more revenue-generating opportunities.
As a result, businesses using proposal management software reported a higher share of revenue coming from new business than those not using automated software (51% vs. 39%). In support of this, companies using automated software were significantly more likely to see an increase in overall RFP requests compared to companies not using the software (71% vs. 53%).
Proposal management software facilitates efficiency
For business and proposal teams, it takes almost 7 days to complete just one RFP document they receive, while working on an average of 20 responses each month. However, due to time constraints, lack of collaboration, and various other factors, some teams are unable to respond to and complete every inbound RFP they receive. In fact, a median of 20% of RFPs are left incomplete by businesses each year, resulting in a median revenue loss of $725,000.
Some companies reported even higher losses due to incomplete RFPs this year. For tech companies, their median annual losses amounted to a whopping $813,000. Meanwhile, 37% of businesses estimated revenue losses of more than $1 million while 9% saw median losses of more than $10 million in annual revenue.
However, enterprises using proposal management software were able to complete a higher volume of quality, personalized RFPs and secure more business opportunities in 2021. Seventy-two percent of companies utilizing automated proposal tools saw a positive increase in deal velocity. In fact, 54% of businesses were able to process a great volume of RFP responses overall.
Proposal management software brings efficiency to the RFP development process which helped companies decrease the amount of time spent building responses to proposals by a staggering 53%. In addition to this, 85% of companies using automated proposal software reported having access to the tools needed to effectively respond to proposals and cater to each request with greater detail and personalized information.
How will proposal management software support future work models?
According to new industry research, the number of remote workers is expected to nearly double over the next five years, with an estimated 36.2 million Americans working remotely by 2025. As a result of this shift to remote work models, the need for tools that support seamless collaboration and communication for teams are becoming even more essential.
Our Not Your Average Benchmark study found that approximately 28 employees within an enterprise are involved in responding to RFx requests. However, without an efficient way to collaborate and complete proposals, the response process can become a slow and complicated effort that can result in both miscommunication and operational bottlenecks.
Proposal management software, however, streamlines the RFx process and implements operations that facilitate both collaboration and communication. As a result, employees can efficiently complete high-level proposals, no matter where in the world they may be located.
Companies using proposal management software reported that collaboration on RFPs improved by a staggering 56% this year. Meanwhile, 85% of businesses agreed that implementing automated proposal software made it easier to collaborate on requests.
Along with this, 83% of enterprises reported that their internal RFP response process became clearer and more straightforward since incorporating proposal management software into their daily operations.
The increasing demands for proposal management
The global proposal management software market is rapidly expanding due to the growing shift to cloud-based technologies, the integration of artificial intelligence-enabled tools, and the software’s effectiveness in increasing win rates for many businesses. As a result, the global proposal management software market is expected to grow from $1.5 billion in 2019 to $3.1 billion by 2024.
As seen this past year, companies that implement proposal management software into their business operations have experienced numerous benefits including the ability to efficiently build personalized and targeted RFx responses, leading to a greater volume of completed requests, an increase in deal velocity and revenue, and growth in business win rates.
As the economy continues to recuperate post-pandemic, proposal management is an essential tool for companies if they want to keep up with the increase in RFPs, edge out competition, secure more business win rates, and continue to expand and develop their successful businesses in the future.
Check out the full QorusDocs Not Your Average Benchmark Study: RFP Statistics to Watch in 2021 to Boost Win Rates to gain a better understanding of the current RFP landscape and how you can refine your response process accordingly, for maximum revenue-generating potential.
