Are you’re preparing to bid on a government contract? If you haven’t bid on a government contract before, and are new to the process involved with government contracting, then you will probably have a number of questions that pertain to proposal creation and pricing.
Have you already completed your government contract proposal? Did you use proposal writing software? There are a number of benefits to using proposal creation software. In general, however, this type of software can assist you with ensuring that all aspects of the proposal are completed and adhere to specific guidelines.
United States Business Statistics
You might be interested to know a few details about United States businesses, sales generation, and other relevant information.
Currently, the United States has 26.5 million businesses. A percentage of these businesses, approximately 5.4 million, actually have employees. Nearly 100%, or 99.7%, have 500 employees or less.
The world of business, as you know, is in constant flux. In 2014, for example, there were less businesses in operation than in 2013. Just 82.9% of these businesses continued to operate.
The Government Contract Proposal Process
What do business statistics signify in terms of creating a government contract proposal? For one, it provides a basis to understand the potential for competition when bidding on government contracts.
Basically, there are two basic steps connected with the request for proposal process (RFP); these are vendor selection and negotiation.
After vendors submit their competitive bids, these are evaluated based on specific pre-defined criteria. The vendors that meet these criteria may be considered for the next step in the process.
During the negotiation phase of the RFP process, both parties discuss the proposal until they have reached a mutual agreement.
There are costs, of course, to preparing a complex proposal. A complex proposal, for example, would be one submitted to a program that required a significant system and product design. The value of this type of program would be, or exceed, tens-of-millions of dollars. The preparation costs would therefore range from one-to-two percent of the value of the contract.
The Sales and Buyer Process
More decision makers are becoming involved in the buying process. As a result, for the past five years, there has been a 22% increase in the duration of the average sales cycle. When surveyed, 69% of sales executives have claimed that the buyer process is accelerating to such a great extent that organizations are unable to keep up with the pace.
In order to connect with a prospect, it usually takes eight cold-call attempts. After this, and in order to close the sale, 80% of these potential sales will take an additional five follow-up calls. This is significant because 44% of sales representatives will not follow up more than once.
While some sales representatives will actively ask and look for referrals, it generally takes ten or more months until a representative meets full-production levels. For those sales representatives that do focus on referrals, they tend to have four-to-five-times more earnings.
When planning to bid on government contracts, it’s essential to have as much information as possible. From government contract pricing to tips for bidding on government contracts, having federal proposal writing software can streamline this process.