Snogging for work

Talking to a colleague about the best techniques for winning business we strayed into the merits of snogging for business. Now before you start thinking this is a way of spicing up my blog, I'm talking about metaphorical snogging not the physical type.

It's true to need to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince. I've done a bit of that recently by labouring over the dreaded RFP - request for proposals in English - favoured by public bodies that have to be seen to be fair and accountable. These RFPs take an age to read (just imagine the level of Government gobbledegook there is) and when you think you've understood what they want you start to interpret it and put together the world's most fantastic solution to their problem that they are bound to leap at buying from you. Yeah right!

Let's just say you need to be selective about responding to RFPs. They so rarely deliver the rewards that the glitz of their paperwork suggests. Even when you might win the business those curly clauses in the contract always provide for them to back track and scale down the project till profitibility starts to seem away.

I'm pleased to say that I kissed a prince this week. It was a word of mouth referral to the company for leadership coaching for the top tier of a major professional services firm. How cool is that! And not an RFP in sight. Just simple clear request - one page proposal - a quick smackaroo on the cheek - and we're in business.

If only winning business was that simple all the time!