Know your Numbers! Three Key Steps to Having the Information You Need

It’s always the most dramatic moment in a pitch on Shark Tank. The entrepreneur has done a great job talking about his revolutionary new product and how it will take the world by storm. Then one of the business heavyweights asks the critical question: “What are your numbers?” <Crickets.>

During the second episode of season 16 of BBC’s Dragons’ Den, an entrepreneur came in looking for an investment in his high-end coffee business. Despite only having £11,000 in total sales the year before, he valued his company at £1,000,000! The investors were completely uninterested in someone without the basic sense to know his company’s worth.

On a season one episode of CNBC’s The Profit, Marcus Lemonis looked to invest in Planet Popcorn, a cash-based concessions business that ran operations at multiple venues, including county fairs and Downtown Disney in Anaheim. When it came time to go over the books, there was a discrepancy of over $300,000 in the previous year’s accounting. The owner had no answer in how that much money was missing from the bottom line, and this lack of knowledge concerning her finances was a critical reason Lemonis pulled out of the deal.

In short, knowing your company’s actual numbers is critical to success in business reality television. In proposal development, we face a similar dilemma. Instead of just information about finances, we must have key points and metrics that support the assertions we make in our proposal. How can we identify these critical pieces of information, make them readily accessible to our proposal teams, and write them clearly in a way that resonates with the reader? In this blog post, I provide three steps for you to take to make sure you know your numbers and use them effectively.

step one: learn your numbers

Every organization has the projects they are most proud of, the ones they continually cite on sales calls or in proposals. They are the crown jewels of the company. Everyone knows the basics of the project by heart.

However, to be successful in proposals, we need to dig deeper in two ways. First, we need to make sure we find quantitative evidence for each and every proof point and success on those critical projects. For example, a software developer might tout that its new tool helps “significantly cut” the time for an individual to execute a task. However, the vagary significantly undermines the effectiveness of the statement. Different people would define “significantly cut” differently. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the proposal team to work with the operations organization to identify the real metrics behind such vague statements.

Secondly, there are usually great projects being performed within a company that few people know about. It might be a small project, or one with a second-tier client, or simply something people have not heard about. However, you can often get great metrics and performance data from these overlooked projects. Proposal teams should work with the operations side to best identify these hidden gems, write up basic descriptions, and define key benefits in as much quantifiable detail as possible.

step two: store your numbers

You have identified and quantified all the good work your firm does across a wide range of contracts and projects. Now, what to do with this information? It does no good to your team, and your proposals, if that key data is not somewhere easily accessible. You cannot use this data if you cannot find it. If you do not use it then gathering it was simply a waste of time and effort.

First, identify a central location where you can keep this critical information. Most organizations have a central repository tool (SharePoint, Google Drive, Dropbox) where teams can store and access information. If your company does not have such a set-up, look to set one up yourself. There are several free options out there that your team can use.

Second, come up with a way to organize the data. This step depends on the type of information. Some metrics and approaches are better kept in a spreadsheet. Some should be written as narrative. Others might be best presented in a database. Whatever approach works for the type of information you have, use.

Third, get the information into the right format. We are all extremely busy. However, this is a case where spending a little bit of time up front can save a significant amount of time later. By having this information in a central location, your team will no longer need to hunt around for it. It will allow them to focus on developing content instead of finding the proof points to back it up.

Finally, keep the information updated. Your main project points should be updated no less than semi-annually, and preferably quarterly. If you are a products company, you should be getting key information with every major release. This is a great opportunity to work with senior leadership in your company’s operations side of the house. By making delivery of that information a part of operations’ regularly reporting to corporate leadership, you can ensure you get up-to-date and accurate information.

step three: write your numbers

Now that you know where to find your critical metrics, how do you incorporate it into your proposals? There are two main ways in which we can use project metrics in our proposals. The first, and most obvious, is in our past performance/corporate experience write-ups. In these proposal sections, adding in metrics helps give depth and character to your narrative. It also enhances the relevance of the citation in size, scope, and complexity (which are the three most common criteria in Federal Government proposals). Therefore, your write-ups should be flavored liberally with quantifiable facts and figures to ensure the evaluator has a clear, thorough understanding of the work performed.

Secondly, our proposal narratives are often enhanced through a well-placed, well-defined proof point. In our technical and management approaches, we write to how we will do the work. Quality substantiation, as I discussed in a previous blog post, helps reinforce our capabilities and proof. When using metrics in these sections, I often find a callout box to be the best medium to convey the information. The call-out box allows the information to stand apart from the narrative. It also stands out in the text, drawing the evaluator’s eye first. When you have proven you have successfully implemented a similar approach, with clear numbers to back up the assertions, the actual approach you articulate now seems more reasonable and less risky than it otherwise would.

conclusion

When under the bright lights of the Tank, many an entrepreneur has frozen and forgotten their numbers. When they do, they don’t give the eager sharks the chum to keep them interested in a deal. In our proposals, we can often face a similar dilemma. When we fail to add quantitative facts to our write-ups, we can lose our evaluators and make our past achievements seem vague and uninteresting. Identifying, storing, and properly incorporating key numbers helps make better, more successful proposal efforts.