Trident Proposal Management

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of sales operations at Envistacom. I have a team of five people chasing opportunities in the federal government as well as a sales operations team comprised of sales engineers. The proposal team is mostly comprised of the folks that do the pricing and the folks that do the written portions of the proposals, proposal managers and the capture team.

What challenge were you trying to address with Trident Proposal Management?

Federal government business through proposals is very cyclical. We can try to right-size our team for a feast or famine, but either way, we’re going to end up with a shortage or surplus of people. We had resources that we’d bring on board when we had periods of excessive proposals. They were there working with our team during the lower-activity periods to be ready for the faster-paced ones.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started augmenting by doing exercises like compliance assessments. The first thing we did was to make sure that every proposal went by a second set of eyes. Trident looked at our product and made independent reviews before it went out the door. We basically started by getting to know the team we were working with.

After that, we migrated to working with the people on the proposal management itself. We brought in 2–3 people for the proposal manager role, so they actually ran the proposals for us.

We were short on proposal managers and writers, so the next logical step was to solicit Trident’s writers in our proposals.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a broad group of 6–8 people, which varied based on the volume and type of work we were doing.

For example, we got into a pace where we had to do major proposals. Given how they're organized, Trident has people working in every time zone, including Europe and Japan. That allowed us to work around the clock.

There were go-to people on their team, whom we’d developed a good rapport with. There were some efficiencies gained by using the same people repeatedly.

There was always interaction with Jeff (President) and Travis (COO). We had check-ins with them, and they always asked for feedback when we made steering corrections. They proactively called us to see how things were going, and that made their work product that much better.

How did you come to work with Trident Proposal Management?

The problem of elasticity in the proposal team is not uncommon with our partners. I was talking to someone from an organization that’s typically known for being lean, outsourcing most of its work. After asking about how they handle proposal management, he directed me to Jeff.

I was in the Naval Academy with Jeff, in the same class, but we hadn’t spoken in 30 years. We had a common background, so we clicked. I told him about my challenge, and we started outsourcing initial reviews to his team.

How much have you invested with them?

The total across our engagements is north of $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Trident in June 2018. We still have a contract with them, but we’re not using it as heavily as we were in 2018 and 2019. Some of our business has been impacted by COVID-19, but we still engage Trident for sporadic reviews of critical proposals.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We have an internal CRM, and we’re very analytical through that platform. One of the reasons we opted for third-party reviews is that we’d gone through a rash of non-compliances and/or mistakes in our work that cost us business. We had 3–4 critical failures within one fiscal period. We basically reduced that to zero with their help.

Our previous metrics for PWIN (probability to win) were 80–85% win, meaning that we were winning seven out of every eight proposals we put out there. We were able to sustain that PWIN. If anything, we improved our performance, because we went to zero deficiencies on compliance as well. Trident’s work helped us improve our quality of work and sustain the probability to win.

How did Trident Proposal Management perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s easy to work with them. Through our common military backgrounds, both our teams were trained to of being clear, proactive, and decisive. They communicate at all the right times and managed the team smoothly. Trident has cotton-lining handling; they've never been too familiar or abrasive in their work with us.

Our internal team now uses a few of Trident’s communication tools, including one similar to Slack. They use technologies that allow us to be on the same page with projects. I’m definitely happy with Trident’s communication and performance.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The proposal management world is very mechanical and regimented. While Trident has that discipline, they’ve been smart about identifying from the method and ingredients for crafting any given proposal. If we have to do 10 things, each with a list of subtasks, Trident will quickly understand those subtasks, and we can then spend our time on the things that make a difference through our core processes. What sets Trident apart is their focus on doing meaningful work, rather than busywork.

They’re a young company in spirit, but most of the people there are seasoned in the industry. Trident is a good combination of having the right attitude, spirit, and price. Jeff’s team jelled well with mine. I’ve tried other companies, but none have been as good as his.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We can jump the gun sometimes. Trident wasn’t overly aggressive, but they sometimes moved too quickly in some areas without fully understanding the industry. The good news is that we have time to make corrections when people move quickly. They were always quick to learn from this, too.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to have a clear statement of work. Especially in industries like ours, we need to agree on a shared set of terms to use.