pQA

How PQA WILL HELP YOUR BUSINESS WIN BUSINESS  

Paul Amit is the founder of PQA Consulting.

Paul works with professional service firms and high growth companies to help them capture new business opportunities within a competitive pitch, bid or tender process.

A seasoned and strategic marketing and business development professional, Paul has led teams at prominent international law, accountancy, consulting and real estate firms to build brand and drive growth.

His driving passion is pitch and bid. For more than two decades he has worked with bid leads and their teams to focus minds on effective win strategies; and to execute a successful plan of action throughout the bid campaign.

The circumstance of each bid is unique. Paul will discuss with you up front how his services can be deployed to best meet your organisation’s needs.

Increase your win rate – what PQA Consulting brings to the table

Paul holds a deep working knowledge across all stages of the bid cycle, having worked with partners and their teams to develop effective win strategies, compelling proposals, and impactful presentations on more than 30 major bids (£2m+ contract value), over 20 years. Paul will bring to bear:

  • Paul will work with your team to reveal the target client's critical business challenges (beyond what is written in the formal Request for Proposal / RFP documentation), position your solution in a compelling manner, and better understand and respond to the competitor landscape.

  • Drawing on a wide-ranging background, having lived and worked in three continents, Paul will engage with your team to act as the 'eye of the buyer' - providing constructive challenges through all stages of the bid, to build a winning proposition.

  • A bid is a moment in time. Taking the right actions leading up to it, and following the submitted proposal, is critical to improving win rate. Paul will use his deep knowledge of the business development cycle to enable you pull the right levers, at the right time.

Our Services 

Bid campaign - end to end  

PQA Consulting will work with you across all stages of an individual bid, towards successfully capturing the opportunity. For each stage we will deploy a clear methodology, drawing on industry best practice, but adapted to be most effective for your organisation.

Bid campaign - Select Stage/s

On an individual bid, should you require support on select stages of the end-to-end campaign, that's fine as well. We will discuss the model that works best for you and your organisation.  

Bid campaign - end to end Stages

  • Prior to the issuance of the bid / RFP documentation itself, helping build and strengthen the right relationships with the target client, and consistently position your firm in the best light.

  • Helping you most effectively reach a decision whether, on the round, you would like to bid. This is where we assess win likelihood, and indeed, even if you are well positioned to win, would you still like to proceed, considering factors such as anticipated commercial terms, and reputational alignment.

  • Setting the North Star of the bid campaign. Consolidating multiple factors to emerge with a clear picture of a differentiated offering to the target client.

  • Helping you determine 'who does what when' to ensure the right investment of energy and focus on the aspects of the bid which count most.

  • Working with your team across the bid response documents to ensure the content is clear, consistent and compelling. PQA can be active at this stage in the way which best suits your needs, for example: storyboarding certain elements (such as the executive summary); copywriting content; authoring select sections; and facilitating a Red Team (internal) review of the proposal prior to submission.

  • This refers to the oral presentation stage. PQA will work with your team in building a distinctive and impactful pitch, and will facilitate rehearsals. PQA can coach individual team members 1:1 as part of this stage.

  • A critical aspect of the campaign, this captures candid feedback on those aspects of the bid which resonated most with the target client, and those which did not quite hit the mark, to help improve performance. PQA can conduct debriefs independently, or with one of your team.

Bid Benchmark- best in class

PQA Consulting will conduct a benchmarking exercise, allowing you to quickly identify aspects of bidding within your organisation which can benefit from a change or refinement, and make pragmatic recommendations to improve your overall bid approach and win rate.

Typically the benchmark exercise takes around five working days to complete, and will review the current set up at your organisation, including the:

  • Bid process and bid culture

  • Technology deployed at all stages of the bid process

  • Content and style of recently submitted bid documentation

  • Bid resource model

Sectors


Paul has a deep working knowledge of professional service firms, and the particular dynamics of a partner-led business.

He has held senior positions at leading law, accountancy, consulting and real estate firms. Within those organisations he has helped pursue new opportunities across a wide range of sectors, including: technology, media, communications, life sciences, financial services and consumer goods.

Paul has worked, in the UK and abroad, for high growth technology companies, helping them capture new sources of revenue through successful bid campaigns.

Early in his career Paul co-led a Middle-East development agency, dedicated to building cooperation amongst civil society communities. Within this he set up a fundraising and grant capability, resulting in the capture of $3.8m from major donors including government agencies and private foundations. He has subsequently worked with not-for-profit organisations, to deploy elements of private sector best bidding practice to win new funding.

pQA

Working with PQA Consulting

Paul's style is open, engaged and to the point.

He is sensitive to the dynamic in which an array of professionals – senior executives, partners, associates, marketing and business development staff and external agencies – are active on a single bid campaign. He will work with you to determine the best resource and skill mix to maximise your win chances, with each team member playing to their unique strengths.

Paul has a close and trusted working relationship with additional external specialists (such as design and bid technology experts) who can easily be deployed on individual bid opportunities, if required.

Paul will discuss with you the scope of services best suited for your organisation, and an appropriate fee arrangement, which can be based either on a daily rate, or fixed project fee.

Paul is based in London, and able to travel internationally as needs. He can work on site, or remotely – whichever mix works best to win the bid. 

PQA Consulting – over two decades of major bid wins