Why Pricing?

BOOST is excited to announce the launch of our new strategic pricing initiative, designed to support your proposal pricing needs and provide Price to Win strategy that incorporates all back office functions. We want you to win work, grow and succeed. Strategic pricing can get you there. 

Pricing impacts absolutely everything in an organization. If you haven’t been thinking about it strategically, or have just relied on your accounting shop to pull together a spreadsheet, you are going about it all wrong.

Here’s what I mean:

Capture –

• How much does this customer have in the budget?
• What did the incumbent bid?
• Is it worth it to pursue this strategy?
• Is this a profit play or increase past performance, new client, new offerings?
• Impact to teaming decisions and teammates?
• Did you know that Capture “owns” pricing? They’re ultimately responsible for the bid price.

Proposal Team –

• What key personnel do we bid?
• What type of labor mix will show the customer that we can deliver?
• What price will come in competitively?
• How do we price our solution?
• How will our competitors bid?
• How will we ghost weaknesses?
• How can the pricing volume help win themes?
• Other volumes impacted by price, such as SB volume, Contracts volume?

Recruiting –

• Who are the key personnel and how can I ensure exclusivity (if possible)?
• What is the geographic location, skill set and salary rates we need to start pipelining beforehand and hire in execution?
• Greening plan? Innovative hiring solutions for continuity of ops over the contract years?
• What flexibility do we have on credentials?
• What type of benefits can we offer to supplement for lower base salaries?

HR –

• What training do we need to offer to current staff?
• Who can move from existing work to new work, allowing for career path?
• How do we manage the workforce needs of the new team?
• If changing badges, how do we ensure they understand our culture, benefits, etc.?
• What is the cultural impact to the organization?

Operations –

• How soon can we transition fully and hire?
• Will we be stuck managing a team of unhappy badge changers?
• What is the impact to the other projects if we trade players?
• How can we keep the customer happy with a new team?
• How can we hire the talent we need at the salaries we bid?
• How do we overcome a small (or non-existent) annual increase and keep the team motivated?
• How will the contract type affect performance metrics? Should we account for risk in the bid?

Finance –

• What is the cost to hire, how quickly will we hire and what are the cash flow requirements?
• What will be the impact to margins?
• How do we deliver for maximum profits?

Leadership –

• What does the win do for us in the marketplace?
• Can we deliver operationally and do so profitably?
• What is the impact to our culture that we need to recognize?

Shareholders –

• What does this do to the company’s overall position within the industry/market?
• What is the financial impact?

Absolutely everyone in an organization is impacted (directly or indirectly) by the pricing strategy that you employ on the bid. It goes without saying that to start, you’ve got to win. But the need to win MUST be tempered with the above impacts. Winning a poorly priced bid for headaches in execution is NOT worth it. Do not fall into the trap of “must win at any cost” mentality. It can wreck culture, margins and reputation.

For all the above reasons, we are extremely excited to announce our strategic pricing shop. We’ve got 10+ senior pricers that cover practically every agency, who have won billions. As we push towards fiscal year end, utilize professionals who can help you think through all of the above and win.