Achieving Business Growth by Winning Business in New Markets
A major prime contractor recognised that the core of their existing business was in mature or decling markets that offered limited opportunity for growth. The company had worked with Harmonic on bid and project mobilisation activities in existing core markets the relationship now focused on supporting the development of new markets.
In order to achieve this it was necessary to make a step change in business winning performance:
- Identify potential new markets and customers which would benefit from the company’s capabilities
- Acquire sector knowledge to have credible business conversations with prospective customers
- Apply best practice capture and bid techniques to maximise win rates in competitive bids
Initial work focused on identifying new opportunities, a working group was established which explored a wide range of potential markets, supported by subject matter and domain expertise from Harmonic. The process identified the provision of IT and security related systems to transport and a specific opportunity at Network Rail emerged.
Harmonic was asked to provide the core of a capture team: a Capture Lead, Change Manager, Supply Chain Manager and Network Rail domain expert.
A critical element of capture was the building of a concept demonstrator which showed an intimate understanding of the customer’s challenges and made the client credible despite their lack of history. The demonstrator also allowed the client’s team to influence the customer requirements in their favour resulting in an RFQ with a number of key innovations from the demonstrator programme.
With a credible technical solution commercial issues and pricing were also critical to success. The capture team established a benefits based vision for Network Rail which was seen as a key differentiator and, supported by a solid price to win analysis, resulted in a successful bid.
Following contract award Harmonic supported the client mobilising delivery teams, filling critical roles while they recruited the permanent staff to deliver long term.