Most Government contractors who repeatedly win contracts do so because they adopt and exercise beneficial pricing habits. They have repeatable processes that allow them to think through all the pricing hurdles they will encounter. Why? These successful companies maintain replicable practices so that they remain in control of their financial goals, both corporately and specifically for each bid, as well as feel confident that they have touched all the pads towards a winning price. What habits do they feel strongly about?

Pricing Process
The number one habit that most winning companies have is a bona fide documented pricing process. That process, whether developed by that company for their leadership tastes and their overall proposal process or prescribed by others, is a written, tested, and reusable process. A simple pricing process checklist is available to those who have a copy of Secrets of Strategic Pricing for Government Contractors.

Early Pricing is Critical
The second important habit is your willingness and ability to involve the pricing team early in the business development process. That is typically when the opportunity is in the initial discussion and capture stages of the proposal. During this time, you are assembling important data and making key decisions that will later impact the price. Think of it as your homework time and it should not be shortchanged – hence why you begin pricing early.

Price to Win
The third habit on our list is obtaining or performing a price-to-win analysis of each bid opportunity. Whether you do it internally or ask a professional to do the analysis, by getting to the price-to-win range, you know what you are aiming for. Too many companies guess at the price objective make an emotional guess, or simply get budget information that does not take competition, market conditions, or past historical trends into account in determining the analytical goal.

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Marsha Lindquist
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