5 industry trends that affect bid and proposal professionals’ employment

In 2022, the following 5 industry trends will impact bid and proposal (B&P) professionals’ employment, development, and retention.

1. The scramble to hire experienced B&P professionals

Finding experienced business development (BD), capture, and proposal professionals who are well suited to support a company is difficult—especially as many Baby Boomers who hold leadership positions retire.

To address this gap, many companies rely on corporate headhunters to find candidates, while others hire consultants or promote from within to fill vacant positions.

2. Retaining skilled B&P professionals

High turnover in the industry is still linked to tight deadlines, long hours, and high-stress work.

Smart companies are offering work life balance alternatives, remote work options, training, and competitive compensation packages to retain valued employees.

3. Training gaps

As companies promote from within to fill vacant positions or decide to train technical staff to provide additional B&P support, they are identifying training gaps.

To fill the gaps, companies are using well-rounded training programs to up-skill their teams.

4. Greater reliance on generalist versus specialists

With tighter B&P budgets, companies need B&P professionals with multiple complementary skills sets. For example, companies used to employ separate proposal managers and proposal coordinators.

Now, many companies want to hire proposal managers who can coordinate, manage, help write, and support production.

5. Ability to support proposal development efforts in different mediums

The proposal industry is seeing an increasing number of proposals requiring oral presentations or demonstrations.

B&P professionals should understand how to develop, script, and present oral proposals and demonstrations, as well as how to respond to challenge and clarification questions. Additionally, many presentations are being performed using virtual conferencing tools with presenters in remote locations, thus requiring B&P professionals to become proficient in organizing and staging these types of presentations.

By Brenda Crist, Vice President at Lohfeld Consulting Group, MPA, CPP APMP Fellow

Lohfeld Consulting Group has proven results specializing in helping companies create winning captures and proposals.
As the premier capture and proposal services consulting firm focused exclusively on government markets, we provide expert assistance to government contractors in Go-to-Market Strategy, Capture Planning and Strategy, Proposal Management and Writing, Capture and Proposal Process and Infrastructure, and Training. In the last 3 years, we’ve supported over 550 proposals winning more than $170B for our clients—including the Top 10 government contractors. Lohfeld Consulting Group is your “go-to” capture and proposal source! Start winning by contacting us at www.lohfeldconsulting.com and join us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

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