Your BD System is Broken. Your Proposals are Boring. The Two are Connected.

Most firms think they have a BD system. In reality, it’s just a spreadsheet and some hope.

Pipelines are padded with “maybes,” ownership is unclear, and seller-doers are left juggling delivery with half-hearted pursuit work.

And then leadership wonders why proposals feel like a mad scramble and read like warmed-over boilerplate.

Here’s the truth: your broken BD system is bleeding directly into your proposals.

1. When your BD is reactive, your proposals are too.

If your entire system is built around RFPs, you’re already behind. You’re waiting for the government to tell you what to chase instead of shaping opportunities early.

Result? By the time the proposal hits, all you can do is write to the requirements. No strategy. No differentiators. Just compliance.

2. When no one owns BD, no one owns the story.

In firms where “everything is everyone’s job,” BD gets scattered. Seller-doers default to delivery. Leadership chases shiny objects. Proposals become a team sport with no coach.

Result? Narratives collapse. Win themes are inconsistent. And evaluators get the sense you don’t know who’s actually driving the bus.

3. When your PMs aren’t engaged, you miss early signals.

Project managers sit on the front line. They hear client pain points, see scope shifts, and notice when competitors are circling.

But too often, they’re treated as “doer-sellers” instead of growth partners. If PMs aren’t empowered to ask questions, share insights, or loop in BD early, your proposals suffer. Because by the time you’re writing, the opportunity has already been shaped… by someone else.

4. When there’s no pursuit strategy, your proposals fall flat.

“It came across my desk” is not a pursuit strategy. Yet many firms treat every RFP the same.

Result? Your writers are stuck filling pages with generic claims. Evaluators get jargon instead of proof, and “good enough” proposals lose to competitors who’ve been positioning for months.

So How Do You Fix It?

Build a BD system around opportunities, not RFPs.

Stay engaged during quiet periods. Ask clients what’s changing. Share insights, not just updates. That’s how you uncover opportunities before they’re public.

Clarify ownership.

When everyone owns BD, no one does. Assign clear accountability for pursuits, and make sure seller-doers know where they fit.

Position PMs as growth partners.

Teach them how to add value without being “salesy.” Show them how to ask the right questions, bring insights to the table, and feed intelligence back to BD.

Lead with strategy, not stuff.

Proposals aren’t about proving you exist. They’re about proving you understand the client and can solve their problem better than anyone else. Start with “you,” not “we.” Replace empty claims with proof.

The Bottom Line

You can’t write your way out of a bad pursuit. A broken BD system leads to boring proposals – every single time.

Fix the front end of your growth engine, and the back end (your proposals) won’t just be compliant. They’ll be compelling.

👉 Ready to connect the dots between your BD system and your proposals? Let’s talk.