Blog · Forecast and pipeline · Consulting and advisory
How a consulting or advisory firm measures proposal win rate from its proposal log and engagement letters, by practice, by source, existing client, referral, competitive tender or cold, and by fee band, the cost of a proposal in hours from the time entries, the cost per win by cell, and the cells where the firm spends the most partner time for the least work.
A consulting firm bids on everything a partner is excited about and wins a third. The proposal log, the engagement letters and the time entries say which third, at what cost in partner hours, and which cells of the bid universe consume the most effort for the least work. This guide sets out win rate by practice, source and fee band, the cost per win, and the bid rule that follows.
Per proposal:
Won or lost, from the engagement letter join Proposal cost = hours on the pursuit code × rate
Per cell of practice, source and fee band:
Win rate = won ÷ submitted Cost per win = Σ proposal cost ÷ won Fees won per hour of pursuit = Σ won fees ÷ Σ pursuit hours
Client and fee earner identifiers only.
proposals submitted = won + lost + withdrawn + open
Every proposal in one state past a stated age. A proposal open for a year is listed; it is usually lost and unrecorded.
Firm win rate: 34 percent, 190 proposals.
| Source | Proposals | Win rate | Partner hours per proposal | Cost per win |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Existing client | 70 | 61% | 6 | $4,100 |
| Referral | 30 | 50% | 9 | $7,400 |
| Competitive tender | 60 | 15% | 34 | $93,000 |
| Cold | 30 | 10% | 12 | $49,000 |
| Practice × source | Proposals | Win rate | Cost per win | Fees won per pursuit hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operations × tender | 28 | 25% | $52,000 | $1,900 |
| Strategy × tender | 22 | 5% | $290,000 | $210 |
| Strategy × existing | 31 | 68% | $3,600 | $9,800 |
The strategy practice wins one competitive tender in twenty at nearly three hundred thousand dollars of partner time per win, and earns two hundred dollars of fees per pursuit hour there against nearly ten thousand with existing clients. The bid rule writes itself, and the report shows the partner hours it releases.
Per cell: bid where fees won per pursuit hour exceeds a stated floor; require a partner's written case where it does not. The floor is on the report. The rule is reviewed annually against the cells, not against anecdotes.
Overall win rate. Thirty-four percent, describing no cell.
No pursuit code. The cost is spent and unmeasured.
Tenders excluded as "strategic". The most expensive cell exempted from the rule.
Open proposals never closed. The win rate is flattered by the losses nobody recorded.
Mapped once, the proposal log, the engagement letters and the time entries produce win rate, cost per win and fees per pursuit hour per cell every quarter. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The professional services page describes the setup, and the sold work against bench guide covers what the won proposals do to delivery capacity.
The proposal log's origin field: existing client, referral, competitive tender, or cold approach. Where the field is missing, the client's status in the client master supplies existing versus new, and tender versus not comes from whether a formal RFP reference is recorded.
A pursuit or business development code on time entries per proposal. Firms that do not have one have the cost but not the measure, and setting the code up is the first step. Hours are valued at cost rate or standard rate; state which.
A low win rate at low cost is fine. A low win rate at high partner cost is the finding. The report shows cost per win per cell, and the bid decision rule follows from the cells, not from the overall rate.