When your opportunities outstrip your resources, a capture management consultant is often the best solution. This position provides key support to help bring all of your in process captures to a successful conclusion.
The capture management consultant can be one of your top assets, especially if managed effectively as a member of your team.
Educating Your New Consultant
Anytime you onboard a new employee–whether temporary or permanent– there’s a learning curve for them, for you, and for the rest of your team. You shouldn’t need to teach a capture management consultant how to manage leads for government contract opportunities; they should already know the process inside and out. What you do need to teach them is how your company handles lead processing and what company procedures you want them to follow. Teach a new consultant:
- How you do things.
- How you want things done.
You’re helping them learn how to handle the workflow as well as how to process pieces according to your company’s standard operating procedures.
Communication Is Essential
Include your capture management consultant in meetings with your sales team. If they don’t know where you’re looking for opportunities and your company’s productivity goals, they can’t effectively shepherd new proposals.
In addition to the information provided at general sales meetings, it is important to arrange regular one-on-one meetings with your consultant to track their performance. What have they already accomplished and what’s left on their to-do list? Also, you want your consultant to have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback on what they need from you, as their manager, to be successful. The point of these one-on-one meetings is to ask the questions:
- What can I do to make you more successful?
- What do you need?
When Things Don’t Go as Expected
One of the advantages to bringing a consultant on-board is that you can take advantage of the “at will employment” clause in their contract, should the need arise. You brought the consultant in to do a job. If they fail to perform as expected, cut the contract short and find a different consultant. Keep in mind that just as you can let the consultant go at any time, they can also choose to leave at any time.
Local vs. Remote
At some point, you may find yourself stuck between hiring a local or a remote candidate. For example, you might find a more qualified candidate out of state, but perhaps they aren’t willing to move for a temporary contract position, and/or you aren’t willing to pay for moving or lodging expenses. You might be considering the fact that it is more difficult to measure the day-to-day productivity of a remote consultant than one that works onsite.
Integrating a remote consultant into your existing team is no more difficult than managing remote full time workers. Making your consultant an integral part of your team is a necessity, regardless of their physical location. Conference calls, video calls, in-person meetings (even if only once a quarter), regular emails, text and instant messaging will help keep your consultant on task. Maybe you can’t say a quick “hello, how’s it going” as you walk through the office, but you can do the same thing using technology. With remote employees, you need to make an extra effort to include them in the team, but the results are often worth the investment. To make sure your remote capture management consultant is on task you need to:
- Put technology in place to ensure accessibility and accountability
- Make sure your consultant knows they are a valued part of your team, regardless of their location.
Getting Value From a Consultant
When you bring in a consultant, you need to make sure you are getting real value from that expense, be sure to implement measurable KPIs. Measurement processes are important whether working with a consultant or a full time employee. You need to be able to see what they bring to the table, including the value of that product.
Getting Your Capture Management Consultant Started
Once you have an established history and workflow, many consultants don’t need a lot of daily management. What they really need from you is oversight and access to company resources. Educate them about your company and communicate regularly to keep your capture management process moving towards a win.
