The win rate is 26%. Every proposal costs two days of senior time.

Quoting everything looks like commercial ambition. The arithmetic of a low win rate says something else, and the work you win that way is rarely your best.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for The win rate is 26%. Every proposal costs two days of senior time.

Most firms treat win rate as a scoreboard for the sales team. It is usually a better measure of something else entirely: how selective the business is about what it responds to. A 26% win rate does not mean three quarters of buyers preferred a competitor. It often means three quarters of the opportunities should never have consumed a full proposal. That distinction matters because the cost of bidding is real, concentrated and almost never priced. In a professional service or specification-led business, the people who write the proposal are…

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