Don’t chase everything.  Make a go/ no-go decision first.

Go no go decision

It’s pretty common for a business, especially in the early stages, to chase down every opportunity that passes their way.  I get it.  Cash flow is an issue and every potential client looks like a solution.  But it’s also an issue for more mature businesses who have a product or service that has potential in a wide variety of industries.  I get that too.  You don’t want to leave money on the table.  But regardless of the stage or your business, looking at opportunities through a formal go/no-go decision process helps you focus your efforts and resources on profit-first, strategic priorities.

If you don’t have a formal go/no-go process, what are you using to decide whether to pursue an opportunity?  Your gut?  How excited your sales team is about it?  Magic 8 ball? A personal connection?  Or maybe there is no decision at all and it’s all hands on deck for every opportunity that passes by.

What does it cost you to chase a sale?  Consider the time and resources your team puts into it.  You might be responding to RFPs or dedicating resources to a new lead.  For some businesses this can be a significant investment and run in the hundreds of thousand of dollars.  Regardless, if you aren’t spending time pursuing opportunities that aren’t strategic, you can put more time towards the ones that are, improving your chances of success.

Also consider that without a full evaluation, you might not see the risks associated with that opportunity and that can come back to bite you in the end.  If you’re chasing everything blindly, do you really know what you’re getting yourself into? 

What is a go/no-go?

You can apply go/no-go decisions to any part of your business that needs a thoughtful evaluation before you make an important decision.  You might use the process when considering investment in a new product or innovation for example.  However, where we most commonly see it is in the pursuit process, helping businesses determine if an opportunity is worth the time and resources to chase.

While a go/no-go decision is applied to an individual opportunity, it really its about looking at that opportunity from the perspective of the big picture.  You develop your criteria based on what is most important to your business and the direction you’re going.

The go/no-go process forces you to do a few things that you might miss if you just went with your gut:

  • The process is going to force you to evaluate risk on different levels – from financial and legal risks to how the outcome will impact your customer relationship and market position.
  • A go/no-go requires that you look for and compile all the critical info you need to make a decision. You can’t just take things at face value or based on first impressions.
  • You’ll get everyone involved that needs to be. That includes people internally and externally.  This step will also help you get buy-in from stakeholders down the road.
  • You and your team will do a preliminary analysis on how you would approach the project or job if you are successful. It’s a very early opportunity to consider different approaches, teams, etc.
  • A formalized process takes the emotion out of a decision. For growing companies, the drive to take any and all work can become a habit. Some of those projects aren’t always strategic to the vision of the company you want to create.

How to create your own go/ no-go process

There are lots of different ways to define a go/ no-go for your business.  Some I have seen include formal scoring processes and others just encourage you to count the red flags.  You need to figure out what your business specifically needs and be prepared to try out a few renditions of it before you get it right.

In general, you should try to quantify as much as possible and incorporate the following:

  • Gather a thorough description of the opportunity with as much background as possible
  • Are there any legal risks or conflicts of interest? Do you require additional insurance?
  • Are there any financial risks? Will the project be profitable?  Does the client have budget in place for the project?  Is the budget reasonable?
  • Are there delivery risks? If you are successful, can you deliver what the client needs to the standards you want to achieve?  Do you have the resources internally or outsourced?  Can you fit it into your schedule?  Can you meet or exceed the client’s expectations?  Are the client’s timeline and expectations reasonable?
  • Understand the direct costs required for the pursuit (people, budget, time, etc.). Do you have the resources and time to put together a strategy you’ll be proud of and that will position you for success?  Are there stages of the process you can automate?
  • What is the opportunity cost of doing this work? Will you be giving up other opportunities that are better for your business because you’re working on this project?
  • Is there strategic value in the opportunity? How does it get you closer to your corporate goals?  How does it position you in the market or with that client? How does this help you reach your sales targets?
  • How well do you know the client and their needs? Is this an easy way for you to introduce yourself to a client whose been on your radar?  Is this a repeat client who you have a relationship with?
  • Do you want to work with this client? Take culture into account so you’re not taking on new clients (or keeping old ones) that nobody in your company actually wants to work with.
  • How likely are you to be successful? Who are you competing with and are they better established with that client or for this particular project?
  • Will you be conspicuous by your absence? Does this client expect to see you chasing this opportunity?

When you’ve answered all your questions and done your analysis, everything might clearly point in one direction – and you might choose to go the other way regardless.  And sometimes that’s fine.  Without this analysis, you can justify chasing something in spite of all the signs saying you shouldn’t.  This analysis may give you objective permission to  say, “Not this time,” when that new business habit says you should go.  The go/no-go process gives you a framework to make decisions and the answers give you a perspective that you have to consider.  And that’s something you can lean on.

Do you want some help getting started on your go/ no-go strategy?

Do you want some help getting started on your go/ no-go strategy?

Carla Trobak blog

About the Author: Carla Trobak 

Carla is a B2B Marketer and Partner at Bench Strength Marketing.  She sees the big picture and loves to get her hands into the details.