Optimize Your Sales with airSlate SignNow's Sales Proposal Automation in India

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all right so welcome back let us start with our next session which is proposal automation how can proposal automation help bid teams prepare proposals faster what are the other benefits of automation what can be automated and what cannot be automated in the bid cycle we have a wonderful person here from Coimbatore who is going to be speaking to us who is not a bid and proposal person apparently a backbencher unless he is forced to come in front and primarily from a sales background please welcome on stage Mervyn Reeves hey all thank you so much Nikki that was a great introduction I am here to talk about automation no and looks like an automation is not a new word in this in this in this current generation so I am also very new to Mumbai I have never traveled to Mumbai and I've been to go up but and I never been to Mumbai and I'm unfortunately I'm only staying here for a day I don't have some time you know hang around here but Mumbai has welcomed me a lot here and you know it's been a great honor meeting everyone and one every one person here and this is the first time I'm also addressing a huge experienced crowd you know put together I would say say like around eight hundred two thousand combined years experience and I can see here put my experience it's only 14 years and it's it's all about sales and marketing here but I still respond to are of peace you know I still respond to security questioners you know are of peace at least three to four weeks so I now I'm here to share about you know how automation and how could really help in in in preparing your RFPs better so oh yeah so technology so technology as we know it's it's it's a great height right and automations has been here for almost centuries in or decades you know discipline starts with automation so say it say for example like a factory assembly set up but now you have a process in place you know you have automation so it has been evolving all around like you know on centuries but you know why not for Proposal so that is where we are here so before ten years ago when we talked about automation you know it's it's more about it's more about technology ok what technology could bring for automating my you know proposal writing my first level draft now how could that efficiently save time you know how could my reviewer you know spend less time on reviewing my content so that's that was that was more about the technology but here when when we are talking about technology today you know we're talking about AI in artificial intelligence and I am once again not background of you know the AI I'm pretty happy to announce it with a panel and I understand the panel's today on the discussions you know what they're gonna have on the AI and ml but you know I'm here to talk about how you know automation could really help you know proposal writing better that being said you know you are not going to eliminate any of your human element you know in responding to our of piece say for example we are going to break it down on how a proposal is submitted so how do we win proposals it's more about the how presentable it is you know how solution entry straightest how well you compete and or with your company does gonna be the pricing in a beat your market analysis so that's that's kind of the core of you know responding to RFPs and which which could really eventually you know when you know are of piece but the other other tasks which involves in like you know task management or beat like in a collaboration or on the on the section templates you know on designing those those presentations those what we call that as a non value or non core job of the RFPs and that is where we are you know that is where I'm talking about in terms of how automation could help you save and drive towards winning proposals so technology you know it's all hybrid as I told you know automation in a world for centuries technologies is smart you know it's accessible everywhere right here so there's there's going to be a complement the technology is going to complement you know in each one roles and responsibilities here so how how how the automation and oh really help in help in responding to our of pieces where you kind of you know start spending time in in SWOT analysis in competitive analysis and better pricing strategies you know which is quite to be the core in winning proposal that's exactly what I'm going to talk about today and I think I've heard some I've heard those notes you know from mr. Sweeney was you know on the contributors you know that's that there was a great you know insight for me as well in order to present it here so contributors why not a mission can be your contributor as well you know so automation can be a contributor so we're in missions they do their job know without any passions so right so let them do their job you know so it's it's like you know you're bringing the artificial intelligence out of the system you know that's that's exactly where I am here so I'm not sure how many of you had what's the movie Terminator so that was the great threat he did her it was like 20 years ago we talk about artificial intelligence a great threat to the mankind here is a quote from terminator you know that that I want to show you here you know but once again it is no longer a threat you know as human is going to drive the artificial intelligence in proposal management so I've just gone ahead and changed it to look good you know for the a PMP even today human decisions are removed from proposals response process the a PMP begins to learn geometry create today so embracing and using automation so we as I told you know the role of AI proposal management automation is just taking the intelligence out of the system say for example the complement the system what can a technology complement you know and using and you know driving your RFP proposal say for example I'm just gonna giving you a kind of a very realistic examples here like like a calendar how best would that be like you know when you're when a contributor is this - - an SME for four specific sections or order a specific question and what if the system throws you back that hey this this person is out of office do you want to choose someone else so help choose authors you know which which could really save you a lot and lot of time as well as send out reminders so let the system do that job and instead of sending out and I i've done that and i've done that like you know three four years ago i used to I used to go go to each one's desk or or send out to remind us you know to make sure hey have we done because that's there no one code job enough for all the SMEs but you know passive for a sales guy you know for the proposal guys you know that's that's kind of the strategy you know that's that's what is going to win business for that so let the system take its chance you know let it do its job and sending out reminders you know sending out alerts sending back an escalation to you hey this person is not not here or maybe he's on an emergency leave you know the system is going to let you know so that you're well-prepared on you know what what you're basically going to you know drive those us the second example is document shredding so we all understand so I've done that you know I think in last week I had one of an RFP coming in from Netherlands you know for a huge transportation company and it looked like you know close to 150 pages so I don't have a big team you know I don't have a pre sales team I had to sit through run through that you know if I was doing that in a four years ago but you know what if a system and can help you shred that document down right you know where are your sections you know where are your subsections where are your questions and make it into a manageable sections you know for you and your team to start working on and we also are talking about natural language processing once again I'm not a technical guy don't ask me questions but you know it could really read through the context you know I've heard about it but I have not seen that but but it could read those you know context off of those entire proposal and break it down say right you know for the clarification submission and when are you going to do that so the system you know helps pull the pull that particular word from a PDF or a word document I help you help you break it down into task management so so those tasks can be automated as well so the I'm talking about the tasks the collaboration you know which could really really save a lot of time you know for the strategy to start a no driving towards RFP another example is the pattern you know so once again system helping you giving you a pattern so say like how many government RFPs have you won you know today let us say like a government are to be coming in how many of you currently track yeah we do track but you know is there some one now is it all coming through on a kickoff meeting where you know we we understand and plan for the resources and where we understand okay this is okay we did government RFP maybe six months ago we unfortunately lost or we fortunately one and what was the team you know involved in that so we're you know leave it to the system you know we're in the system helps you in pulling those reports out you know basically understanding once you create a project you know or another system should kind of in us tell you that hey you already you know worked on government out of peace say for example XY vertical and you know this is your win ratio you know this is your best team you know who has contributed I know towards this winning proposals in a which which really helps in once again once again assign those to the right person and drive those out of peace too so I that that that involves in the content pattern as well right so especially on how well a system can recommend you the responses so where did I use my last responses once again going back four years ago I I used to search outlook you know going back to the sent item I I I searched my folders you know where where did I you know respond to this question or I checked with someone hey I did I did I just I'm gonna read it to respond to some RFP but in a where did we go so but what if the system recommends you know using its automation in a system recommends the best responses you know what you use you know for the same vertical or same you know trend you know I'm analysis that he wants so that that that that's going to be the winning proposal so that is where you know the system so automation or towards system you know is going to drive you on on and up preparing a well scripted RFPs you know for the submission so not being said I am going to keep this very short and I'm not going to take the entire 30 minutes out here and and I tried on a hard to keep this floaters on you know just so you know I take a much more longer time you know to spend this entire 30 minutes but you know human elements is hard to replicate you know just like a computer animated movie so anytime and in an animation movie there's going to be a digitized picture but once again remember there is a human behind on the character and on the main characters who's running those business so that is exactly what what you know I am here to know kind of in order percent that no yes you know there's going to be an automation here but humans are the drivers you know for those automation we beat artificial intelligence beat machine learning you know beat NLP but a human is going to drive that the strategic team is going to drive that the SWAT analysis team is going to drive that the bit practitioners is going to drive that so I'm going to break it down I know this is exactly what I was talking about on my start so value added tasks you know correct me if I'm wrong you know I'm once again in a with 800 and a combined years experience out here but value are the tasks content and styling in a solution interest is this what you know we will be preparing you know ourselves for winning proposals you know let the system you know start taking care of the non-value-added tasks and once again these are these are important these are very very important in in in in in winning those out of piece but you know I'm gonna break it down you know just so now we we know very automating and where we are not in a way we couldn't do know where we will not in the future so organized and planning let the system do that now collaboration gathering insights and all of the system do that tracking let the system do that so so that's that's that's that's kind of what I wanted to I now have it today but you know just like for example you know everyone here you know we have we get emails right so when we are out on a vacation we are swamped by emails what if we don't have a spam filter and I wouldn't have been in this in this event you know if I don't have a spam filter right and I would have been reading emails you know it's just ten days ago you know so that's that's that's that's where AI came in right you know you it it has a spam folders it has junk folders where where you where you kind of automate those Pam's you know get into a cont particular folder and focus on your core so your inbox is your core I know that is exactly what what you wanted on a daily basis to know get on not you know struggling with your spans and not not really reading through those pants even before it comes to the spam folder it gets into the it gets into the you know server logs and aware in even quarantine I'm once again I'm not too sure about how the server works but you know that's that's kind of a realistic process that I that I wanted to know bring it out here so I well as I told you and I want to keep it very short here on this automation I hope this was a value-added for work for everyone here so I'm gonna end in in the note with with the same Terminator as well so before that you know there is this you know something what automation can help and some of these were mundane or non value ties non-value add tasks adds weight age in crafting winning proposals this is exactly what we discussed lives off proposal being much more easier once again you are driving those automation you are driving the technology towards responding to our of peace and I help deliver quality error-free proposals on time allowing business more leeway in making conception choices when deciding to pursue opportunities right so that's pretty much it ending with the code from the Salem Terminator I'll be back but yeah not once again with the technology related topic but you know I'll be happy to address any questions you know if there is no technical questions I think I covered 15 minutes so any any questions guys I'll be happy but is a start-up how this AI and all ml will help no that's a great question for a start-up you know exactly know once again a startup you know someone is going to have an experience in bringing those responses back so that's a tricky question once again let's this tricky question but you know what what we what what I would have done I would have new choses you know look at my analysis and bring those analysis back but an automation can do a Google search right and I can do a Google search but you know it can't do no really get into your competitor shoe right you know so that is something that that you can I'm not sure which system does that but for a start-up you know you need to have some preparation so any any any RFPs that you're starting in oh there is a preparation any startup even even you have a startup company there needs to be preparation and now how are you going about sales and how are you going about marketing so so you have to bring those you know collate those informations consolidate it and put it as as a repository for you so that would really help but no content or no historic information the system is not going to drive so it's it's like you know adding fuel to your car not to run that's pretty much it hi so what are the format's that are supported on the tool is PPD supported because major submissions happen on PPT and can I have your name please i am i'm proposed that table all right sounds good thanks so i I'm not really here to talk about you know what are of pio could help you here but you know in general and I was talking about automation so I what document is this was possible you know when I'm talking about RFP I am now I know where I am at once again here to sell but you know it was possible for RFP i/o to bring in a spreadsheet you know just bring in a sick format and how many of you are responding to security questioners like thousand two hundred security questions and standardized information gathering cri-kee file no RFP I did that we brought in Ana PDFs editable PDF no system in the world could you know read through a non editable PDFs even yeah I'm not sure when the readers could do that so PPT is kind of now your Christmas more later to my sales challenges what what we are facing or my roadmap so to answer your question yes PPT is something that we've been analysis we've been doing great analysis in terms of the market you know so we have split those market you know in terms of talking about India or or Europe so we had a lot of opportunities with with PPD you know especially on drafting creepy teas or importing the PPT is getting there as a PPD spread in output yes you know those are what we found as a technical challenge you know we can't replace Microsoft PPT but you know we are trying to do our level best you know in terms of you know how we could you know really help you in terms of in a matching those those requirements into but it is I I you know I once again I would leave this to my technical founders you know to set their road maps but I I don't really now feel that as a challenge because we are already halfway through you know so we should be having the PPD pretty soon you know I'm talking about RFP as a product yes I'm Evan I have a question I'm here yeah when you're saying automation through getting the getting the data from the already existing database or you know or are getting the analysis from it so I had an experience in my past experience that the automation software which was created has learned the language of analyzing the data and it created the same output for all the new inputs right right so will my output always remains the same how will that differ great question yes thank you thank you so much so we are talking about content storage or content management we are going to reuse those contents right so anywhere say for example you might have a client name and I mentioned a solution name you know which you are on a different RFP or you are promoting for a different solution or a different product or different clients you know that there are few times in a way you simply get those contents water system recommends you know you apply that or copy it or override it or and I can still do an edit you know right you know so all know to talk about a classic example I can of your responding to a different solution or a product but you know the content is going to be the same you know RFP I once again I'm selling here there is something called merge tag so you know you can use those merge tags say like a client name a product name so those are those are master merge tags you know which could help those contents stay as it is and anytime your users aren't going to respond to that you know or uses those responses the most at value changes when you have the final output does it answer your question pyaar Granger I've never I have three questions for you at what stage does RFP you are FBI you Dixon into bridge management right from the qualification stage or just like a queue management that you spoke about right alright so do you want me to read all three questions now maybe you can sit down I'll maybe respond one by one that's a good question yes so uh we call ourselves as response management platform which helps the responders increase their efficiency of creating RFP process so it starts right from the scratch you know right from sales guys you know receiving an RFP they circulate or or they choose a person to you know respond to say like bid manager or proposal manager or pre-sales director so right from there you start the qualification mmm sometimes the sales guys they do the qualification and and they send that back or no let the proposal team in a qualify that that's that's that's going to add value once again so yes you know RFP IO has an option where we have something called intake where you qualify you know it's like a qualification or pre-qualification of of any bits so you have set of criterias to follow say right you know is this under our buckets you know is this something that we could respond on say like a given timeframe you know do we have the bandwidth in order to do this so there are some criterias that you can mention s know you have put a put all the checklist and accept it for the proposal team to start working on do the kickoff call or just discard it that gets back to the sales team stating no we will unfortunately will not be you know able to respond to this RFP absolutely yes that's a great question yeah decisions here for the reviewers are getting easier and easier so they no longer have to you know worry about is there any typos or is the contents you know are not the right content so the drapy was have an option you know where this contents comes from right you know they they know where this contents come from so this is news makings are getting you know I'm talking about a specific content related decisions like you know how the reviewers are the approvers you know off the particular section order of aura or project looks like so decision making is is reduced and those are what we emphasize in our RFP IO as it increased the efficiency of creating this RFP process so the efficiency is created you know increased you know when you have the decisions you know taken are reduced you know typically but yes to answer your question yes it does reduce a lot of decision making okay it also supports what was about the pricing review can you be more specific oh yeah so it's a set of tasks right so you you create internal milestones and even before you start an RFP you know I I do that you know still we set up a task you know a kickoff meeting clarification submission checklist network planning commercial discussions approval standpoint bandwidth resource planning yes you know those are something what we call as a task management now where you can keep checking those you know there are checkpoints so you can create any number of milestones and you have checkpoints only those checkpoints are or click you know the the task gets completed and you have owners to assign to say like a start date end date and you have a specific owner to you know work on that good the last one is that's that's a great question as I sell I typically call this as two or three weeks on boarding process but you know if I have to look back the CSM you know they would you know fall a little back you know on for weeks but you know any any users you know I'm right here you know in this booth you know you can come down and you can start using it five minutes you're gonna be an expert that's how a super intuitive the system is a user-friendly application I have on board customers in a day I have on board I have not on board a customer you know maybe maybe maybe not familiar but you know from different countries but a typical onboarding processes what I call or I sell is two or three weeks but we have the process of three to four weeks but a maximum of four week any requests hi my name is Dinesh yeah animation yeah so since you asked no technical so I am asking you sales question okay so I presume license based tool right license based yes how this works so how can I buy a license is it people right so we are a SAS product and I'm watching Niki support we are a SAS product you know and just like any any SAS cloud-based application it's a subscription base so the licensing is based on the number of concurrent projects the active projects your team is working at any given point of time with unlimited users so we don't we want enough you don't have commercially have to worry about people being added you know you're using our FBI for the next six months you're gonna increase your team and you're gonna increase your proposal team you're not going to reduce your proposal team you wanna increase your proposal team me when I increase your sales team you gonna increase your proper pre-sales team so that's that's truly a revenue generator so transfer your question it's based on the number of concurrent projects yeah thanks yeah I'm done thank you [Applause]