The 90/10 Ratio to (Almost) Guaranteed Failure

When coaching teams on large pursuits, my biggest challenge as a coach is shifting teams away from the failing 90/10 ratio. In my experience, teams tend to spend 90% of their time on documentation (the written proposal response) —I’ve seen as many as 39 versions! And if you're lucky, they dedicate about 10% of their time to thinking about and preparing for the oral presentations.

Here’s the reality: the proposal response gets you to orals — it’s the access code that gets you into the Estate. Out of the 248 large pursuits I’ve coached over the past 10 years, teams made it to orals in all but three cases. But let’s be clear—you DO NOT WIN on the proposal response.

𝗢𝗿𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗪𝗜𝗡. The oral presentation is the key that gets you into the house.

Teams are often so exhausted from crafting the perfect 139-page written response (90% of their effort) that they have nothing left in the tank to prepare for the verbal engagement needed to win. Are your teams falling into this trap?

Think about this: The written response gets you to orals, and my hypothesis is you can get there with significantly less time/effort. 𝗢𝗿𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗜𝗡. In the hundreds of win/lose debriefs I’ve conducted, I have NEVER heard a client say, “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘴.” But I’ve heard countless times: “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯 (𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵).”

Ask me why teams focus so much on the proposal response. Hint - It’s all about comfort zones, what feels tangible, and having something to point at and defend your effort.

So, what’s your strategy to fix the 90/10 imbalance? Let’s talk.

Also, have a look at the post I wrote about the 75% vs 57% Team Dichotomy.