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The resources below are free for your use, the only requirement being that you retain the copyright notice for all materials developed by The Business Edge. Most are Microsoft Word forms which can be filled in on screen by tabbing or clicking from field to field. Those marked with an asterisk are available from other sources on the internet. Check back periodically, as more tools will be added from time to time.

Go / No Go Matrix.  Most firms go after too many proposals. This form will help you make better decisions about which opportunities to pursue. It is synthesized from several different such forms I've run across over the years.

Key Opportunity Plan Template. What are you doing to maximize your chances with your most crucial sales objectives? This tool can help you evaluate your understanding of client needs, the buying organization, your competitive positioning, and the actions needed to move your firm closer to the sale. Reading the articles "Service-Centered Selling" and "Starting the Relationship Right" will help you get the most out of the template.

Sales Forecast Planner. This is a valuable tool for projecting your sales based on what's currently in the pipeline. List your current key sales opportunities that you expect to close within the planning time frame. Totaling the weighted values of these sales opportunities (estimated fee x probability), you can assess where you stand relative to meeting your goal. The form also includes fields for listing prospects (no specific opportunities identified) and the BD time allocations of those in sales roles.

Strategic Needs Questions. Uncovering the client's strategic needs is a critical part of the sales process. I'm convinced that one of the reasons that A/E firms don't command the kind of multipliers that other professional service firms do is that we don't do a good job of identifying and meeting strategic needs. This document lists some key questions to ask to better understand the client's strategic needs.

Benchmark Your Firm's Differentiation Strategies*. This is a simple online checklist that asks you to mark different strategies your firm has taken to differentiate itself. Once you submit your answers, a separate window defines the relative value of each strategy you checked based on research of professional service firms done by Suzanne Lowe.

Marketing Report Card*. This brief survey, published in PSMJ's newsletter A/E Rainmaker, provides a basic tool for evaluating your marketing program. Assessing the real impact of your marketing will require a more thorough analysis, but this could be a good place to start. The "Report Card" is introduced on page 2 of this newsletter; the survey appears on pages 3 and 4.

Key Proposal Planning Questions. This document lists some key questions to ask the team in planning the content and structure of a proposal. While the questions are fairly basic, most proposals in my experience fail to address them (usually because the team can't answer all of them!). So they're a good baseline for planning your proposal. For more insight on writing winning proposals, check out this white paper. 

Client Service Planner. This form is very useful in uncovering service expectations with your client. The questions included are not intended to be a script but a guide. For more insight on how to use this tool, please read the article "Uncovering Client Expectations."

Client Service Survey. By my estimate, only about one of four technical consulting and design firms have a formal client feedback process. You can hardly judge the quality of your service if you don't ask your clients. The attached questionnaire can help. For more information on this activity, please read "Soliciting Client Feedback."

Client Service Self-Assessment. This tool focuses on your personal client service skills, whereas the one below is a firm assessment. The criteria are based upon the Five Rs of Superior Service: Reachability, Responsiveness, Reliability, Recovery, and Relationship.

Grade Yourself on Client Service*. This tool, developed by PSMJ, is essentially a questionnaire to help you assess how well your firm serves its clients. It's not really intended to come up with a cumulative grade. But it can be valuable in provoking thought and discussion on your service performance and where improvements are needed.

Kickoff Meeting Checklist. You should hold a kickoff meeting with the project team at the start of every project. This checklist will help remind what needs to be done before and during the meeting.

Project Closure Checklist. Formal project closure is an overlooked activity in many firms, but can be vitally important down the road. This checklist can help.

Performance-Based Interview Form. Hiring based on qualifications is the norm in our industry. A better approach is matching candidates to specific performance objectives. This includes evaluating work styles, critical thinking, personality, and values. The attached form can be very useful for this kind of approach.

Employee Survey. If you desire to maintain a workplace that enables you to attract and retain top employees, you have to view it through your employees' eyes. The attached questionnaire will help you identify your firm's workplace strengths and shortcomings.

Time Tracker. Your most precious resource is your time, and few of us use it wisely. The best place to start is to inventory how you are currently spending your time over the course of a week. That's what this tool is for. From this assessment, you'll likely see evidence of how fragmented and undisciplined much of your time usage is. That provides good motivation to get serious about developing better time management skills.

Interruption Tracker. A key facet of effectively managing your time is learning how to manage interruptions. This is best done in cooperation with your coworkers, and even your clients. A good starting place is to track your interruptions over a period of time; I recommend a week. This will help you determine where your priorities and opportunities are for better controlling interruptions.

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