How a Solid Pursuit Strategy Will Improve Your Win Rate

Ashley (Kayes) Floro, CPP APMP • March 16, 2026


In the competitive world of government and commercial contracting, winning more work is rarely just about writing better proposals. However, organizations often focus heavily on improving proposal quality while overlooking a critical upstream factor: whether they should be pursuing the opportunity at all. A thoughtful pursuit strategy helps teams focus their time, resources, and energy on opportunities that align with their strengths, relationships, and long-term business goals. By applying discipline to the pursuit process and using metrics such as win rates and capture rates to guide decisions, companies can better prioritize the opportunities that truly move the needle for the business. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how understanding these metrics and applying a structured pursuit strategy can help organizations improve both their efficiency and their overall probability of win.


Win Rate vs. Capture Rate


Before we discuss the pursuit strategy in a bit more detail, I wanted to touch on win rats vs. capture rates. Win rates are calculated by taking total opportunities won and dividing by total opportunities pursued, while capture rates are the total dollars won by the total dollars pursued. Looking at both rates is important in understanding whether you have a healthy pursuit strategy.


Sometimes looking at the numbers in extremes can help. For example, let’s say your team loses one large proposal worth $500M but wins three small proposals worth $10M each. In this instance, your win rate is fairly high (75%), but the impact to revenue is fairly low ($30M). In this example, you’ll see that the capture rate is actually quite low as well ($30M/$530M = 6%). Now let’s say your team wins that one large proposal worth $500M but loses the three small proposals worth $10M each. In this instance, your win rate is comparably lower (25%), but your capture rate is significantly higher ($500M won/$530M pursued = 94%). In this example, the $500M in wins does much more for the company’s overall business performance than the $30M in wins from the example with the higher win rate.


You should aim to have a healthy balance between your win and capture rates. The team should be sure to consider the administrative costs that go into the smaller deals—on both the pursuit side and the execution side. Smaller dollar value proposals often require just as much effort to pursue as larger dollar value proposals—and require almost as much contractual documentation on the execution side. All that is not to say that your company should only go after large opportunities. For example, based on the size of and capabilities of your organization, it may simply be easier to win smaller opportunities. By pursuing opportunities that are in your company’s sweet spot, these multiple small opportunities may keep your win rates high and revenues steady. However, by slowly and strategically pursuing larger efforts, you may be able to expand into contracts that overall will require less administrative support on the pursuit and win side, as well as on the execution side.


How to Use Win and Capture Rates to Better Inform Pursuit Strategies


Capture and win rates are great starting points for assessing the health of a business development organization. For example, if you notice low win or capture rates, you can start to assess the reasons why you might now be winning. I recommend starting with the evaluation debriefs from the customer. If the debriefs cite problems with compliance, then it may be that the process is breaking down at the end, when the Proposal Manager takes the reins. However, if the debriefs cite problems with the solution or lack of customer understanding, it’s much more likely the problem starts much earlier than the RFP drop, during the business development and capture phases. Or there may even be a breakdown in the transfer of knowledge and information between the capture and proposal phases.


Companies can also analyze which customers and services they seem to have higher success rates with and the reasons why this may be the case. For example, you’ll likely notice a higher success rate among opportunities where the team has better relationships with the customer, proven contract success with the customer, and/or proven contract success delivering a similar product or service. In those areas where you notice less success, perhaps you need to build stronger customer relationships, team to strengthen your position within the customer organization, and/or consider subcontracting in product/service areas where you are looking to expand.


Assessing Potential Opportunities


Armed with an understanding of your company’s strengths and weaknesses, you can begin to make better informed decisions when assessing potential opportunities. When assessing potential opportunities for a positive pursuit decision, it’s important to ask questions that determine whether the opportunity aligns with the overall company strategic goals, whether the opportunity meets individual business unit goals (if applicable), whether the company has the right capabilities to win and deliver the work, and whether the team has the necessary past performance to support a win. When vetting potential opportunities in the pipeline, teams may consider factors such as the win probability, whether there is adequate time to respond, whether the team has solid customer information, whether funding is available, and whether the opportunity falls within the targeted business market. Other considerations include how well the team can meet the anticipated requirements, whether the contract is worth the effort required to bid, and whether the team has the available resources to sufficiently support the proposal effort. The team may also consider the following guidance when making pursuit decisions:


Similar Product/Service, Existing Customer


Pursuit Indication: Strong


Recommended Strategy:  Because you know the product, market, and customer, you should focus on the competition and understanding their strengths, weaknesses, and likely strategies


Similar Product/Service, New Customer


Pursuit Indication:  Some Caution


Recommended Strategy: Because you don’t know the customer and market as well, you should first focus your efforts on learning the market and customer. You’ll want to establish your company in the market and build relationships with the customer before focusing on the competition.


New Product/Service, Existing Customer


Pursuit Indication:  Caution


Recommended Strategy: You’ll want to proceed with caution. First focus on filling capability gaps and making sure you have a solution that meets the needs of your customer. Then turn your attention to learning about the competition.


New Product/Service, New Customer


Pursuit Indication:  Weak/Success Unlikely


Recommended Strategy: You should drop this opportunity from the pipeline. If you decide to pursue this opportunity, it will require significant resources and will still likely have a very low probability of success.


By spending energy on opportunities that fit the business goals and that have a higher chance of success, you’ll not only save time and money, you’ll improve the morale of your resources. In addition to lowering your overall win and capture rates, consistently pursuing opportunities with low probabilities of win is an ineffective use of resources, which can burn out your staff, lower morale, and result in increased capture and proposal staff turnover.


Final Thoughts


In this world of bids and proposals, we all certainly want to win more. But there are so many factors that impact a company’s probability of win, and a number of things throughout the opportunity lifecycle can impact a company’s chances of winning (both positively and negatively). However, one key thing that you can do to positively impact your chances of winning is to simply pursue the right opportunities. Select opportunities that make sense for your business strategy, where you have strong relationships or can build strong relationships before the Request for Proposal (RFP) drops, where you have demonstrated success delivering similar products or services. Select opportunities where you have sufficient time to address any gaps, weaknesses, or showstoppers. Remember, once the RFP is released, it’s very likely too late to mitigate any of these potential flaws in your approach, capabilities, or solution. It’s no wonder that pop-up or short-notice efforts typically have a much lower win rate than strategically targeted and well-positioned opportunities. This is all why starting the process early and applying a solid pursuit strategy really are so critical to improving your chances of winning and increasing your overall win and capture rates.


Shows requests for information (RFIs) becoming more important

RFIs Have Changed. Has Your Strategy?

By Ashley (Kayes) Floro, CPP APMP • May 5, 2026
In government contracting, the pre-solicitation phase is where requirements are shaped, vendor relationships get established, and acquisition strategies get set. Experienced teams know this, which is why they invest heavily in customer engagement, competitive intelligence, and capture planning long before a Request for Proposal (RFP) is released. But one pre-solicitation activity has historically been undervalued: the Request for Information (RFI). That's changing fast, and contractors who haven't noticed are already behind. RFIs: No Longer Just Market Research The traditional view of RFIs is simple: agencies issue them to gather information about industry capabilities before drafting a solicitation. That definition no longer captures what's happening in the current procurement landscape. Today, agencies use RFIs to define and refine requirements, test the feasibility of solutions, identify capable vendors early, and reduce the risk of poorly structured procurements. RFIs aren't just gathering information anymore, they're shaping the acquisition itself. Why Agencies Are Leaning into RFIs Several forces are pushing agencies toward deeper pre-solicitation engagement with industry, with a noticeable emphasis on RFIs. Increasing complexity. Emerging technologies and evolving mission needs mean agencies often don't know what the right solution looks like. The Government needs industry input to understand what's possible. Budget pressure. With tighter budgets and greater oversight, agencies must justify acquisition strategies earlier. RFIs let the Government validate assumptions before committing funds. Risk reduction. Poorly defined requirements lead to protests, delays, and costly rework. Getting it right before the RFP saves the Government time, money, and credibility. The result: more consequential work is happening before the RFP is ever released, and RFIs are holding more weight. The Strategic Opportunity Contractors Are Missing For contractors, this shift changes when and how opportunities are won. Responding to an RFI is no longer a courtesy or a branding exercise. It's a chance to shape how the problem is framed, introduce alternative approaches, position your capabilities as the benchmark, and influence evaluation criteria before they're finalized. Organizations that engage early often help define the playing field. By the time the RFP drops, those who sat out may find themselves reacting to requirements that already favor someone else. The Bar Is Rising RFIs are also becoming more structured. Agencies increasingly use standardized response templates, form-based submissions, and structured data collection—making it easier to compare vendors side by side. This raises the stakes for how you respond. Vague answers and marketing language don't land in structured formats. Clear, specific, well-supported responses stand out and are far more likely to influence the outcome. What To Do About It Organizations serious about win rates need to rethink how they treat RFIs: not as optional, but as strategic. This means being selective but intentional about which RFIs to pursue, aligning RFI responses with your broader capture strategy, and focusing on insight rather than just information. The goal isn't simply to answer the questions being asked: it's to shape the questions that will appear in the RFP. Final Thoughts RFIs are not new, but their role in government contracting is changing in meaningful ways. RFIs have become a critical touchpoint where agencies and industry collaborate to define problems, explore solutions, and reduce acquisition risk. For contractors, they represent one of the earliest, and most valuable, opportunities to influence an outcome. The organizations that recognize this, and act on it, are the ones best positioned to win.

From Submission to Success: How Lessons Learned Drive Better Proposals

By Ashley (Kayes) Floro, CPP APMP • March 30, 2026
When was the last time your team truly examined why you won—or lost—a proposal? Every submission your team makes, win or lose, contains a roadmap for doing better next time. Yet many organizations treat each proposal as a standalone event, moving quickly from one bid to the next without pausing to reflect on what worked, what didn't, and why. This is a costly mistake. A structured lessons learned program, built into every stage of the business development lifecycle, is one of the most powerful tools a company can use to sharpen its competitive edge. Conducting Lessons Learned Conducting lessons learned after each proposal submission is a critical part of the business development lifecycle. It helps companies understand where they are excelling and where they need to improve. To ensure the experience is fresh in everyone's mind, each member of the proposal team should document their impressions — both positive and negative — within the first week after submission. Sample questions to consider include: Was the proposal development schedule reasonable and realistic? Why or why not? Were there any bottlenecks or major issues? If so, what were they, and how could they be mitigated in the future? Did the team work well together? If not, how could team dynamics have been improved? How effective was communication among the team? What went well? What could have been improved? Did any unexpected problems occur during proposal development? If so, how could they be mitigated going forward? Did the team stay within its B&P budget? If not, what could have been done differently? What worked best during the capture and proposal effort? What areas require improvement? A practical way to gather and analyze this feedback is to send a survey to each team member using an automated tool, which makes it easier to collate and compare responses. After Action Report Once the results are in, the Proposal Manager should review the feedback and prepare an After Action Report that details lessons learned and recommended next steps. This report should be shared with the full proposal team to ensure that insights are carried forward into future efforts. Lessons Learned Session Additionally, after contract award is announced, the team should conduct a formal Lessons Learned Session to document and discuss observations, findings, and conclusions — win or lose. By understanding where the team encountered roadblocks, and where the customer found gaps in the response, the team can address those issues and strengthen both the process and the final product on future efforts. Equally important: identify what the team is doing well and make sure those practices are preserved and repeated. Analyzing Trends and Updating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) Conducting lessons learned after each proposal is valuable, but the benefit compounds when you step back and look at the bigger picture. On an annual basis, review your After Action Reports and lessons learned debriefs as a body of work, and analyze them for recurring themes and patterns. As the year wraps up, whether you follow a corporate fiscal year or the calendar year, ask yourself: What challenges keep surfacing? Where does the team consistently perform well? Sharing these trends with your team creates a culture of transparency and accountability, and helps focus improvement efforts where they matter most. More importantly, translate those findings into action by updating your business development and proposal SOPs. If internal feedback shows the team is consistently scrambling during production, adjust your SOPs to launch the production process earlier. If customer debriefs repeatedly cite a lack of customer understanding, take a hard look at your capture process and strengthen your call plan execution. Continuously refining your processes in response to real data is one of the clearest paths to improved performance—and more wins. Final Thoughts Every organization in this industry wants to win more, and win rates are often cited as the headline measure of a business development organization's health. While they are a useful starting point, win rates alone don't tell the whole story. Too many variables influence any single outcome. What matters more is building the discipline to learn from every effort, regardless of the result. A consistent lessons learned program, paired with annual trend analysis and a willingness to update your processes, creates a feedback loop that makes your team sharper over time. The companies that win consistently aren't just the ones with the best writers or the biggest budgets, they're the ones that treat every proposal, win or lose, as an opportunity to get better.

Six Strategies to Tackle Tight Page Limitations

By Ashley (Kayes) Floro, CPP APMP • March 25, 2026
Tight page limitations are continuing to be a challenge as contracting officers streamline their acquisition processes. When faced with tight page restrictions, we often find ourselves struggling with trimming five pages of material into two pages of allocated space. However, sometimes the content we are working with is so long because it is simply overly wordy. In this article, I present six tricks for eliminating waste. 1. Use Active Voice With active voice, the subject of the sentence comes first and performs the action in the sentence. Active voice is more straightforward and concise than passive voice. It typically results in shorter, sharper sentences. So not only does it take up less real estate, it flows better and is easier to understand. Passive: It was decided by the Program Manager to streamline the program. Active, Strong Verb: The Program Manager streamlined the program. 2. Eliminate Redundancies Remove redundancies that take up extra space and don’t add value. I present some examples below.