From Cold Leads to Closed Deals, How Winning Business is Evolving

Over the past decade, I’ve worn many hats, Sales Director, Recruiter, Founder, Designer, Seo specialist and more recently, the driving force behind a tech platform that helps teams win work smarter and faster. That unique vantage point has given me a front-row seat to how the business of winning business has changed.

And make no mistake… it has changed. Dramatically.

In 2025, the companies that win most consistently aren't necessarily the biggest or the loudest. They’re the most aligned…. They bring together sales, proposals, bid, and delivery into one focused, responsive engine. They use technology to remove friction. And they know that storytelling and speed matter more than ever.

Not long ago, winning work meant relying on relationships, experience, and a flurry of Word documents flying between inboxes. Proposal teams often started from scratch, even when they'd done something similar before. Sales teams pushed opportunities over the fence, and bid teams picked them up in isolation.

That still happens. But it’s not working anymore.

Procurement teams are smarter, buyers are busier, and the window to impress is shorter. Everyone is looking for certainty, relevance, and proof you can deliver. If you’re still running on legacy processes, you’re going to feel the pain.

What I’ve Seen Over the Last 12 Months

In the last year, I’ve spoken to hundreds of teams across sectors. From SMEs to PLCs, from in-house bid writers to outsourced consultants. The themes are consistent:

• Too many tenders, too little time
• Good answers stuck in old folders
• Proposal fatigue and admin overload
• A growing curiosity about AI, but uncertainty on where it fits

There’s also ambition. A real desire to raise the game. The challenge is finding time to fix the engine while still driving the car.

The Future of Winning Work

The next generation of winning teams will look different. Here’s how:

• Sales and Bid Become One Team: No more handovers. Collaboration from day one.
• Speed Wins: Reuse what you know. Automate the repeatable. Spend time on what matters.
• AI as a Partner, Not a Threat: Use it to surface insights, suggest answers, and keep things moving.
• Every Touchpoint Tells a Story: Buyers need to feel confident in your capability. That comes from clarity and consistency.

Where AI Actually Helps

Let’s cut through the hype. AI in sales, bidding & proposals isn’t about replacing people. It’s about freeing them to focus on the parts that move the needle:

• Retrieving past answers in seconds
• Auto-filling first drafts of responses
• Ensuring compliance and formatting
• Suggesting win themes based on previous success

That’s what we’ve built with Answertree… and it’s works!

Teams are cutting bid response times by up to 78%, and gaining more breathing space to think strategically.

Over the next 12 months, I expect to see:

• A continued shift away from manual bid, proposal & sales processes
• More integration between sales, bid, and delivery tools
• Procurement teams expecting quicker, clearer responses
• Businesses putting AI to work not just in writing, but in qualifying, scoring, and planning

Winning business in 2025 isn’t about grinding harder. It’s about working smarter, aligning your teams, and using the right tools to move fast without losing quality.

If you’re still treating bids & proposals as admin, you’ll be outpaced.

But if you treat every response as a strategic asset, and empower your people with tech that works with them, not against them, you’ll go from cold leads to closed deals faster than ever!