‘Sir. I am a U.S. Marine. YOU are my mission.’

As a writer who also happens to be a movie buff, I’ve savoured thousands of good scenes and lines. But this one – from the award-winning ‘World Trade Center’ (released way back in 2006) – is one of the most powerful movie lines I’ve ever heard . . . at least, in the context of the scene during which it is delivered.

A U.S. Marine, having volunteered for the harrowing task of searching for survivors in the rubble of Ground Zero, hears the desperate and muffled cries of two deeply buried New York City Port Authority policemen.

He lacks the necessary equipment to move the rubble and communicates to the buried officers his intention to call for gear. One officer weakly calls back his concern that – given the dangers (i.e. to the Marine and his colleagues) associated with the rescue – he may be better advised to abort in favour of more achievable missions.

That sparked the actor-Marine’s powerfully delivered and spine-tinglingly memorable line: “Sir. I am a U.S. Marine. I will not leave you. YOU are my mission.”

What on Earth Does This Have to Do with Bids or Business Development?

When that line was delivered, there was no doubt in the trapped officer’s mind that he was the concerted, dedicated focus of that Marine. The actor-officer’s confidence in the Marine was palpable, and his mental surrender to his situation – with the Marine in control – was total, without reserve.

Oddly enough, there’s a distinct relevance to the discipline of business development and bidding. How would it be if you and your business development and bid teams could take a nervous, risk-averse client and give him or her that same feeling of justified surrender? The willingness to put his or her total trust and confidence in your knowledge, your dedication, your skills . . . and thus, your recommendations (read: your proposal)?

Would that not be a powerful position to enjoy?

Well . . . such a privileged position must be genuinely earned. And earning it requires exactly that – knowledge (i.e. deep, intelligent research), dedication (i.e. a selfless commitment to fully identify and then put the client’s needs first), and an appropriate and top-notch skill set (i.e. the ability to deliver the optimum product, service or solution to achieve the client’s objectives).

Have You Made the Client Your Selfless & Unwavering ‘Mission’?

Yet, how many business development operatives approach an opportunity or a client meeting with the mindset that they have much to “get across to” the client? And how many bids and proposals are written from exactly the same perspective?

Of course, what they have to “get across to” the client, is a mountain of information about the supplier or service provider, and their wonderful product, service or solution.

In other words, the focus is placed largely on the supplier and/or the service / product rather than where it should be placed i.e. on the client. (To hark back to the context of the Marine and his mission, this equates to said Marine – in the trapped officer’s moment of greatest vulnerability and dependence – breaking his intense concentration on that officer and bringing his fists up to pound his chest while expounding the virtues of his training and abilities.)

Conversely, shifting the emphasis from the service provider and placing it on the client, requires a total surrender of self-interest and self-promotion (at least, initially), an open mind and a genuine hunger for knowledge about the client, all combined with a shared drive to see his or her organisation’s objective/s achieved.

When your people genuinely – and I do mean genuinely – come from this place, your clients not only sense it; it screams at them (in the most comforting, confidence-engendering way). 

This is the very definition of “client-centricity” . . . and it speaks louder than any words or any marketing materials. Furthermore, it carries over into your bid documentation – provided that bid documentation has been directly informed and influenced by those who have sincerely made the client their “mission”.