Danelle Morrow | Profile in Servant Leadership for Sales & Marketing

Great bosses raise up their team but it takes a great leader to raise the bar on an entire profession. That's what Danelle Morrow, CF.APMP is doing for proposal response teams of all shapes and sizes.

Most large businesses have a department dedicated to developing responses to Request for Proposals (RFPs). These teams are typically treated as order-takers and reactive organizations. Accordingly, the departments are often titled, “Proposal Management” or “Sales Response” teams. However, Morrow argues this undervalues and misrepresents the current reality and potential of these teams.

Proposal teams serve... ...as the heartbeat of the revenue engine of the organization. - Danelle Morrow

In a recent Forbes article, Morrow suggests a better name for the function is Strategic Response Management. In explaining her efforts to pull the field from back-office shadows anonymity, she highlights how the function listens to, understands, and serves an extensive group of stakeholders, including:

• Current Customers
• Prospective Clients
• Sales
• Marketing
• Brand Management

In serving each of these groups, Danelle explains it is critical to speak their language – a lesson we teach in our leadership classes and a cornerstone of serving others. Yet, speaking their language is only the start. Another great example of servant leadership in action is Ms. Morrow’s emphasis on the role these teams play as stewards of vital corporate resources.

...proposal leaders are not line managers, they are stewards of capital. They are making daily decisions on how to invest company resources to generate the best return. - Danelle Morrow

The Strategic Response Management team of any company must steward resources including:

• Human Knowledge
• Digital Knowledge
• Digital Assets
• Creative Assets
• Innovation Resources
• Intellectual Property 
• Operational Insights
• Delivery Expertise
• And more

Like all great servant leaders though, Danelle understands the people are far more important and valuable. In her efforts to raise the profession, she is also working with her team and the Association of Proposal Management Professionals to increase awareness and develop career paths. She’s upskilled and promoted 20% of the team at Sodexo while presenting at APMA conferences on how to apply these best practices and better serve stakeholders. 

Thanks for being a profile in servant leadership for Strategic Response Management professionals, Danelle. Keep serving!