Consulting or agency · 14 min
Finding clients
Most consulting work comes from people who already know you. The rest is arithmetic: how many proposals it takes to fill your calendar, and starting before it's empty.
Ticket 01 · The guess
How often does a proposal win?
Words to know
Sources and every number (3)
Sources
- RFP Response Trends & Benchmarks Report 2025 (survey of 1,544 people who respond to requests for proposals; win rates for 2024) · Loopio, with APMP, 2025
- Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 · Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (filed with the U.S. SEC), 2026
- The State of Digital Agencies in 2024: Client Referrals Drive Agency New Business (survey of 612 agency owners and consultants) · SparkToro (Paddy Moogan), 2025
Every number
- 45%
loopio.com ·2025 · Average share of requests for proposals won in 2024, as reported by the people on proposal teams Loopio surveyed, most in North America. - 57%
sec.gov ·2026 · Booz Allen's win rate on new contracts, fiscal 2026 (the year to the end of March 2026), as its annual report gives it. - 89%
sec.gov ·2026 · Booz Allen's win rate on re-competes (contracts it already held coming up for bidding again), fiscal 2026. - 66%
sparktoro.com ·2025 · Share of the agency owners and consultants surveyed who named referrals from existing and past clients as their top source of new business, in a 2024 survey. Self-selected, not a random sample. - 612 people
sparktoro.com ·2025 · Agency owners and consultants who answered the survey.