How to Win More Work | A Consultant's Guide to Growing Profitably in 2026

In this practical guide, you'll uncover industry benchmark data.

In this practical guide, you'll uncover industry benchmark data (including how many proposals your peers are sending and their win rates); a targeted Proposal Maturity Model you can use for self-assessment; and a new operating model you can adopt to start winning more, faster.

  • Benchmark Your Firm Against Services Industry Data
  • Diagnose Your Bids with the Proposal Maturity Model
  • Discover How AI Can Help You Win More Work in 2026

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By the numbers

Professional services firms are submitting an average of 91 proposals a year, but win rates vary sharply by industry. Our research puts the average win rate at 47% across 45 firms, with architecture firms winning less often (32%) and management consulting winning more (48%).

On average, firms spend 24 hours per proposal. Senior staff (partners, principals, directors) account for 47% of that time.

Industry Proposals/yr Win rate Hours/proposal
Architecture5532%9
Engineering8144%22
Management Consulting8448%19
Software Services5743%41

These figures combine two sources. Projectworks surveyed 45 professional services firms (architecture n=3, engineering n=17, management consulting n=13, software services n=2) on proposal volume, win rate, and hours spent per proposal.

We paired this with third-party benchmarks from Loopio's State of RFPs in 2025, which surveyed a wider base of RFP teams across industries.

Want the full breakdown?

Download the guide to get the full breakdown of proposal benchmarks by industry, the Proposal Maturity Model to diagnose your own bids, and the operating model to start winning more work.

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