If you wanted to earn a trillion dollars, one option is chase a moonshot idea. But far more easily, you could tap into a market where that amount already moves every single year. Few markets move more money, more predictably, than the world of competitive procurement.

Every year, organizations (public and private) release thousands of RFPs worth billions of dollars. Combined, the total is well over $1 trillion. For example, government procurement in the United States is estimated at about $7 trillion annually across federal, state, and local levels according to the World Bank. This is a massive marketplace where every dollar your team wins adds directly to your pipeline and revenue.

Yet many sales and proposal teams treat RFPs as a chore rather than a strategic channel. They submit low-yield responses, miss deadlines, struggle with manual processes, and fail to differentiate. That approach leaves significant money on the table.

Breakdown: How Much is Actually Up for Grabs?

Government Spending and Enterprise Procurement

• U.S. government procurement: approximately $7 trillion annually (World Bank)
• Global professional services and large enterprise procurement: multi-trillion scale, including an estimated $2 trillion in growth from 2024 to 2028 (VMR)

How Your Company Can Claim Its Slice

Imagine your company wins 0.1 percent of a $1 trillion pool. That equals $1 billion in revenue. Increase your win rate or RFP coverage and you scale to multiple billions. The key is shifting from “hope we win” to “we systematically win more.”

Three Strategic Levers to Increase Your Win Rate and Capture More RFP Dollars

Lever 1: Speed and Responsiveness

In the RFP game, the first responder often gains early consideration. Rapid acknowledgment, tailored clarifications, and early engagement signal seriousness and set you apart from slower competitors.

Lever 2: Accuracy and Differentiation

Do more than meet the specifications. Differentiate. Understand the buyer’s business, propose unique value, and anticipate objections. Accuracy reduces perceived risk for the buyer and increases your reliability.

Lever 3: Process Automation and Scale

Use templates, content libraries, approval workflows, and AI-driven assistance so your team can respond to more RFPs with fewer errors and less manual effort. Higher response volume combined with consistent quality increases your share of the $1 trillion market.

Manual effort only scales so far. Increasing volume without automation and good process can become inefficient. Increasing volume with automation allows both quantity and quality to rise.

Proof Point: What Top Teams Are Doing Differently

High-performing proposal teams report that automating key parts of the RFP workflow (content reuse, approval routing, analytics) improves win rates by 10 to 20 percentage points and reduces preparation time by 30 to 50 percent. This creates more bids, faster turnaround, and lower cost per response. Every incremental win adds revenue at higher margin.

Action Plan: A Five-Step Checklist for Your Team This Quarter

1. Audit your past 12 months of RFP responses (win rate, time to respond, cost per response).
   
   

2. Identify content reuse opportunities (boilerplate, case studies, win themes).
   
   

3. Map a workflow with clear owners, deadlines, and approvals.
   
   

4. Pilot an automation tool for one high-volume RFP segment.
   
   

5. Set target win rates and revenue goals tied to RFP performance (for example: win 0.2 percent of a $500 billion pool equals $1 billion in new pipeline).
   
   

This type of measurement and structure provides the discipline needed to capture your share of the RFP market.

Why You Need an AI-Powered Partner to Scale

To win your share of the RFP opportunity, you need more than good processes. You need speed, scale, and intelligence. This is where Settle becomes essential. With AI-enabled proposal management designed specifically for RFP workflows, Settle helps you respond faster, increase accuracy, maintain consistent differentiation, and scale output without adding headcount.

This positions your team to earn a meaningful portion of the massive RFP opportunity.

Ready to scale your RFP wins and capture a bigger slice of the pie? Book a demo of Settle today and see how automated proposal responses turn opportunity into revenue.

Sources

• Government Procurement in the United States (World Bank)

 • Professional Services RFP Trends (VMR)