Ep. 12 In government contracting, the biggest deals aren’t won by who submits the longest proposal—they’re won by who built the right relationships long before the RFP ever dropped.

In this episode of Elevating Enterprise, Jazzy T and RJ Williams sit down with Nick Lopez, CEO of Prosal, to unpack how AI is changing the game for small and mid-sized enterprises, not by replacing human connection, but by strengthening it.

This conversation explores how intelligent research, market mapping, and relationship-driven strategy help SMEs stop chasing opportunities they were never positioned to win, and start showing up early, informed, and credible with the people who matter.

Why relationships win contracts—not last-minute proposals

How AI helps SMEs identify who to talk to and when

How most RFPs are written for someone long before they’re released

TTC (Time Talking to Customer) as a business development metric

How to shift from vendor to trusted partner before competition even begins

Because success isn’t overnight. It’s strategic.

About the Guest: 

Nick Lopez is the Co-Founder & CEO of Prosal, an AI-powered capture intelligence platform helping government contractors identify, shape, and win opportunities earlier in the procurement process. A former Lockheed Martin engineer, Nick brings firsthand experience in defense contracting and is focused on modernizing business development by prioritizing relationships, strategy, and actionable intelligence over reactive RFP chasing.

Website: https://prosal.com

LinkedIn: Nicholas Lopez

Email: [email protected]

Chapters:

00:00 – The Old Way Is Broken

01:22 – Meet Prosal: “ChatGPT, but Trained for Government Contracting” 03:27 – The Truth About RFPs Written for Someone Else

05:08 – RFIs, Market Research & How Relationships Shape Outcomes 06:23 – Why Relationships Win Contracts

09:03 – People Buy From People: Mapping the Human Side of Procurement

11:17 – How Prosal Guides You Instead of Making You Guess

13:13 – FAR Changes, Faster Timelines & New Federal Opportunities

15:07 – CSOs, BAAs & Breaking Into Federal Work

21:01 – Teaming Partners, Implied Incumbents & Competitive Intelligence 25:29 – From Weeks to Hours: Compressing Decision-Making Timelines 26:02 – TTC Explained: The Only Metric That Actually Matters

30:31 – What a 33% Win Rate Really Means

37:26 – Final Word: Stop Selling. Be Curious. Be Genuine.

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