The idea involves looking for opportunities to demonstrate your expertise and land specific work. I am not referring to formal Request for Proposals (RFPs), although they obviously present opportunities as well. Those are more likely to involve competition which may or may not be a good thing.
Here I am talking about asking for the opportunity to present your credentials on an issue or matter that has been identified by the client (who may have used another firm for that work in the past), or a prospect where he or she has raised a problem in a conversation. In these cases, you could have the opportunity to present your expertise without competing head-to-head with others.