Tips and advice on improving your bid process to reduce time input and produce higher quality and more effective bids.
It is useful to track bids won, lost and ‘gone away’ along with any feedback you receive. A spreadsheet is a good way to capture this and it can also hold information about submission dates and expected decision dates. A tracking system allows you to monitor trends and make strategic decisions about pricing and positioning … Read more..
Unfortunately, it is sometimes true that clients have a preferred supplier before they invite companies to bid. By using a rigorous bid/no bid process you can reduce the amount of time wasted on unwinnable bids and concentrate only on ‘good’ ones. If staff think the outcome is rigged or the bid is unwinnable, it is … Read more..
If you cannot understand a client’s brief, it is extremely unlikely you will be able to sell them a perfect solution. Most clients are happy to answer specific questions to help clarify their requirements. Ensure your questions to them are clear and have not already been addressed in supporting documentation.
If you have not been selected as the winning bidder it is sometimes possible to challenge the decision. The grounds for challenge must be “it’s not fair” as opposed to “I don’t like the decision”. An unfair tender process might occur if one company had access to supplementary information or did not follow the rules
If a client asks about your approach to risk management, describe how you identify, measure and mitigate risk. Describe the key risks you have identified and their likely impact, to show you appreciate the complexity of the project. Make sure you tailor the response to the project. Do not simply give a generic or theoretical … Read more..
Every bid, proposal or tender should start with a kick-off meeting. This may be attended by a large team who are multi-departmental, it may include suppliers or just comprise a couple of people. Discuss and agree items such as the win theme, key features of the proposal, timescales and review procedures. By ensuring everyone has … Read more..
Giving examples of completed projects is a great way to demonstrate your ability to deal with complex and challenging situations. This is often done using case studies. To make them really persuasive, make sure you include problems you encountered and ways you overcame them. Clients will be more impressed with a company that excelled in … Read more..
A file containing skeleton responses is extremely useful to have when similar questions appear in multiple bid documents. Try to ensure that the text has been written for simple, basic questions. It can then be adapted for each individual situation and project. If you keep answers to complex questions on file, you risk submitting irrelevant … Read more..
Clients are keen to know who will be delivering their work as well as each person’s qualifications and experience. Do not forget to describe how your staff work together and what value the overall team will bring to the project. It is rare for individual CVs to capture this so you will need to describe … Read more..
When writing a proposal it is sometimes difficult to know how to structure your response.
