Size is Not Important
The way you plan, structure and write a bid should not vary according to the value of it. It doesn’t matter if your proposal is for £5k or £500m.
Tips and advice on how to improve your tender writing, bid strategy and bid processes in order to win more work at higher prices.
The way you plan, structure and write a bid should not vary according to the value of it. It doesn’t matter if your proposal is for £5k or £500m.
Many people try too hard when writing proposal documents. Plain English, used in short and simple sentences, is much better than cumbersome language.
Pre-written content is often called “boilerplate” or “template” text. Working from boilerplate is supposed to save you time because editing is assumed to be easier than writing.
Before you submit any electronic documents, thoroughly check the embedded data fields. Your potential customer will not be impressed to see you have cribbed from a tender which was previously submitted to one of their competitors.
Community benefit, environment, sustainability and corporate and social responsibility clauses are extremely important. They can contribute up to 10% of the total score (more for public sector contracts).
As soon as an opportunity arises, either through your business development work or as an invitation to tender, you should question it in terms of:
Two guys are in the jungle when a lion approaches. One man starts to run but the other calmly searches through his bags for his running shoes. “Are you mad?”, asks the first, “you’ll never outrun the lion”.
Proposal writing can be a daunting task. With its unforgiving deadlines, it is a complex process, the outcome of which can have a huge impact on the business.
It is common practice for several individuals to write different sections within one proposal but these can be difficult to manage. Issuing a pro-forma to bid writers at the outset simplifies the process.
There are 4 common uses of commas.