Write Every Bid With a Positive Mindset
These documents will safeguard the future of your business, maximise profits and/or open up new markets.
For these reasons you should approach the task with enthusiasm and commitment.
It’s Good Fun Really – Setting the Tone for your Tenders
Few people enjoy giving their business to indifferent staff; think about how you feel when faced with a distracted shop assistant. If you ensure your reader knows you want to win their contract, you will build a positive relationship with them.
Manage your Proposal Reviewers
Left to their own devices, many reviewers will simply comment on tone and punctuation. By suggesting areas for comment, you will avoid the ‘red pen’ mentality and encourage them to challenge the content and structure instead.
Explaining Features and Benefits in your Tenders
By articulating benefits as well as features, you can make sure the customer clearly understands the value of what you are offering. When you have a list of features, ask “So What?” to each one. The answers be the benefits.
Why an Executive Summary is Essential to your Proposal
This section gives the most senior decision maker an immediate picture of your proposal and why they should select you. It should be clear, concise and specific to their project. It should be all about them, not all about you.
Starting a New Proposal
A better approach is to re-read the requirements and sketch out what THAT customer needs. If having done this, you find there are sections that have also appeared in older documents, you can then consider cutting and pasting text. If you start with someone else’s proposal, you should not be surprised when a customer complains about it being too generic, or containing irrelevant material.
Your Pages are Numbered: Readable Bid Documents
Your reader must be able to navigate easily around the document. Page numbers, with corresponding entries in the table of contents, will help them do this. Irrespective of whether your document comprises a few pages or several volumes, a good numbering system helps the reader track their position in the overall submission.
Keep your Tenders Ahead of the Competition
•Impress your reader
•Beat your competitors
If you know that one of your competitors has a compelling case, you must write something that counters it. Merely submitting a ‘good’ response will not win you the work.
If you do not have a winning case, you should not spend time submitting a bid.
Method Statements are Essential in Good Proposals
Remember that in a proposal you are trying to give the buyer total confidence in your abilities. You are also trying to demonstrate that your methods are better than your competitors’. Take the opportunity to articulate clearly all parts of the job, and also state the actions you would take if something were to go wrong.
Up to Date Policy Documents are Essential to Tenders
Most purchasing organisations now expect to review the following policies:
•Environmental
•Equality and Diversity
•Health and Safety
•Quality Management
•Business Continuity
Ensure that your business continuity policy covers all business risks, not just IT security.
Designing your Document – Keep the Customer in Mind
The majority of readers like standard document layouts, in one single column, portrait style, because they are easy to navigate. Many people find powerpoint, newspaper or landscape styles irritating. A ‘normal’ document with an excellent structure and interesting graphics will ensure the reader’s attention is focused on the content.
New Year, New Cliché?
Why not make this the year you achieve your aim?
By taking just an hour each week to work on your tender admin, you will be amazed how quickly things improve.
