Tendering Top Tips

• Does it make sense? Could it be simplified?
• Have I used jargon?

Well written proposals are a pleasure to read, even when they are full of technical detail.
Do not submit content which is turgid or unintelligible.

If you spend too long deciding if and how you are going to bid, you will eat into your writing time.
Time spent producing content is time well spent. Do not give your competition any advantage.

A woman: without her, man is nothing. A woman, without her man, is nothing.

It is important that your documents say what you mean, so always check that your punctuation is correct.

Graphics, photographs and imported images are particularly likely to contain hidden data.
When issuing material to a potential client, you should check that you are sending only relevant information.

The rule of thumb is to ask, “Does it directly help the reader draw a conclusion about my proposition?” Only include it if the answer is, “Yes.”
It can be tempting to add information “just in case” but your reader is busy and does not want to read superfluous material.

The reader will compare your submission with your competitors’ so you need to counter their strengths and highlight their weaknesses.
The more you understand about your competitors, the easier it is to displace them.

Here are a few commonly misspelled words and tips on how to remember the correct spelling:
stationEry – ‘e’ is for Envelopes
stationAry – ‘a’ as in stAtic
princiPAL – he is your PAL
principLE – this is a ruLE
Remember that automatic spelling correction will not pick up mistakes of this kind.

Ensure up-to-date copies of all relevant documents are correctly filed. These can include CVs, case studies and references as well as insurance documents, accreditation certificates and annual reports.
More comprehensive libraries will also include method statements, feature / benefit lists and competitor details.

Companies sometimes win work they do not really want because they did not think it through beforehand. These jobs often turn into headaches or loss-makers. Before committing time and resources to writing a tender, think carefully about whether you want to win it. A decision tree can be a useful tool to help you reach the answer.

Whenever you write something in a tender, you must explain what this means to the customer. Doing this will also help non-technical readers understand your proposition. To help clarify your text, answer the question “So what?”.

Where you have submitted a document electronically, you should expect it to be printed in black. This means you need to design graphics and use page templates that will look good without relying on colour.

From their perspective, is what you are offering crystal clear? Will they know why you have included all the items? It is easy to assume a customer has the same knowledge as you, yet this is rarely the case. You must explain everything in a way that they understand.