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Ten common mistakes we see on bids
Many businesses are frustrated with the pitching/tender process. It can be confusing, time-consuming and feel like there’s little control over the outcome. You can find yourself competing in a situation where you know you have a superior product or solution, but your tender is just not getting across the line.
When is it time to enlist the help of a specialist pitch consultancy?
Many businesses are frustrated with the pitching/tender process. It can be confusing, time-consuming and feel like there’s little control over the outcome. You can find yourself competing in a situation where you know you have a superior product or solution, but your tender is just not getting across the line.
Do you know who is scoring your next tender?
The competitive tendering landscape has changed significantly over recent years. Procurement processes are getting more robust, more intelligent, and much more structured. Your tender is being evaluated by different people and for different reasons.
Six ways to pitch smarter
With no prizes for second place, tenders are an expensive business. It can be a costly exercise in terms of time and money, and in most cases a shotgun approach will not work. To be successful you need to develop a winning bid strategy and ensure a well-planned approach. Many businesses are restricted on time and find pitching an overwhelming prospect with limited resources.
Older Articles
Want to win a competitive tender, but not sure where to start?
What can I do to prepare before I submit my first tender? How to set up your Tender Toolkit.
Understanding Procurement 2020
Why your customers are looking for new suppliers in 2020 and our strategies on how to win this...
6 Reasons why being Strategic wins Bids
Every company wants to increase their bid win rate. While it might seem like you have to bid more...
Why not to use a Shotgun Approach when bidding
Does your organisation still implement a shotgun approach and bid for everything? Do any of these statements sound familiar?
“We have to bid, its strategic”
“We were invited, we’re in with a chance”
“We probably won’t win, but we need to put forward a bid”
The Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimisation
Search engine optimisation. Sounds scary, right? Most people in the business realm have at least a...
How to Set Up a Tender Template
Ever been frustrated by mistakes and repeated questions in a Request for Tender document? Don’t make the common mistake of changing the tender documents, which can annoy the assessment team and even render your bid non-compliant.
Should Marketing Collateral be used in a Tender Response?
While marketing material has it’s place, it’s not in a tender response. A great tender response needs to concentrate on the prospect and illustrate that you understand what they are trying to achieve and show how your solution meets their requirements. It needs to be far more customer-centric than any generic marketing material is.
Why do incumbent Suppliers lose Competitive Tenders?
Have you ever been the incumbent on a large ‘must win’ contract, and lost it during a competitive tender process? We often have clients come to us because they have lost a key, long term contract, and they are devastated, and keen to make sure they don’t lose another one.
The Complete Guide to Hiring a Ghostwriter
Got big ideas, but limited time and resources? Despite having a brilliant idea for a book, many entrepreneurs and business owners simply don’t have the time to write it. That’s where ghostwriting comes in. Hiring a ghostwriter to pick up the slack is often the best solution available.
What to look for during a Red Team Review
Reviewing a tender response draft is an in-depth, high-stakes process that requires time, effort and more than a little zen. Don’t know where to start? We’ve put together a handy guide for your red team review.
6 Reasons your Bid Team needs a Mentor
Any business, whether just starting out with bidding or wanting to improve on existing strategy, can benefit from one-on-one mentoring from a bid management expert. Investing in mentoring for staff members will give your staff technical knowledge, develop their leaderships skills and provide your bid team the support to operate more effectively and win the contracts your business needs to expand.
When it comes to bidding, is a picture really worth a thousand words?
How do graphics effect the chances of your tender or proposal being read, understood, and invited to presentation?
Did you know that the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text? Or, perhaps most importantly, that images are processed by long term memory whilst text is processed within the short-term memory? One study has found that presenters who use visual aids are 43% more effective in getting people to do what they want (University of Minnesota School of Management).
Research by 3M shows visuals have been found to improve learning by up to 400%.
How to write a Winning Business Proposal
Companies wanting to present an idea to a prospective partner or to take advantage of an opportunity in the market often come to us looking for advice on how to present the information. When we look over the work they have already completed, we find that there are three common mistakes almost every small and medium sized business makes – and it always negatively affects their changes of a successful outcome. In fact, many companies confess once that have previously received feedback that matches one of these three mistakes from a document they have submitted:
What’s an RFT, ITT or RFP?
What’s an RFT, ITT and RFP? How do I know what the different tender documents are?
Whilst government tenders over a certain threshold are required by Australian law to advertise via the AusTender portal (under the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs)), large organisations, corporations and multi-nationals have their own set of internal procurement rules which govern how they approach purchasing and supply. In many cases this includes establishing thresholds within which departments or individuals can authorise purchases, and a set of rules about how they must carry out the purchase.
7 Steps to run a Successful Workshop and Develop Strong Win Strategies
There are many different buzz words used for bid strategy. Some call it the value proposition, differentiators, win themes, win strategy. The truth is, it’s all about ensuring your messaging is aligned to a strategy for success. It’s about making sure the bid continually reiterates the same message, so that every response is aligned to the prospective client’s requirements and your solution. We have a 7-step process to ensure your messaging is on point.
Formatting Bids to Win
Document layout and graphic illustrations are often a highly underrated element of bid preparation. The layout of a bid, and use of various graphics help to optimise the chance of the reader understanding and interpreting the full win strategy and key messaging intended by the tenderer.
500 word limits
Late last year I was in Sydney working on a unique government tender. The department set some of the strictest word limits I’ve ever seen. 3000 characters per response. That’s less than 500 words to explain what the tendering company does, how they intend to meet the Request for Tender (RFT) criteria, and the entire pitch for each region.
Well, I do love a challenge, and this didn’t disappoint! But its also left me pondering how I can take away some lessons to pass on to the benefit of my team, clients and customers.
Common Bidding Mistakes #2: Confusing the tender evaluation panel with long technical responses
It is essential to get input from these specialists and ensure the solution is appropriate for each client, and fully responds to the question. However, these experts tend to be highly experienced and knowledgeable, and the reams of content they produce can sometimes be overwhelming to those from other parts of the business, or indeed outside of the business.
Top 5 Tips for Managing Stakeholders
One of the key elements to managing a tender are the stakeholders involved. Timeframes are tight, and bidding teams tend to bring together specialists and management from right across the business; a group of people of all levels of the organisation who don’t necessarily work together often.
Persuasive Writing Tips for Proposals
Often when clients approach us for help writing a business proposal or tender response, they are after help with persuasive writing. The content of the document often requires input from a range of different technical leads, sector experts and operations staff – and many of these people are not writers.
See my top five tips for writing a persuasive document, aimed at helping the prospect to understand the offer or opportunity you’re hoping they will accept.
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