Billions of dollars are awarded each year in tenders, bids and RFPs. Are you getting your fair share?

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A winning proposal depends on three things:

• Complying with all proposal requirements

• Matching your skills and expertise to the RFP’s selection criteria

• Emphasizing your competitive strengths and advantages

 

Follow these steps to become more competitive and win more tenders!

 

Review the Tender

Review the tender to determine if this is within your range. If it is, print a copy and highlight all
of the key areas, including:

• Specific skills, expertise and other criteria required to submit

• The specific deliverables

• Due date

 

Assess your chances of winning!

Preparing tenders can help you to win big orders, but it can also be time-consuming, cost money and tie up valuable resources. If you don't get the contract, the money and time spent is usually lost, so you need to carefully consider whether or not a tender is worth bidding for.

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Before proceeding, you need to assess your likelihood of success. Is it attainable, is it an organizational stretch, or is it likely out of reach? If you conclude that it is a stretch, or out of reach, you will need to candidly evaluate what resources you will need to be competitive. Do you need to hire additional expertise, or form a strategic alliance?

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Do additional research

To gain a clearer understanding of a potential client's requirements, arrange a meeting with them. You should always raise questions by phone or email if tender documents are unclear. More importantly, client interviews often reveal personal preferences, priorities or politics that never appear in the formal document. This valuable information can give you an ‘inside track’.

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Make sure the client is serious, and that you're not there to make up the numbers or to test the market. Sometimes customers may just be fishing for ideas they'll then use for themselves. You can prevent this from happening by requesting customers to sign a non-disclosure agreement before presenting your tender. But don't forget many clients genuinely want you to make a creative contribution and provide ideas.

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Assemble the team

Preparing a tender proposal requires a concerted team effort. You will need to assemble a group of experts to create a competitive, credible response. Be sure to assign ONE project manager that you can hold accountable, and ONE person to ensure full compliance to the terms contained in the RFP (these could be one and the same, but it is good to have two sets of eyes on key requirements).

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The project manager, working with a compliance manager, must create a comprehensive outline that ensures you will not miss ANY CONTENT! If the RFP does not detail what the proposal should look like (and most do), then use the RFP as a guide. After this is complete, delegate development of the appropriate content to each subject expert.

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Prepare a work schedule

Like managing any important project, you will need to prepare a workback schedule. Be sure to include key milestones to keep development on track. This is very important because your team members generally have to fit this work into their normal work schedule. Don’t leave delivery of your proposal to the last minute!

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Determine a budget

Finally, you must develop a budget for your tender proposal. Your costs could be a little as printing and delivering, or they may also include research, consultants, and travel. A prudent budget is generally 2% to 4% of the total value of the tender contract, assuming that development of the proposal is complex.

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Write the proposal

Because each subject expert writes their own content, you need a master editor to standardize the writing. This is usually (but not always) the compliance manager. Don’t be afraid to assign a primary editor if writing and editing is not a strength of the project manager or the compliance manager. This is a critical function that can make or break your proposal!

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Apply the following tips for excellent writing:

• Keep sentences and paragraphs brief and to the point. Click here for excellent concise writing tips.

• Use bullet points and headings to break up text and make it easier to read. Sections with headings are excellent references on a Table of Contents.

• Include graphics such as pictures, tables and graphs if applicable.

• Decide on a typeface, layout and type size - not too small - and stick to them.

• Make sure everything is consistent and standardised. Are CVs all presented in the same way?

• Have ‘a fresh set of eyes’ proofread the document for spelling and grammar.

• Use appendices for supporting additional information.

• Produce a front cover with the project title, date, name of the organisation requesting the tender, and that of your own firm.

• Consider getting it printed and bound professionally.

 

Remember, to win a tender, you can’t simply be ‘as good as the other guys’. You must focus on the key area where you are superior! I suggest that you separate your skills and expertise in this way:

• Define the areas that you are as good as the competition

• Define the area(s) that you are much better than the competition

 

If your competitive advantages align with the tender requirements, you will have a compelling proposal, but only if you emphasize these strengths. Therefore, take every opportunity you can to highlight these skills:

• Use bold type, underlining or italicizing to emphasize key points

• Highlight key points as featured text under a picture or in super-large type

• Include relevant quotes and testimonials

• Emphasize advantages in your Cover Letter, Executive Summary and Conclusions

 

It is easy to lose sight of this when you are compiling a large, comprehensive proposal. Maintain this focus, and you will make the short list every time.

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Delivery

It is now time to deliver your proposal. Follow these tips to ensure that you are not disqualified!

• Be early. If you leave it to the last minute and you are late (even by a minute), your proposal may not be accepted. Don’t risk it! If your proposal is being couriered to another city, send it a day or two early. If it is being delivered within town, strive to be at least 2 hours early. Many delivery attempts have failed because of unexpected car problems or traffic jams.

• Print your document the day (or night) before to avoid printer problems. Many participants have left the printing to the due day, and panicked when the printer jammed or ran out of toner.

• The compliance manager will need to ensure that the proper amount of copies are made, and that all authorization signatures have been included.

• If you hand deliver it, be sure to get signed receipt of delivery.

 

We can help develop your winning proposal. Contact us for a free quote.