Tender Writing – Challenges of writing for different industry sectors
Tender Writing
ď ą People and especially potential new clients ask me all the time – how can I be a great tender writer if I am writing a tender in an industry sector in which I have never worked or never written a tender? ď ą How can I possibly understand the vagaries of that business or industry sector and demonstrate that in the tender writing process?
I can say that in my business I have written tenders across industry types from cleaning to groundsmen to plumbing to electricians to construction to medical and all industry types in between.
The key to being a fabulous tender writer is in being able to hone in on the key requirements of the tender and to flesh out the client’s experience, background and o f fe r i n g to c l e a rly s h ow o u r c l i e n t exc e e d s t h e requirements and is THE best respondent and deserves to win the tender.
As I have mentioned many times before – tender writing is all about developing a great strategy and the quality tender writers can write a winning tender for any business in virtually any sector. Tender writing is not rocket science – yes it is about having the right strategy but there are a variety of other components to writing a winning tender.
Following are some of the key aspects of writing winning tenders:Strategy – ď ą This really is the most important aspect of tender writing. Initially you have to make sure you are applying for the right tender that fits your business/organisation perfectly and that you fit the requirements of the tender perfectly. ď ą This means you have to research, assess and analyse every possible tender closely to ensure there is a perfect fit.
Pricing – Then you have to focus on making sure your pricing is competitive.
You don’t have to be the cheapest – but your pricing needs to be competitive given price is an important component in the decision making process.
Point of difference – This is important. It doesn’t matter what business or industry sector you are in you need to stand out from the crowd so the great tender writer will always highlight why you are different to the opposition and how your offering is different.
ď ą This could mean you focus on your extensive experience or that you have handled projects exactly like this one before or that you are QA certified to ISO 9001 or your business/offering is unique and highly innovative or that you have a team that exceeds all others in experience, skills and qualifications.
Value adding – Again an important tender writing component is value adding. How can you offer above and beyond what the tender requires?
For instance a tender might specify that the Council requires floodlights on a sporting field which have a defined capacity – your offer might suggest that you can provide better capacity for basically the same price – this is what is called value adding.
Knowledge of business/industry – To me if you are a quality tender writers you obviously have to have some understanding of the business and industry but you certainly don’t have to have worked in the sector or business previously.
You should be able to grasp the broad concepts of the business and industry but you MUST be able to crystallise these in a tender response with great written skills and an ability to put together tenders that showcase the business/organisation and the real value and difference of their offering.
ď ą I can bet that I can write a better tender for any sector than just about anyone working in those sectors.
ď ą They might have a deeper knowledge of the business or sector BUT they will not understand the intricacies in writing a tender and how to present a tender that catches the attention of the assessment panel. ď ą Only a great tender writer with fantastic tender writing skills can do that and that takes time and experience. It is that simple!
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