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AUSTRALIAN WELDING | DECEMBER 2015
The Secret of
Winning Tenders Caroline Boot is a director of Plan A, Australasia’s largest and most experienced tender writing company. In this article, she details a ten-step blueprint designed to help you with your next tender. For information and assistance with tender writing, please visit www.tenderspecialists.com. Caroline will be running a series of seminars on behalf of the WTIA in 2016. Let’s face it, developing proposals or tenders is probably not your core business. But the difference between a great tender - and an average one - could take your business to new heights this year. Evaluators constantly complain that the information they asked for is absent, difficult to find, or hard to understand. “If only they’d answer the question!” Well written, compelling tender documents are rare - and valuable. And they have a far, far higher chance of winning than the same old stuff that evaluators see, again and again. Preparing a winning tender involves focused research and planning, before you start to write. It’s not a simple process: it takes a combination of project management, analytical, and documentation skills to get it right. This ten-step blueprint is designed to help you win your next tender. 1. Understand Your Client What the client says they are looking for, and what they really want, may be two different things. Talk to your contact, explore their website and their company profile, and contact others who know them and their business. What values are important to them? What experience (positive and negative) do they have of other providers? How will your offer make a unique difference to them? 2. Analyse the competition Buying decisions are often shaped
by the evaluators’ previous experience with you and/ or your competitors. Find out who you’re up against, and any information you can about their previous performance. Consider: 1. What size of company can best supply the product or service your client is after? 2. What relationships already exist? 3. What does your client think of them (and you)? 4. What is the competition’s track record like (and how can you make yours look better?) 3. Pin Down Your ‘Win Themes’ Knowing how your strengths compare against others, as well as against your client’s priorities, is your first step. Put yourself in your client’s shoes just after they have awarded the contract: give two or three simple, clear reasons why your company won it. These ‘win themes’ should be the basis of your Executive Summary. Word them clearly and concisely, and reinforce them throughout your tender. 4. Polish Your Presentation A sure way to get your client’s attention is by providing a great looking document (of course, you need great content as well!). • Make sure your logo is on the front cover. Put together a table of contents that’s simple, brief and clear – if possible, keep it on one page. • Insert photos with relevant captions to showcase capabilities and reinforce your ‘win themes’.
A good graphic designer can add great value to your tender, as well as provide designs that can be re-used. 5. Seek Outside Inputs Early and Chase Them If you need to get prices or information from other parties (such as subbies), plan this and ask for their input as soon as possible. Give a firm deadline that gives you enough time to assess their contribution. The last thing you want is last minute information that could affect longterm contract profits. 6. Set Out Your Proposal Structure Evaluators’ decisions depend heavily on how easy it is to find what they need to score. If you know what factors they are evaluating, set out your document structure so it matches those criteria – exactly! A proposal overview or Executive Summary at the front of the document helps set the scene, identifying what’s important to the client, and how your tender will meet their needs.
INSIDE THE INDUSTRY: WINNING TENDERS
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ffective tender writing is like an iceberg. To create a brilliant document – the 20% above the surface on which your client will award the contract - you need to invest 80% of your time and effort ‘below the surface’: analysing, structuring, planning, reviewing, proofing, and editing.
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Use short paragraphs (2-3 sentences) and lots of subheadings to ease readability. Get your proposal proofed by your nearest Grammar Police(!)
10. Critical Review There are several different dimensions to effective tender reviews; each involving a different mental process: 1. Is there a strong ‘win theme’, reinforced throughout? 2. Does it answer the questions? 3. Is the depth of information appropriate to the weightings? 4. Is it logical, easy to follow and direct? 5. Is it internally consistent? 6. Is it technically correct? You should either review your document several times sequentially—each time for a different one of these factors—or ask different people to review for different dimensions. Where possible, get an independent peer review or shadow evaluation: it’s worth it!
7. Weight the Sections and Allocate Space Some Requests for Proposal tell you the evaluation weightings that will be applied. Where possible, apply a proportionate amount of energy (and space) to the sections which are heavily weighted. 8. Write Simply, and Focus on the Benefits Now you are ready to start writing your proposal. It’s always tempting to get bogged down in technical detail, giving chapter and verse on your solution. This is only relevant when it’s in context – how will this meet your client’s needs? Ask ‘So What?’ as you write each sentence – so there are clear linkages between the features of your offer and the benefits to your client. Remember to keep your language simple – technical details and complex concepts are less likely to sell your proposal than simple, direct statements that help readers to trust that you will deliver on your promises. The ‘win themes’ that you identified earlier should be used throughout your document, building confidence in your abilities to deliver what they want. 9. Edit, Proof, Edit and Proof Use clear, easy to follow language, even for the most technically complex proposals. Here are some tips: • Use bullet points and lists wherever possible. • Ensure your formatting is consistent. • Keep one main idea in each sentence. Avoid waffle and repetition.
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