Having developed a clear strategy and response plan, bid teams are in a great position to get it right – but it’s easy to go off-track when it comes to writing.
A bid response requires input from multiple stakeholders within an organisation. Sometimes category experts will each draft a section of the bid and then one person will collate the responses into the final draft. Other times, the person managing the bid will interview other members of the team to draft the response themselves.
In the first scenario, it is common for responses to be written in different styles, meaning that when it’s time to collate them into one document, the response feels inconsistent. In the second scenario, there is a lot of responsibility on the individual to ensure that they fully understand and interpret the requirements of the bid; as well as the responses from each of the internal contributors.
But are any of these contributors experienced in understanding the criteria for writing a winning bid or in tender writing? Maybe not.
This is where a bid writing consultants can really help.
We really enjoyed the training sessions with eXceeding. We now have a process in place which saves time in drafting lengthy bid responses, as well as helping us to ensure that we are answering all of the questions thoroughly. We also felt that eXceeding went ‘above and beyond’ to find a consultant who was a good cultural fit for our business, which instantly put us at ease.
eXceeding supported Winvic with our General Contractor commitment presentation for one of our major clients. Their support throughout the project enabled Winvic to review our approach to answering questions in an effective and evidence-based way. By understanding our business and the objectives for the project, eXceeding helped to deliver a quality submission, that received excellent feedback, demonstrated by further appointments with our key client.
I’d just like to say again how much we valued the support you and the team were able to provide in such a short space of time. The feedback provided really helped us to lift our response up a level. We look forward to working with eXceeding again in the near future.
Successful responses require tender writing skills and expertise that you may not have readily on hand; or maybe you just don’t have the time do as thorough job as you want?
Common issues our clients report when it comes to drafting a response to a tender request include:
Organisations who outsource their bid writing and the tender response management process entirely enjoy more success than those who rely on regular team members.
By Leigh Hatfull on 25 October 2020
Sometimes it’s easier to discuss your requirements directly. Contact one of our expert bid consultants now.
Professional bid writers – the eXceeding way.
Whether we go on to draft the full response, or support your contributors in preparing their individual responses, we follow the same process in our tender writing services:
At eXceeding, we employ a national network of bid writing consultants. Each individual has specialist category expertise and up-to-date marketing knowledge of a specific sector or sectors. This allows us to call on the best possible person based on the work you are bidding for, or the sector you work in.
Our bid writers respond to bids every day, so they understand how to ensure that your response meets the scoring criteria. They are experts in breaking down complex tender documents into manageable groups of questions, which can then be posed to category experts within your organisation.
By following this process and outsourcing their bid writing to us, our clients have reported the following outcomes:
Next step?
Winning work is a complex process. To beat the competition, you need a clear strategy and your bid response has to make you stand out from the rest.
Planning your bid response ensures that all areas of the tender documentation have been scrutinised and understood and all members of the bid team are clear as to their responsibilities.
Bids are won and lost on the quality of the final bid review. This stage is about polishing the content, adding additional evidence points and ticking off high-scoring responses against the prospect’s criteria.
