The process of bid writing is not for the faint hearted. It’s vital to make sure that each bid you write is the best it can be. At Value Match we have bid management experts who have offered their experience to give you some tips to improve your bid writing.
1. Before Bidding, Review your Current Bid Systems and Processes.
By reviewing you bid processes you can establish what works well and what doesn’t. This is critical to do before bidding as it will save you time by identifying your strengths and weaknesses and make you reflect on whether its worth it.
2. Divide Each Question Up
Initially seeing a new tender document can be intimidating. There are often hundreds of pages to scroll through. Organisation is key.
By organising each question individually, you can allocate time and resources more efficiently and allows you to focus on questions that are worth more in the evaluation process.
3. Break Each Question Down
To answer each question correctly, it’s key that you know exactly what the evaluator is looking for. Answer the question that is being asked not what you think they would like to know. The best way to ensure you answer the questions properly is to break each question down into its component parts, then use these parts as sub-headings ensuring you provide evidence across all points.
4. Review Early
Independent reviews are critical to success throughout the tendering process to ensure you can optimise your scores.
When preparing your bid timeline, we recommend you plan in sufficient time for an independent review prior to the tender submission date. Having a fresh pair of eyes read your draft response will allow for omissions or erroneous inclusions to be highlighted and fixed. This style of review is guaranteed to increase the value that your proposal offers.
5. Stay Consistent
Time is often wasted on creating the perfect proposal, fonts, colours, and images which perfectly captures their brand. This is of course important but ensuring you proposal is consistent is essential.
Consistency in bid writing is absolutely vital. Make sure that your style, design, tone, and phraseology are consistent throughout.
6. Don’t Assume
When writing a bid, it can be easy to expect the reader to be familiar with your services. However, its important to always approach every bid as if the reader is not aware of your organisation at all.
This approach ensures you will respond to the question in detail, providing all of the relevant information the evaluator needs to score the question response.
Whether you decide to outsource, hire an interim or permanent bid manager, talk to our team who help you decide what is best for your business. Our independent reviewing service provides access to high quality short term expertise to ensure you are demonstrate the value of your bid.
Our bid management support comes from a combination of procurement professionals who have worked in both the private and public sector and our bid management consultants who consistently win responses for customers in various sectors and industries throughout the UK.
For further information, contact Lindsay Rosul
T: 07702 823 648
E: Lindsay.Rosul@value-match.co.uk
