Executive Compass 2014 Review

The past year has been one of Executive Compass®’ busiest years to date: our team of bid writers has expanded, we have completed some of our largest bids so far, increased our tender success rate, and had the opportunity to work alongside a diverse range of clients, both existing and new.

New Staff

To help manage the increasing demand for our PQQ and tender writing services, two new bid writers joined the Executive Compass® team in January of this year. To help the guys settle into the team, extensive training and guidance was provided from John Bilcliffe. John was promoted earlier this year to General Manager; overseeing all quality assurance and project management of the bid team.

May saw our Head of Marketing, Adam Hartley, relocate to Canada and open our first international office, taking on a new job role as Content Manager and responsibility for managing the website and all content output of the company. Amy Forshaw took over the position of Head of Marketing, managing all of the marketing efforts alongside Adam.

Major Projects

In 2014 we have worked on some of our largest and most interesting projects thus far. John has helped a large installation and maintenance client secure their largest contract to date, worth £10 million per year and surpassing a number of multi-national companies to obtain the highest quality score. Neil has worked alongside a large multinational corporation to complete their first UK public sector bid; this project saw Neil spend six months working between the UK, USA and Sweden to complete a £1 billion bid. The team also worked closely with an engineering firm from Singapore on a multi-million pound tender.

Aside from our major projects, hundreds of PQQs and tender submissions have been completed over the past year and it has been a pleasure working with a variety of clients. A number of retained clients remain in the health and social care sector, facilities management and construction, for whom our team of bid writers have experienced continued success.

Notable Company Successes

Over the past year our success rate has increased, from 82% to 87%, and the company has experienced a record turnover. This will hopefully continue further in 2015 and the years to come as Executive Compass® moves from strength to strength.

Repeat business over the past year is at a high 60% on average as clients continue to retain our services. For example, a staggering 45 submissions have been completed for one of our retained health and social care clients over the past 12 months!

Charity Work

In October, three of our bid writers accepted the Kielder ‘Run Bike Run’ challenge from Managing Director, Neil. A team of Tom, John and Matthew went up against Neil in the race which consisted of a seven mile run, followed by a 16 mile bike ride and finishing with a further four mile run. This event continued our ongoing fundraising for charity, and the team has big plans for the coming year. To start this off, Neil will be running in the London Marathon in April 2015 to raise money for Sense.

Exhibitions and New Services

Over the past year the team has exhibited twice at The Business Show in London, amongst 350 businesses and 25,000 visitors. Matthew and Neil were both invited to deliver seminars on “Effective Bid Management”, with the rest of the team on hand to advise business visitors, answer any questions and promote Executive Compass®.

In the latter part of 2014, our services extended to offer help and advice with completing CHAS applications and securing ISO certifications. The company also successfully passed our own UKAS ISO 9001:2008 quality management audit, with no observations. Further plans are in place to diversify over the next year, so keep a look out for how Executive Compass® may be able to support your business and bid processes further.

The New Year

The Christmas period is one of our busiest times, and to keep up with increased demand, two new bid writers will be joining the team in the New Year. This will also ensure Executive Compass® continues as the leading bid writing consultancy in the UK.

2015 is already looking busy for the team, with numerous contracts being released and meetings scheduled in our diaries. Neil is set to be working for the next nine months on a large civil engineering contract and the team will be assisting a technology company with an international bid. We look forward to helping more organisations increase their tendering success rate and win more contracts.

A number of charity fundraising and team events are planned, such as: The London Marathon, Gibside Marathon, The Berlin Marathon and Sandstone Way ultra run, so keep a look out for how you can get involved and keep up with our progress.