8 Ways to Improve your Tender Success Rate

Writing a PQQ or tender takes up time and resources and can be a costly process should you lose.

We are constantly trying to find new areas to improve in order to raise our company success rate, and in turn help more companies win tenders. We put together some of our findings to help your business start to win more tenders.

1. Accreditations and policies

Having accreditations provides a great boost to your bid. It says to the contracting authority that you know exactly how to do a job to the best of your ability.

A full policy suite also shows commitment and a higher quality standard. Policies should be presented in a company branded template to make them stand out and look professional. Both accreditations and policies show the contracting authority that you know how to do business.

2. Compliance

Every aspect of your bid should be compliant. That means all your supporting documents should conform to their respective legislation, and you company should fulfil each aspect of the specification.

There is no point bidding if you are non-compliant. This is the biggest waste of resources a company will encounter when tendering, and you should be very careful to screen each tender thoroughly.

3. Review your bid process

Your internal bid process is a safety net to success. If your process is right and followed to the letter, then you can be sure of a strong PQQ or tender.

The bid process should be enforced by the bid manager and regardless of time, should be completed and followed for every submission. Before tendering companies should review their internal processes to ensure they are up to scratch and everyone knows their roles.

4. Case studies, model answers and supporting documents

Many companies don’t realise that there is a lot of work that can be done prior to the release of a tender.

Case studies, model answers and supporting documents can all be completed before you even know what you are bidding for. This means that they can be thoroughly reviewed and amended to the highest quality, both saving time and ensuring the best response when the tender is released.

5. Establish bid guidelines

When a document is released it should be read thoroughly and the guidelines should be written up and passed on to each team member.
Whether it’s word count, font, or format it needs to be followed to the letter otherwise your bid will be non-compliant.

6. Write and review

When everything is in place, the best thing to do is start writing. Even if you struggle at first, often just getting some words on the page can help the process.

Remember, you do not have to respond to each section in the order it is presented. Perhaps one section is harder and will take more time – there is no reason why you can’t tackle this first, before moving onto easier questions.

No matter who has written it, each section must be thoroughly reviewed by a team member or proof reader. This improves quality and means that no silly mistakes are made.

7. Request feedback

When the results are released, regardless of your company’s success, you should always request feedback. Even winning bids can provide a great insight into areas in which you can improve.

8. Evaluate and adapt

Once you have gone through the feedback from your submission it is important to evaluate and adapt in order to improve in the future.
Model answers and supporting documents can all be improved following evaluator feedback. This is the key to future success and improving your win rate.

Get in touch with one of our bid managers for more information.