Keep up to date with the market and opportunities
The phrase ‘you need to be in it to win it’ couldn’t be more relevant when it comes to bidding. Keeping up to date with the market, with contract opportunities and your competition is vital to secure new contracts.
We advise that if a contract is not already on your radar, you have a lower chance of being successful. Most successful companies are aware of an important or large contract months before it is released, and start preparing for it well in advance. Subscribing to TED, Contracts Finder or your local authority website is a good way to ensure you are aware of all the contract opportunities suitable for your business and will help you to plan accordingly.
If there are companies which you class as your main competitors (you may even have lost out to them in the past) try and carry out regular competitor research. If they offer a new service or new innovations, you need to act accordingly to keep up with this, and in any tender submissions show that your company can offer the same level of service, if not better, to the contracting authority. Use any differentiators your company has as your competitive advantage — whether this is a large customer base, existing relationships or company innovations; use this to distinguish your company from the competition.
In terms of monitoring the market, make sure you are up-to-date with any new legislation, accreditations or industry-specific changes which are likely to affect your tender submission.
Evaluate your current bid writing process
It can be tricky to find the time to carry out an evaluation of your bid writing procedure, especially if you bid on a regular basis. However, when there is a natural lull in your bidding cycle and you can breathe for a moment, take the time to evaluate your current process, your previous submissions, and your success rates in order to set objectives for the future. This is a necessary step in the improvement of your bidding process so that you win more contracts.
Monitoring aspects such as your success rate and feedback from previous bid submissions will help to identify if there are any issues or particular areas for future focus. In our experience, it is usually something fairly straightforward which needs amending in order to make a big difference to bidding success rates. If you have scored poorly in a certain area, you need to ensure that this is looked at and improved for future tender responses, rather than just using the same average quality material for future responses.
Failing to take the time to assess your current situation will mean there is little room for improvement and you may miss out on securing important contracts.
Help from a professional bid writer
Whether you could benefit from an external review or support with tender writing, a professional bid writer is a good source to turn to in order to secure more contracts. Enlisting the advice and expertise of a professional can take your success rate from 40% to 90% and give the external perspective you were looking for.
To discuss how our team of bid writers can give you that edge in your next tender submission or review your previous unsuccessful submission, contact us today.