Course agenda

With a focus on approaching each tender with a competitive mindset and improving the quality of written responses, our intermediate-level course is designed to optimise your tender score and maximise your chances of winning public sector contracts.

Before delivering the training, we will conduct a review of previous responses and/or submissions to identify areas for improvement in how you approach responses. Our findings will inform the bespoke session, with extracts and examples used throughout to illustrate key learning points, together with elements of our core agenda:

• Effective bid management techniques and processes, including a link to download free of charge the bid management matrix used by Executive Compass
• Strategic ‘bid/no bid’ decision-making through consistent application of an organically developed process capturing the relative importance of specific criteria
• Developing a comprehensive understanding of the buyer and the opportunity to identify and implement impactful win themes throughout your submission
• Analytically breaking down questions to provide a structure for responses aligned with evaluators’ expectations and guide how we present our content
• Evidence-based tendering to add credibility to our forward-looking, buyer-specific proposal and make our responses stand out
• Proven techniques for writing winning tenders, including ‘do’s and don’ts’, appropriate use of AI, being active and assertive and presenting a clear proposal
• The writing hierarchy and how to build persuasion into narrative responses, allowing the evaluator to both visualise our solution and recognise why it’s the right one for them
• Managing challenging word or page limits as well as writing concisely more generally to enhance impact and depth of detail
• Fundamental approaches to responding to social value questions, recognising what’s important in the context of a public sector tender.

What you will learn

Participants in our intermediate-level bid and tender writing course will learn the same proven approaches that our own team of over 20 trained and experienced bid writers apply day-in, day-out to maintain our 85% tender success rate.

Specifically, your team will learn to analytically and methodically approach tender questions with a winning mindset: breaking questions down in line with evaluators’ likely priorities and building impactful responses with a focus on clear, detailed content and a persuasive, evidence-based writing style. Whilst predominantly focused on bidding for opportunities in the public sector, many of the techniques shared are equally applicable to proposal writing and producing impactful business-related content more generally.

Your team will also learn more about wider tender strategy, contributing to a joined-up and cohesive approach to bidding across your organisation.

As the course is accredited by CPD UK, each delegate will receive a CPD certificate with a value of circa six CPD points.

Requirement

The training course is aimed at organisations with experience of participating in bids and tenders who are looking to improve their success rates through a more targeted approach, consistent methodology for structuring responses and enhanced writing techniques.

Organisations who are already involved in bidding for contracts will be supported to improve their team’s skill set, bid processes and resultant success rates.

The course has a strong focus on the impact and effectiveness of written responses and is therefore ideal for organisations and teams looking to attract higher marks in the quality section of tenders.

Delivery

Our training is delivered by bid writing experts with at least ten years’ experience, providing a practitioner’s view and therefore sharing techniques and tips that are practical and applicable.

The training is delivered online via Teams, Zoom or equivalent, at a date and time to suit you. Our delivery methodology focuses on open discussion in a workshop environment, incorporating worked examples derived from your own past bids.

Any number of delegates, from a single attendee receiving one-to-one training, through to a group of delegates from across your organisation.

Price

Contact us for a bespoke price, dependent on your requirements.

96.47% average rating for the overall quality of the training received based on feedback from delegates who have attended intermediate bid and tender writing training sessions in 2024.