You’ve been waiting for this bid to be issued for ages so now it’s here you impatiently open the link and start to read the instructions. Brushing quickly past all those legal caveats that clients include and the instructions that you’ll read later you quickly turn to the financial section so you can start to think about the price you’ll pitch this bid at.

Should it be this price or that…what if I reduced that by this much…or told that subcontractor to reduce his price to me by 10%?

And so it goes on, but by doing things this way you’ve moved yourself into a position of lowest price wins and have forgotten to consider anything to do with value. And, rest assured if you take this approach then so will your client!

Of course, you can change this by preparing for success.

Preparing for Bid Success is fundamental to winning more work…we first heard about preparation back in school when we and to prepare for exams and it is even more important now that we run businesses and have families to support. We can all find lots of reasons not to prepare as well as we should, however, the best bids rely on a disciplined and carefully planned approach to be successful. It’s easy to cut corners when it comes to preparation but winging it is rarely the best way and preparation should be an integral part of your bid process.

Before you can do this you need to understand the basics so here are the 5 things you can do to Prepare for Success:

1. What has led to the bid being issued by the client?
There will be a problem or issue that the prospective client needs to overcome and if you know what it is you have a greater chance of providing the solution. Dig as deep as you can using public records to find out if the problem is part of a larger issue or strategy that your client wants to solve. If so, this is valuable information that can be used to great effect in your bid to strengthen your connection.

2. What are they trying to achieve?
Employing an external agent to provide a service or product is a big thing and one they hope will achieve an important outcome for them. It’s only when you know the what that is and what their ultimate aim is that you can apply the goods or services you have to provide an appropriate solution.

3. Can you meet their objectives?
Knowing what they want begs the question of how you can deliver it. This requires you to carefully assess your resources, experience, capability and knowledge to understand the full extent of your input…and more importantly, how you will apply it to them.

4. Where can you add value to the process?
Thinks carefully how you can work quicker, smarter or more efficiently to reduce costs and provide better outcomes. You’ll have done it before so tell them a great story so they really understand your value!

5. How will you be scored?
Don’t be fooled- all scores are important, even the small ones…and don’t let anyone tell you differently. However, emphasis on particular questions shown in the documents by a higher value shows the order of importance is. This will go to the heart of meeting your clients needs and them knowing the answer to that all important question…

What is in it for me (them)?

By following this methodology you will have told them and be well on the way to winning the work!

It’s no good your bid falling on deaf ears so you should have already built relationships with your prospective client before the bid is issued. That way, when it lands on his desk he feels a sense of knowing who he is dealing with and what to expect…this is assuming that you have already made a good impression!

Do you know who you are likely to be competing with? If not, then find out as soon as possible- you can rest assured they will be doing the same. Knowing who your competitors are will enable you to present yourself in the best way by highlighting your strengths and identifying their weaknesses.

Use a Bid Roadmap backed up with good research to guide your bid team with the key themes, story lines, your win plan, clients issues and value management of your bid. When you follow this approach your bid will be based on solid fact, focussed on your clients needs, and addressing their issues in a way that they understand.

Coming Soon!

As some of you will know, we experienced some problems with our website recently which has been very frustrating for us and I hope didn’t inconvenience you too much.

The good news is that it is now fixed and our new page ‘Win More Bids’ will soon be live.

It will contain our online training program of 16 modules that contain the tools and techniques we’ve used to help our clients win over £6 ($9) billion of new business. We’ve got a few last minute things to finalise and I’ll let you know as soon as we’re ready.

I know you’ll like it because we’ve packed 3 days worth of training into our program so that you can learn and develop your skills wherever you choose…in the office, the comfort of your own home or on the go! We’ve also included an Action Step for you to complete so you can start using your skills and see the benefits immediately.

Watch this space!

Top Tip

Before you skip to the financial section in your next bid, take a pause and read what your client actually wants you to do.

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