Finding the right opportunities for your business
There are numerous private and public sector tenders published each day. It might seem like an endless task finding the right one for you.
You need to be realistic about your chances of securing a contract. Ask yourself the following:
- Does my business meet or exceed the technical skills and experience required?
- Does the contract fit into my business strategy?
- Can my business afford to spend money on time and resources?
- Will the contract help my business grow?
Our portals are updated every day with various tenders covering a whole range of industries.
Break it down
It can be overwhelming opening up a tender document and thinking to yourself, “Where do I start?” We suggest you break everything down as it will make the whole process easier. Make a list as you review the tender documents and ask yourself the following:
- Which sections/documents need completing?
- What tasks need to be done before starting the response?
- Do I need to provide any policies?
- Does the response need to be designed?
- Who in your team needs to be contacted and who will do what?
We recommend breaking down the question into smaller chunks if it is a large question. This will help you answer the question and consider each point of the question. By breaking down the question it will help you construct a more detailed and concise answer.
Make a plan
Another one of our top tips is to make a plan before writing a tender. Before you start writing your answer, you should plan out how you’re going to answer it. Your bid will only be as successful as the planning you put into it. If you don’t make a plan, it will make the writing process harder. This could result in missing out key points in your answer, so be sure to make a detailed plan for guidance.
When bidding for a contract, keep the submission date in mind. This will help with the planning process. You should allow yourself to complete the bid well ahead of the deadline date to alleviate the stress and pressure. The tender writing process can be long and complex, so you want to allow plenty of time. Unexpected delays may pop up and by constructing an effective plan, you’ll know what to do should any issues arise.
Brainstorm
Good bid writing help and advice should recommend brainstorming. If you’re struggling with a particular question, ask your team to pitch in with some ideas. Just because you have been tasked with writing the bid doesn’t mean others can’t feed in ideas to help you. Two heads are better than one. Other team members may have a speciality on a question you’re stuck on, so it’s worth asking for help.
Evidence
When writing your response, think about how you can present what you’re capable of. It’s all well and good telling the buyer what you can do for them. If you don’t back it up with evidence, then why should they believe you? Back up what you’re saying with evidence such as case studies and statistics. This bid writing help technique should help you on your way to winning a bid.
Most economically advantageous tender (MEAT)
We still have plenty of things to discuss about bid writing help, such as MEAT. When applying for public sector tenders, you will need to be the most economically advantageous tender. This does not mean the cheapest bid. The MEAT allows the buyer to award the bid based on other aspects other than price. These include:
- Technical ability
- Accessibility
- Proposed design
- Innovation
- Customer service
- Ability to deliver on time
- Quality
- Environmental benefits.
Case studies
When tendering for work, you will usually be asked to provide some case studies. You will be asked to provide three case studies of contracts similar to the bid at hand. These examples must have been carried out in the last five years.
Buyers want to know what work you have done in the past that is similar. Make sure your examples are relevant. For example, imagine you are writing a tender for a car park extension in Leeds. If your only experience is in social housing in Edinburgh it is unlikely you’re suitable for that particular tender.
Buyers want to see how you’ve handled similar projects in the past. This will give them an indication as to whether you’d be suitable to deliver the contract.
Comprehensive answer
Another key element to bid writing help we can offer is how to construct a comprehensive answer. If the answer is asking for 500 words, writing only one sentence will not suffice. The buyer is looking for a detailed answer. If you aren’t able to provide a detailed answer, you are not suitable for the bid.
Simple language
To communicate clearly and effectively, use simple language to get your point across. You will not gain extra marks for using complicated jargon as this makes it harder to read and evaluate. If your answer has to be read more than once it is not clear and concise.
Proofread
As part of our bid writing help service, we always reiterate the importance of proofreading. You want to demonstrate why you should win the bid, not give the evaluator reasons why you shouldn’t. If you submit a bid that is full of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, you could lose the bid. This could easily be avoided by taking the time to read over your work. You could ask someone else to take a look as they may pick up on mistakes you’ve missed.
The results
The final step of bid writing help is to ask yourself – what did you learn? The bid management process doesn’t finish once you’ve submitted your bid. Learning from your results is vital to continuously improve your bid writing and approach. Unfortunately, you won’t win every tender but don’t let that hold you back as you can learn from your mistakes. If the buyer doesn’t provide any feedback, ask for it. It’s worth knowing where you lost out on marks and how you could improve next time. Some reasons you may have lost your bid include:
- Bidding for the wrong contracts – Be selective about which contracts you tender for.
- Lack of evidence – You are not providing evidence to back up what you are saying.
- Lack of proofreading – Your answer was full of bad spelling and grammatical errors.
- Re-using your old tender – Buyers know when you’re sending them generic copy and paste text.
- Too focused on your business – It’s about what you can do for the buyer not about how good your business is.
We provide bid writing help
Hudson Succeed is here to help you with all your bid writing needs. Our team of professionals have decades of experience, and we write to win. Giving you the confidence that your bid writing is in good hands.