Because Julie can get the best out of your team. An external coach can see things differently and also ask the right questions. Julie understands what the evaluators are looking for in the tender submission and she is also a foundation qualified Association of Proposal Manager Professionals (APMP) member.

A Request for Information (RFI) is when the buyer is typically testing the market to seek solutions and services available. Expression of Interest (EOI) this is where the buyer is seeking organisations who have the capacity and capability to deliver a service. This is your time to showcase your organisation. A Request for Quote (RFQ) is when a buyer is looking for a specific service, they know they want, and are seeking how much it will cost. A Request for Tender (RFT) is when a buyer has put together a detailed tender document and contract for suppliers to respond to with non-price attributes and Price. A Request for Proposal (RFP) is typically used when a buyer is looking for a methodology to solve a problem and the supplier will respond with non-price attributes and a price.

A tender kick off meeting usually takes place after the supplier has received a tender to respond to. The aim of the kick off meeting is to establish who will work on the tender submission, formulate a bid programme, create a writing plan and assign tasks to the team. The bid manager would typically run this meeting and manage weekly catch up sessions to manage the tender timeline.

One that has taken account of the 3 P’s. Positioning, Planning and Preparing. Along with a positive team culture, some hard work and accountability all helps with a winning tender strategy.

Of course, I mean you can’t win everything! So if you are unfortunate to have lost a tender, make sure you speak with the buyer and get some feedback on the scoring and price. This will help you for the next tender. Don’t bury your head in the sand. Use this opportunity to request a debrief meeting with the client. This is a great time to bring along some key personnel and introduce them to the client. Ask the client for their feedback on the tender and don’t forget to ask what they liked about your submission.

Yes, it’s advisable to appeal to all 3 types of readers, Visual, Kinesthetic and Auditory. Visual communicators ‘I see what you mean’, make up 65% of the population. So include pictures, images and infographics otherwise that a huge % to not accommodate in a tender submission. Auditory make up 30% of the population and for these people a interactive, team building or tender presentation is make or break of which supplier they want to work with. Kinesthetic make up just 5% of the population and like a hands on approach, so taking objects or materials to pass around in a presentation would really appeal to them. Do you know what type of reader your evaluation team are?

Most definitely, use the 80/20 rule. 80% text and 20% images for the same reason as having graphics (above).

Having resources is good but having the expertise of a tender coach to work on a tender strategy is invaluable. If you have a pool of resources, we can definitely utilise them effectively to pull together the relevant content identified in the strategy workshop. We can even upskill your existing team, so that they can better understand how we develop a tender strategy for future tenders.

Yes, they do know their jobs and will be key to providing technical and specific information for the tender submission. Generally they are too busy doing their day to day job, they don’t have the time to focus on a tender and some don’t have the skills required for formulating a strategy, doling a gap analysis, coaching the team, managing a programme for delivery or the writing skills to tell a good compelling story.

You are not going to win everything; the competition is an unknown element and they also may have a tender coach. Having a coach means we can help you present the best version of your business and give you the best chance of winning. As a coach we can also help you with your tender content library and upskill employees as we are working on a tender submission. Making suggested improvements and having template strategies in place, so that next time you have a tender to respond to – you will have all the information at your fingertips, to reduce the amount of time, effort and therefore cost to produce your next tender submission.

Tender development is the business of writing a compelling tender. We still need your key personnel to feed into the tender strategy process, but we work with your business to align with your client, analysis the competition, establish your unique selling points, mitigate any weakness and sell your benefits to the client. This is where a bid manager can turn a compliant tender into a compelling tender.

As you know the interactives and presentations are key to supporting your tender submission and ultimately in the Client making the final decision. Having the opportunity to have some training, from a World Champion Public speaker, is priceless. Presentation training and coaching are lifelong skills for the team to use on all future tenders. Your Client will be looking for a team that they can work with, a team that can work together and a team with excellent rapport. Not to mention a team with the right experience and skill! Making a positive impression at the presentation can be the difference between being selected or not……..so don’t leave it to chance.