Total Marketing Solutions

We seem to have spent most of the last month submitting tenders for various pieces of work. As a marketing consultant we have to question whether this investment in time is worthwhile for ourselves and for our clients and only time will tell if all our blood, sweat and tears will have paid off. But whether you love them or hate them, tenders are an integral part of winning new business for many companies, large or small. And they’re here to stay. Companies and other organisations now more than ever need to be sure that their budgets are used to maximum effect and selecting the right partners lies at the heart of ensuring the best return on investment. With competition for even the smallest contract gaining in intensity,  winning competitive tenders is becoming an art form all of its own. So what is the best way to go about winning your next tender?
Experience shows that first of all, a dose of brutal honesty is key to you submitting a meaningful tender where you at least have a shot at winning. Deluding yourself about your experience or your company’s capabilities will only waste time, valuable time which could have been spent on more fruitful business development activities. With this increased competition, companies are now able to look for an exact fit for their specific requirements. Once you have decided you could deliver the tender, making sure that you demonstrably satisfy all the required criteria is key. Make sure you do your homework around the tender and understand the wider implications too.
In addition to making sure you can tick all the relevant boxes, writing a successful bid not only requires a concise, precise language but also a degree of creativity to make you stand out from the crowd. Sounds easy, but getting the right tone and content is a real skill. Making sure that it accurately reflects your capabilities to convince that you are the right company for the job takes a lot of time and effort. Deciding whether you spend your time on the tender rather than other development activities is another matter and one that can only be answered by your own particular set of circumstances. There’s nothing like an empty pipeline to get you sending off a flurry of tenders, but if none of them are a good fit, it’s probably time which could have been spent more fruitfully. If your pipeline is looking rather sickly and your track record of winning tenders is not exactly Olympian, then give us a call on 0845 201 1618.