Posts Tagged ‘Bid Writing’

How to Write Sales Proposals

June 30th, 2010 by Tony Zemaitis | No Comments | Filed in Bid Writing

The terms ‘tenders’ and ‘proposals’ can often be confused. For example, when asked to submit a tender it might mean they simply want a costed proposal – not a formal tender where you have to answer lots of set questions (eg OJEU tenders).

There is no absolute sales proposal template but a good start can be to write using these headings:

Summary – Brief outline of the key aspects of your proposal and benefits to customer

Background – Customer’s objectives

Your Company – Brief history, any qualifications / trade memberships etc + similar customers that you work for

Proposal – Full details of how you will meet the customer’s objectives and what you will do, how you will support / manage / resource, specification etc + benefits

Quotation – Price and caveats eg exclusions

Appendix – Supporting information and ‘bumph’ that detract from the main body of the proposal but need to be included eg detailed specifications, contracts, technical details, H&S etc

Please refer to the other posts in Bid Writing for more information on writing styles and content.

Anyone else got any other suggestions?

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Responding to Tender Questions (Part 4)

March 30th, 2010 by Tony Zemaitis | No Comments | Filed in Bid Writing, PQQ, Public Sector Tenders, Tenders

Concluding this series of tips on how to respond to tenders.

NB please read these first Responding to Tender Questions (Part 1) and Responding to Tender Questions (Part 2) and Responding to Tender Questions (Part 3)

Make it easy for the reader

Remember that a number of people will be evaluating your tender or PQQ response so make it easy for them – this will make it easier for them to give you good marks!

Make it easy to navigate

  • Index page at the beginning
  • Use page numbers
  • Show company name & contact details towards the front – so they can contact you easily!
  • If possible, use the headers & footers to contain useful information eg section name, content, company name etc
  • Cross-reference where appropriate and explain so they easily can find the cross-referencing

Make it easy to read

  • Take care with the layout, style and copy
  • Bullets help emphasise points and make them easy to absorb
  • Use images – a picture paints a thousand words
  • Charts are often a better way of showing information when compared to long tracts of words eg flow charts showing a process

Clear pricing

Complete any pricing schedule, clarify any confusing issues and explain assumptions.

Be professional

Your tender response is your shop window so make it look smart, be clear, concise and better than the competition!

But don’t  be too modest

Do let them know how good you are! so use evidence:

  • Examples
  • Case studies
  • Testimonials

See  Write Good Tender Submissions – Use Evidence for more on this last point.

Good luck!

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Responding to Tender Questions (Part 2)

November 16th, 2009 by Tony Zemaitis | 1 Comment | Filed in Bid Writing, PQQ, Public Sector Tenders, Tenders

Some more tips on how to respond to tenders. NB do also see Responding to Tender Questions (Part 1).

Use the evaluation criteria
Most public sector tenders (and many corporate tenders) will provide you an evaluation criteria ie how they are going to score your response eg

  • 30% price
  • 60% method statements
  • 10% presentation / site visits

This will often be broken down into more detail. Use this to see where you should be concentrating your efforts – in the example above you can see that method statements are more important than just being the cheapest.

You don’t always receive this with the tender but do ask for it!

Innovation
Very few organisations want to stand still, they want to do better; this is why showing how you can bring new ideas to a contract is important. In this fast-moving world, things are always changing so innovation also demonstrates that you are flexible and capable of providing more than a ‘me too’ solution.

Added value
Customers are always looking to get a better deal so adding value is always going to be an important part of your bid. This means offering more ‘value for money’ NOT being cheaper eg you may be able to add a service to your bid that costs you little or nothing but saves your customer money… this will interest them!

Differentiation
Innovation and added value also help you stand out from the crowd. If they receive five bids that are all very similar but you have shown new ideas, improvements and added value then you are increasing your chances of success.

Alternative bid?
You need to be careful with this and make sure that:

  1. you do submit a compliant bid first
  2. your alternative bid shows benefit to the customer – not just convenience for you

A client had a great example of this: the tender specification of a component had a lifespan of 10 years but our client showed that for 20% extra cost, a better quality component would last 20 years – that’s a saving worth having! (They won the contract.)

Some more to come soon…

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Responding to Tender Questions (Part 1)

November 5th, 2009 by Tony Zemaitis | 2 Comments | Filed in Bid Writing, PQQ, Public Sector Tenders, Tenders

The next few blogs will be looking at how to respond to questions in tenders, PQQs, RFPs etc.

Here are some real basic must-dos – these relate to the earlier blog Tenders and PQQs – Most Common Mistakes

Answer all the questions
Simply put – don’t leave any gaps. If you do, you cannot get marked and that means zero points / no score.

Answer the question
Don’t fudge an answer – if you are not sure then ask. Also check that you have really answered what is being asked.

Tell the truth!
It’s often tempting to give the answer that is expected eg: “Is your company ISO: 9001 accredited?” Too many companies have responded: “The company is in the process of getting 9001 accreditation”. Buyers know this normally translates to “No and no intention of getting it unless you really push me”.

Therefore give a positive response by adding when it is due to be completed (if you really are in the process) or state that you do not have 9001 but do have quality processes in place / would be willing to get it… or just say no. NB if it is a mandatory requirement, then you may just have to pull out.

Provide all the information requested
Double check that everything is included – buyers cannot give good marks to nothing. A typical issue here is not enclosing correct company accounts, insurance documents or policies etc.

Keep to the point
Make sure that you are really answering the question and be concise. Copying and pasting a similar question without prudent editing can often lead to meandering and inaccurate answers… again risking low scores.

More to follow soon on this important topic…

As always, any thoughts or comments are always appreciated.

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Planning for Tenders and PQQs

October 14th, 2009 by Tony Zemaitis | 2 Comments | Filed in Bid Writing, PQQ, Public Sector Tenders, Tenders

All too frequently we receive a desperate phone call from someone asking for help when the tender or PQQ is due in tomorrow! Even if we had any capacity, there really isn’t enough time to do a professional job.

Here are some simple tips on planning ahead:

Start early!
The earlier you start, the more time you have. Also getting started early takes away some of the pressure of the task looming ahead.

Start a bid file
Get everything you need in one place for easy access and reference. This will save time in future.

Plan & project manage
Setting timescales and making sure they are met will help you meet deadlines.

Read the ITT & instructions (TWICE)
You can easily miss things first time around so always re-read. Also get other members of your team to read to make sure you have not missed or misunderstood anything.

Check commercial conditions
Firstly you need to make sure you are happy signing up to their contract. Secondly there may be some important information hidden away in the conditions eg monthly meetings or service level agreements (you may need to respond to these in your tender submission).

Create check list
1. Requirements – what’s needed?
2. Deadlines – by when?
3. Responsibilities – who’s doing what?

Try to understand what they really want
Most tenders want ‘best quality’ and ‘best value for money’ but what else is required? A bit of research may reveal what they really want to achieve – if you can show understanding and then meet this, you stand a far better chance of success.

Research prospect & competitors
More understanding of the prospect and the competition always helps!

Big bids take time & money!
Be aware of this so make sure you have the resources and if necessary…

Re-qualify?
Is this right for you? See previous blogs:
Win More Tenders by Qualifying Them (Part 1)
Win More Tenders by Qualifying (Part 2)

Aim to finish early
Planning to finish early gives you some contingency if things go wrong! But more more importantly it allows time to give the submission the ‘overnight test’ ie leave it and read it again the next day when your mind is fresh – this is when you will see all the little mistakes and areas or improvement.

Any more ideas on planning?

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Tenders and PQQs – Most Common Mistakes

June 17th, 2009 by Tony Zemaitis | No Comments | Filed in Bid Writing, PQQ, Public Sector Tenders, Tenders

When trying to write good tender / PQQ / RFP responses, a good starting point is to understand what are the most common mistakes – you can then make sure you avoid them!

In no particular order:

Incorrect cost schedules
You normally have to complete a pricing template; this makes it easier for the buyers to compare the various submissions. If you get it wrong, your prices may not accepted or marked properly

Incorrect formatting, presentation & non-conformance
A bit like the last one, if you don’t follow their format, you can get marked down.

Missing info eg appendices
Simply put, if something is missing it cannot get marked! Sometimes you may get a second chance to provide whatever is missing but it’s unlikely.

Late submissions
This will almost certainly get your bid disqualified!

Incorrect number of copies supplied
It’s common to be asked to submit multiple copies; sometimes different versions eg some without pricing. This enables the bid to be distributed to various members of the procurement team for marking. If you haven’t produced enough, you will have either made it hard work for the customer OR given them a reason not to mark everything (and lose points on your score).

Questions missed / not answered
A question not answered cannot get any score except zero.

Not understanding questions – incorrect assumptions
It’s not unusual for questions to be ambiguous so don’t assume… find out what the question means. This way you will be certain to answer what is being asked – not what you think is being asked. If you still don’t know how to answer it, try and get help.

Wrong company name
If you plagiarise ie cut & paste, make sure you edit to change the name of your customer. It does not look good if you are bidding for someone’s business but show another organisation’s name!

Typos / grammar
While you are not being marked on your command of the English language, when you are bidding for a major contract you must give the buyers confidence that yours is a professional organisation

Lack of understanding of customer’s business
You need to demonstrate that you know what their problems are or what they are trying to achieve. Avoid bland generic submissions that don’t show understanding. Worse still, do not just cut and paste a previous answer without personalising / editing it.

There are three basic themes here:

  1. trying not to lose marks
  2. showing a professional image
  3. making your submission relevant.

There are many more things to watch for but please do avoid these!

If you have any more ideas or comments, please add them…

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Write Good Tender Submissions – Use Evidence

May 20th, 2009 by Tony Zemaitis | No Comments | Filed in Bid Writing, Public Sector Tenders, Tenders

No matter how well you write your method statements in terms of technical capability, you still need to convince the reader that your organisation can really do the job.

The simple way of doing this is to use examples:

  • Anecdotal evidence showing how you solved a problem or achieved the required result
  • Case studies – can be full blown or mini case studies as appropriate
  • Testimonials (ideally attributable) relevant to the point you are making
  • Customer lists can help but they need to be relevant – ideally the same industry
  • Images, charts, tables etc that substantiate your claim (if they are permitted by the tender rules)

These shows the reader that you have done, and so can do, the job!

There is no absolute right or wrong but believability is key to writing good tender submissions… that win contracts!

Any more ideas?

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7 Top Tendering Tips for a Successful Tender Submission

May 6th, 2009 by Tony Zemaitis | No Comments | Filed in Bid Writing, PQQ, Public Sector Tenders, Tenders

I was recently asked to contribute to BT’s Upload magazine on an article on Winning the Big Contracts.

It included my 7 Top Tips for tendering…

1. Be selective
Only go for the tenders you’re likely to win. Tendering is time-consuming – better to spend time searching for ‘best fits’ than waste time tendering for contracts you’ll never win.

2. Be prepared
Spend time standardising all your policies – health and safety, quality, insurances, accounts, etc – and have them all available electronically.

3. Choose a team

Tendering is not a one-man job. Involve key players, administrators and management personnel, and consider using external ‘resources’, including consultants.

4. Assess their needs
Think about the buyer and their needs. That’s the key to a winning pitch!

5. Answer the question
Don’t fudge it – a poor answer may hold back your bid. But do be honest… you will be found out if you lie.

6. Get the facts
Keep in touch with the buyer. Ask questions if you feel you need more information.

7. Ask for feedback
Whether you win or lose, constructive feedback will make the next bid easier.

I’m sure you could add a few more…

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