You’ve rallied your troops and now the battle to win that important tender or bid begins. You’ve thought out your strategy; you’re confident about your offering’s considerable firepower. As you begin to pick off selection criteria targets, remember that nothing is too obvious to state when it comes to gaining valuable ground. Make sure to include these four points for extra ammunition.
Place
- Where your business is can be an important strategic advantage when it comes to seeing off the competition. Make sure to accurately assess and clearly outline the advantages of your location. What about the geographical range that you can service from where you are? Are you able to deliver where others can’t? Can you do it faster and at short notice?
- And, if your product or service is locally sourced, make this clear. This is becoming an increasingly important competitive edge and not everyone bidding will be able to say the same.
Personnel
- Having an experienced and expert team who can hit the ground running means less time and money needs to be spent on training and resources, so don’t be afraid to cite the immediate contribution your people will make to the contract.
- Remember to include each individual’s specific qualifications and skills.
Proof
- To alleviate any perception of risk associated with accepting your bid, demonstrate a successful track record of delivery. If 98% of the houses you build have been completed on schedule; if 9 out of 10 customers are repeat business, say so.
- Back this up with independent verification from satisfied customers in the form of short case studies or testimonials. Robust references from genuinely satisfied customers are great weapons to have in your arsenal.
Processes
- Do you have the appropriate processes and standards in place? It’s not enough to simply say you have them; state them clearly. Include details such as all appropriate training qualifications, compliance with environmental standards, ISO and industry accreditation and so on. These are particularly important in the public sector procurement arena.
- If your business processes give you an advantage over the competition, then outline exactly why they do. For example, if you’ve instigated another tier to your quality control process that no one else in your industry has, then make sure to point this out and why it means your offering is superior.
Highlight your strengths and you’ll out-manouevre many of your bid enemies from the get go. Plus, you’ll highlight to the tenderer that you’ve thought out your campaign down to the last detail – and that’s always a winning strategy.
Watch more advice on Tender writing in our short video
For help with tender writing, copywriting, proofreading or editing any of your business documents, contact Proof Communications on 02 8036 5532 or 0411 123 216 or head to the contact page.