Winning tenders can be very costly unless you’re disciplined about which tenders to go for.
Always respond to tenders that require the types of solutions your business has a track-record in delivering, tenders that require the types of capabilities and capacities that your company has, and has a tender response timeframe that you can meet.
Here’s four critical success factors in winning tenders.
First point to win the tender – engage with the Client early.
You’re much more likely to win if you’ve met with the Client’s decision-makers well before the tender comes out – optimally, when they are finalising the type of solution(s) they are prepared to spend money on to achieve their goals.
Early involvement allows your business to gain a deep understanding of the project’s objectives, scope, and requirements, enabling you to tailor your response accordingly. This proactive approach demonstrates a strong commitment to the project and positions your business as a knowledgeable and responsive partner. By providing valuable input, your business can influence the tender’s design, ensuring it aligns with industry best practices and promotes fair competition.
If you can’t or haven’t engaged, you can still respond to a tender. However, you have to be realistic about your win percentage: it will be equal to everyone else who is responding.
Let’s say there are 10 competitors, including your company, submitting a tender, your win percentage is 10% range – probably not a good return on your investment.
Second point – go for the tenders you can win.
Look carefully at the evaluation criteria.
If there are Mandatory criteria that your business can’t prove that you meet, then be prepared for your tender response to be set aside and not evaluated.
If there are Comparative criteria that you can’t prove that you meet, then look at the percentage weighting of that criteria (if the Client has provided that information): if it’s a large percentage (eg. 25%), then you have two options:
A. Don’t submit a tender
B. Prove that you’ll have the required capability or capacity by the time the tender evaluation will be completed.
If it’s a very low percentage weighting, eg 1%-5%, then you might have a chance. But be aware that a lot of tenders are awarded on 2-3% difference in evaluation scores, and so that very low percentage weighted evaluation criteria might make the difference between coming first and coming second.
Not sure if you can win the tender?
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Third point to win the tender – get the best people on your tender response team.
Tenders require a lot of discussion, decision-making and writing. Choose people who are available for the tender response period, and who are subject matter experts – or who can talk with subject matter experts – in the types of solutions that the Client wants.
Don’t worry too much if they can’t write compelling responses to tender requirements: tender writers can cost-effectively take raw content and create masterpieces.
Fourth point to win the tender – evaluate your tender responses before submitting your tender documents to your Client
You would never submit an exam at college or Uni without checking it against the requirements of the exam question, would you?
This is the same with tender responses but the stakes are a lot higher: so engage an expert evaluator to cost-effectively review your tender responses before you submit your tender response to your Client. You’ll get specific line-by-line guidance on what to change to maximise your tender evaluation scores.
By following these simple steps, you’ll get a higher return on your time and cost of preparing tender responses.
Win the tender
Get specific line-by-line guidance on what to change to maximise your tender evaluation scores.
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Further reading –
How tender consultants can supercharge your tender application