Bid writing is a unique skill and industry. The expertise required in order to put forward a good, compelling, winning proposal can take years to grasp. Unfortunately, not everyone has that much time! Increasingly SMEs are looking to win more business through bids and tenders but simply don’t have the experience to do it properly. If outsourcing your bid writing isn’t a practical option then bid training could be precisely what you need.
This blog looks at a few key benefits of high-quality bid training.
Understanding Key Definitions
Bid management is a very jargon-heavy industry and to the uninitiated, can be almost entirely inaccessible. Training offers beginners the chance to learn about key definitions such as:
- The difference between a tender, bid and proposal.
- What is an executive summary, a win theme or a value proposition?
- The difference between features, benefits and discriminators.
- What does SSQ / ITT / RFI / RFP mean?
Learn to Find and Qualify new Tenders
Finding Tenders
You may be the best bid writer in the world, but if you can’t find the right opportunity, your talents will go wasted. It can be difficult to know how and where to find the right tender and training is an excellent way to learn. You could also learn:
- Where to look for public and private sector tenders.
- What are the different tendering procedures?
- How to find contracts / frameworks / DPSs / auctions.
Qualifying an Opportunity
Once you find a tender, you now need to know if it’s worth pursuing. Learning about bid/no bid decisions and which opportunities to select is very important. If you don’t know how to properly select your bids, you may find yourself wasting time on tenders you’ll never win while the perfect opportunity passes you by.
Bid training will teach you the things to look out for in a new opportunity. You should be taught to look for criteria such as appropriate contract values, service scopes and locations. Recognising these will be crucial in understanding which tenders to go for, and which to leave alone.
Planning Your Responses Effectively
Quite counter-intuitively, bid writing isn’t all about the writing. A proper bid plan can be just as important. Knowing exactly what, where and how you’re going to write before ever plugging in your keyboard is vitally important.
Good bid training will therefore not only teach you about writing best practice, but also planning best practice…
Learn Key Writing Techniques
…However, writing is still very important! Good bid training will also teach you how to approach your writing. You will learn about the use of tone, style and specific writing techniques to ensure you put yourself forward in the best possible light in every bid. Writing training can also cover:
- The golden rules of writing bids.
- Active vs passive voice.
- Copy and Paste: the dos and don’ts
- Following instructions and providing evidence.
How to Add Value
Once you’ve learned the basics of writing best practice, you can now move on to adding value to your proposal. Adding value for your client is an excellent way to take your bid to the next level. It’s not quite as easy as it sounds though.
Knowing what to add and what to leave out is an important skill. There’s a fine line between offering additional value for money, and selling the buyer services they don’t want or need.
Bid training will teach you how to subtly add value which entices the buyer without over-selling or over-promising on your services.
How and Why to Review and Proof
Bid review and proofing stages are vitally important in ensuring your proposals are as detailed and accurate as possible. Reviews also ensure that errors are kept to a minimum and that your submissions are perfect.
Bid training will not only teach you why to review but also how, when, and how often. You will learn the different types of reviews, when to apply each kind and the objectives you should aim for at every stage.
Put simply, successful reviewing can mean the difference between a win and a loss.
If you’re interested in learning more about bid training and how Bespoke Bids might help please call 0161 883 1836, or email hello@bespoke-bids.com. Alternatively, please click here.
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