Keep it Structured
I’m amazed how often I encounter businesses whose processes for storing tendering and business development information is either not formalised or, in some cases, totally unstructured. 

This information is a critical business asset and without a clear method in place, much valuable data is lost from an organisation. I particularly see this when building a selling strategy for a new proposal. One of the key areas I examine is the company’s relevant project history. Without a solid proposal and project library in place it becomes very difficult to effectively capture the full appreciation of a client’s capabilities for this critical component of the bid.

For any sales team, a clear protocol for capturing business intelligence information should be of the highest priority. Business information management – particularly metadata – is a foundation competency that I will discuss in a later posting. In the meantime, does your business need advice on developing standardised structures for managing your proposal information? Please get in touch!

 

Feedback is Gold
Life for those in sales and bid teams can be chaotic. There are multiple competing tasks on the go at any one time and this can cause a real problem in maintaining quality in your tendering cycle.

Why??  Well, it's analogous to the old saying ‘You can't talk and listen at the same time'. Without listening you cannot learn and this obviously limits your ability to improve. One thing I focus on with clients is to prioritise time to obtain debriefs once they have completed a bid phase.

Often we think of debriefs in a negative context – ‘Where did we get it wrong?' However, they offer far more value that just that. When you win a tender (for example), a debrief serves to highlight how the client has interpreted your submission, what they perceived as the strengths of your offer, and importantly, deficiencies they might have found in the proposal that your delivery team might need to address.

Knowing this up front sets the scene for a smooth transition into the delivery phase of your project. Yet how many of us bother chasing the client for this valuable information??

Critically, you need to document these debriefs, incorporate the learnings into your bid handover meeting and reposit it with your proposal files - or better still, your corporate CRM - where it can become a valuable addition to your knowledgebase for future sales efforts.

 

Don't Wag the Dog – The Executive Summary
Many times I find that one of the final activities my clients consider when building their tenders is writing the executive summary. They see it as a wrap-up of the bid to be written once the document has been completed. The reality is, doing things this way is really no different than deciding to draw up the plans for your house once you’ve finished building!

The Executive Summary is the blueprint, the foundation, for the entire proposal. More time should be spent in the early phases on developing this document than on any other task. Why? Because once your bid team has a firm basis for the key messages your proposal will put forward, it will flavour the language they communicate with and steer the solutions they choose to put forward.

Personally, I found this type of approach difficult to subscribe to in my early years of proposal management, but once you’ve seen a complex proposal developed in this manner, I guarantee you’ll become an advocate!

 

Looks versus Brains
Like many of you, I’ve seen tremendous variation in the styles with which companies submit their proposals.  Everything from (practically) the back of an envelope through to something resembling a set of encyclopaedias. One company I know of had boxes constructed in the shape of rolling stock carriages - at a cost of several thousand dollars - to hold their rail proposal binders.

So what do we do about ‘style’? The presentation used for a tender is of course driven by the philosophy of the people involved. And again, I’ve seen everything from clients who think typing the bid is being extravagant through to businesses that would sooner not submit their proposal rather than have the CMYK mix on their logo be less than perfect.

What  do we advise?

Firstly, “Content is King”. This should never be forgotten. Flashy delivery of a weak message achieves the same result as not tendering in the first place.

Secondly, presentation is important, but it should never be at the expense of the content. Like a job interview, your bid presentation makes a broader statement about the quality with which you undertake your business and the gravity with which you have approached that sales opportunity.

But you must prioritise the development of solid content before committing time to crafting the aesthetics of its communication.

A Common Trap!

I’m the first to acknowledge that captivating visual appeal is a must when developing proposals. In fact, I maintain a couple of designers in my network to provide this important skill if my clients require it. But if you are looking to develop a more professional look for your proposals, don’t then make the classic error of becoming so enamoured with slick layouts and punchy graphics that the content quality of your documents slips.

I have not yet seen a tender won solely on the basis of its looks!!

 

It's Ok to say No

From time to time business developers feel pressured to submit tenders despite not being in any position to meet the client's requirements.

You can say 'No Thanks!' to an invitation to tender. The trick is to do it the right way.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you throw a tender away the minute you get a bit stretched for time, you have to exhaust all possibilities (such as asking for an extension if possible, resource sharing from elsewhere in your business, seeking appropriate teaming with other providers etc.) before making the difficult decision not to tender.

But remember, our clients are people too. They may be time poor, have multiple competing tasks on their hands and sometimes may be struggling to make the whole thing work. Sound familiar?? And just like you, these people do not want their time wasted. My experience as a business developer has been that clients prefer honesty from their suppliers.

Your relationship will be far better served by stating up front something to the effect of ‘…we are not in a position right now to supply you with as comprehensive a solution as our business is renowned for. We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss with you any options there might be to extend the timeframe for responding so that we might more effectively address your needs." You get the idea…