5 steps to a successful bidding strategy
A successful tendering strategy contains the same core elements, regardless of your industry, country or budget. So, if you are the CEO of a digital marketing agency, a Business Development Manager in a software management company or the Sales Director of a PR firm, when it comes to opening up your sales pipeline and winning more tenders, the five top tips remain the same.
Undertake a Review of Your Existing Processes.
A review of your existing processes will identify any weaknesses in your organisation and ensure that you have all the tools in place to be successful in the long run. Are you using a dated procurement process simply because you’ve always done things that way? Constantly reviewing your processes will ensure that you identify and eliminate any inefficiencies as quickly as possible, giving you the best chance of consistent success.
Address Your Weaknesses.
In addition to reviewing your tender process with the aim of continuous improvement, ensure that you use buyer feedback to identify areas of weakness that need to be addressed. Each time you submit a tender, you will receive feedback from the buyer. An unsuccessful bid is a huge opportunity for you to understand where you need to make improvements, as the buyer will often indicate what scores you got for an individual section and what the winning submission scored. If you are consistently falling short in a particular area (e.g. case studies), this is a good sign that a change of approach is probably required.
Commit Time and Resources to Tendering.
It’s not going to happen overnight, and success is far from guaranteed on your first tender submission. Businesses that compete successfully for public contracts follow a process. Implementing an effective tendering process can increase your win rate by up to 70%. Be patient and ensure that you are prepared to invest the time and resources to doing business with the government and other public sector bodies.
Creating a bid library to maintain your documentation is a great place to start – this can be time-consuming to begin with, but once it is in place, can save up to 50% of the time spent on your next tender.
Qualify Available Opportunities.
You have identified a potential tender that feels right for your organisation. What next? Qualifying a bid before you even start your submission is vitally important. Do you have a unique proposition that the customer can only get from you? Can you price your solution within the buyer’s budget?
Bidding is not a game, you are in it to win, not to make up the numbers, so the balance you need to achieve in a bid/no-bid decision should not be emotional, but based on data.
Get to Know the Buyers.
People buy from people like themselves, so align your company as closely to the buyer as possible by way of values, vision and mission. Businesses who win tenders take the time to make themselves known to contracting authorities and build relationships with relevant procurement departments. COVID-19 has made face-to-face feedback meetings very difficult for the foreseeable future, but there are a number of ways that you can reach out to buyers and build relationships including video conferencing and email. Being proactive in getting to know the buyers in the public sector will send the message that you are keen to improve which will help you with future bids.
To learn more about how you can optimise your tendering process with Orbidal, book a demo to see Orbidal in action.
In a nutshell
- Undertake a Review of Your Existing Processes.
- Address Your Weaknesses.
- Commit Time and Resources to Tendering.
- Qualify Available Opportunities.
- Get to Know the Buyers.
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