Tender Byte No 9 : “Arm's Length”

I’ve often been told that you can’t develop a relationship with your prospective client during the formal tendering process. There is a fair amount of truth in this – they certainly hold you at arm’s length inasmuch as all questions and answers are circulated for all to see, and everything is kept strictly above board.

However, simply asking intelligent questions – over the phone if possible – will begin to create an impression that could work in your favour later.

I’ve been asked by clients, from time to time, to follow up tenders that they have failed to win. I’ve even been told on such occasions that one of the elements that has worked in the successful tenderer’s favour has been the amount of questions that they’ve asked. This has clearly translated into achieving a high score in the tender submission. The point being, the more clarification you seek the better your chance of getting the answer right.

My tip is, be careful how you do it, but don’t assume you can’t develop a dialogue and establish a relationship during the formal tender process – and ask lots and lots of questions.

Tender Byte No 8 : “All you have to do is answer the questions!”

Tenders normally contain a set of questions. Some of them may sometimes seem a little strange, but logic would dictate that just writing an answer should be enough.

However, that may lead to composing an answer that fails to score well. Further analysis of the question could unearth deeper meaning.

Key points to consider:

• Why have they asked the question?
• What is the right answer?
• What information are they looking for?

You may be surprised by what you can glean. The real meaning of the question may be cunningly disguised behind an innocent looking facade! In order to understand this you have to put yourself in the mind of the questioner. What might you be looking for if you were setting the tender?

This may sound over-analytical. Getting it right may shed some light on what appear to be very strange questions, but getting it wrong may cost you the tender.

So my tip is – don’t just take tender questions at face value. A little detective work, some psychology and plenty of verbal reasoning will be of enormous value and could pay off handsomely.

Tender Byte No 7 : "The Value of the Lost Tender"

When you win a tender the value is clear to see. But when you lose one it may all seem like wasted effort. Clearly you haven’t won any business, and if you leave it at that there will be no further benefit to be gleaned.

However, if you regard all tenders that you submit as being part of the overall sales and marketing process of your business much more can be gained. Simply put – always ask for feedback. I find that people are usually very happy to provide feedback, and, although they probably won’t talk about specific competitors, you can get a very good measure of how you stack up against the competition.

Having received the feedback the question is how best to use it. What you are looking for is not just how well you answered that specific tender – but how you are shaped up as a business to address particular issues, and whether you are pitching your business effectively. So, getting feedback from a number of tenders and spotting trends is really important.

My tip is this: always ask for feedback. You may be surprised how much you get, and how useful it can be!

Tender Byte No 6 : "Write the answer ... then read the question"

Of course, you should have read the question before writing the answer. However only reading it before you answer the question is very dangerous. It is surprisingly easy to find yourself answering what you thought the question was, only to find, on re-reading it, carefully, that it actually asked something else.

The temptation at this point is to pretty much make do with what you have written, and just change it a little. However you score no points for a good answer if it doesn’t answer the question! If it requires completely re-writing that is what you will need to do.

My tip is, read the question, re-read the question and read it again. In fact, keep on referring to the question until you are fully satisfied with the answer.

Finding an answer can involve scouring the various pieces of material you have and finding something on the topic in question. Once found this material is copied and pasted into the answer – job done!

Or is it?

If this material is simply related to the topic and doesn’t answer the question it will simple not do – you will score minimal points (if any), and run the risk of failing to reach the next stage in the bid process.