Does your business model require you to bid for work? Is your success rate as good as you might like? This podcast is all about writing bids. We pose the question - how do you create a winning bid?
Writing Bids: How to Create a Winning Bid


This podcast is all about writing bids. The Next 100 Days Podcast often covers generating leads and closing sales. For many businesses, generating leads isn't what they do. Instead they are responding by writing bids to opportunities that have been published somewhere.

So how do can you be compelling and win more often when you are writings bids? Kevin Appleby explains.



Are you looking for contracts? Where the process for getting that sale is writing bids. Lead generation doesn't really come into it. It is more important how you create a winning bid.
First, Get On Frameworks
Kevin's experience is largely based on consulting within the public sector. The way you get in is by being part of various 'frameworks'. Normally you find yourself writing bids to get onto those frameworks. A framework is part of the public sector procurement rules. If you are doing a full tender in the public sector, you have to follow a process called OJEU. That's all about the European Journal for Opportunities. ( on this link)

https://www.ojeu.eu/whatistheojeu.aspx

A public sector contract should be advertised in OJEU. Advertised to the world and anyone can apply. But, beware, it is a horrendously long process. A public body would have gone to OJEU and put a framework out, saying over the next 5 years, we are going to let £20m of work of this nature - finance, IT contracts etc. Various people will bid to be 'on the framework'. You qualify by showing that generally you are capable of doing a lot of things.

There might be 10 or 20 or 30 suppliers on a framework. So when the proper opportunity comes out, maybe valued £50,000, the public body can then contract MUCH QUICKER. By issuing an opportunity to the framework and asking people to respond. Then rather than being a 6 month process, that most OJEUs end up in, it can become a 3 to 6 week process.
Contracts Finder
Also in the UK, there is something called Contracts Finder.

https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

These are for lower value contracts that are advertised and anybody can go into the Contracts Finder website, browse through the opportunities that are on there and can if they wish submit a bid.



 
Managing a Bid Team
Earlier in Kevin Appleby's career, he managed a bid team. Writing bids for some of these contracts can expensive. Kevin recalls bidding for contracts valued between £10,000 and £5-10m. The bigger the opportunity the more effort goes into it. You are investing more time in this process. His consultancy found that while they were winning enough bids to keep going, they were writing bids for a huge number of tenders.

Their win rate wasn't fantastic! They were winning between 1 in 6 or 1 in 7 bids.

Obviously, they were bearing the cost of the 6 that they didn't win. Their business decided to do something about moving the bid rate from 1 in 7 to nearer 1 in 3. Kevin was asked to sort that problem out.

They did two things:

More careful about which tenders they bid for.
Evolved a process for writing bids that meant they presented compelling and winning bids.

Free Bid Proposal Template
Kevin designed a BID PROPOSAL TEMPLATE. This is what you can get your hands on right here! It is Free. It is very similar to the original. If you are writing bids this template will help you.


It allows you to think through:

The story you are telling.
The problems the potential client has got.
What is special about your solution?
What will you emphasise as your unique selling point?
Who are your competitors and what will they say.
What are your strengths and what are your competitors weaknesses?
How will you structure your bid.

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