Bid management processes - how to improve tender preparation.
Adopting best practice bid management processes leads to higher quality tender submissions and increased bid win rates.
Last-minute scrambles to complete bids, RFP responses and tender submissions before looming deadlines, may always be part of the selling experience. Yet these days, bid management can be a lot less stressful.
The Ideal Bid Management Process
When a large RFP response is required, everyone uses a common proven bid management methodology and joins in to contribute.
People not normally involved in the sales process, drop what they are doing and volunteer to take responsibility for their chunk of content.
No one needs chasing and many hands make light work.
All the salesperson has to do is coordinate the efforts of others and concentrate on the presentation of the information.
All elements of the proposal come together in a timely fashion and there is even leeway for a thorough proofreading exercise.
Nirvana perhaps . . .
Here is a more recognisable scenario:
Someone identifies a large opportunity and decides to compete for it.
Sometimes the main sponsor of the effort is an individual salesperson or manager. The commitment to compete may be made at a senior level and the task delegated. Either way, one person ends up with the primary responsibility.
It might turn out to be the making of their career. Since losing is a likely outcome, so is taking the blame.
After skimming the 178 mandatory requirements, the person who takes on the task of bid management realises that help from others will be essential.
A few of the requirements can be answered with updated information from the last large RFP response. Most will require a huge effort and involve obtaining detailed information from a range of specialists both inside and outside the company.
If morale is good the specialists volunteer willingly however, they are all fully occupied with other tasks and projects. Making contributions tends to be put off until the deadline is approaching and the bid manager is becoming increasingly anxious.
The effort to complete the work by the deadline becomes a crisis. The possibility of failure seems increasingly likely. In the end, panic and pressure motivate the necessary acceleration.
The proposal is finished just in time for it to be hand delivered by someone willing to drive very fast.
Despite the rush and sloppy presentation, it scores well and is judged second.
Being pipped at the post is no consolation. There is no second prize. It begs the question, “What if we had started a little earlier?”
The cost of failure is too painful to contemplate. No one dares put a number on it. Worse is the missed opportunity cost. This is made up of all the other business that might have been found and won with the resources used up to bid and lose.
Sometimes deciding not to compete is the better decision.
It is essential to make a rational decision about each opportunity. Hold a deal review meeting that includes all of the people who will have to contribute to the response document.
The purpose is to have all the required contributors promise that the necessary time and resources will be provided.
Then if all the stakeholders agree to support the effort, have them publicly and irrevocably commit to providing their share of resources – be it time, people, or equipment.
If there isn't full commitment, it will be wiser to abandon the effort and decline the opportunity to bid.
Those who rely on winning business by responding to formal RFPs and tenders, get much better results when they adopt effective bid management processes.
Using a checklist is the best way to evaluate or quantify the chances of winning any particular opportunity. They are easy to develop.
Brainstorm for a long list of indicators and prune it until you have a manageable number.
Better still, use our Win Predictor.
Answering the questions returns a score that indicates the likelihood of success. The questions indicate actions to improve the score.
Appoint a Bid Manager
On its own, a successful deal review is not enough to ensure success. Whoever takes the lead as bid manager must act as project manager.
The bid manager or project manager creates a schedule of work that accommodates any dependencies. He or she must allocate the work, ensure that all contributors understand what is expected of them, and gather progress reports. This person presses those who are late, organises review meetings, and coordinates the integration of all contributions.
Use a Project Management Tool
Having a common work area where everyone can view each other's progress, makes a difference. It encourages cross-boundary contributions and draws on a wider pool of knowledge. A common workspace promotes team spirit and a sense of community that gives a project momentum.
Project management collaboration tools that publish action lists and progress reports in a shared area, reduce the incidence of things being overlooked and ease the load of monitoring and maintaining progress.
There are several free-to-try and free-to-use project management tools online.
Use Proven Bid Preparation Processes
Having a methodical approach to sales proposal preparation makes a significant difference to success rates. Those opportunities that won't happen, can't be won, or wouldn't be profitable are quickly dismissed.
Methods or frameworks based on best practice models have an impact on bid quality. Where best practice guidance is embedded in the process, contributors find it easier to create consistent, compliant, and compelling content.
When winning a large sale or contract depends on the quality and effectiveness of the proposal, bid management becomes a vital part of the process. Adopting a thought-out, methodical, and systematized approach saves time, minimises errors, and generates proposals that outscore the competition.
Article by Clive Miller
Related Material:
Bidding to Win - Ten Critical Success Factors
Banish Sales Proposal Drudgery
If you are looking for a bid management methodology, ways to improve bid management processes or the means to increase bid success rates, let us help you establish best practices. Telephone +44 (0)1392 851500. We will be pleased to learn about your needs and talk through some options. Send an email to custserv@salessense.co.uk for a prompt reply or use the contact form here.
