How to Win a Tender: What Makes a Winning Bid?

Winning a bid takes more than just offering the lowest price. It requires showcasing strengths and capabilities that set your bid apart from others.  

With numerous businesses vying for the same projects, the competition is fierce. Response times are short, and the pressure is on. Successfully navigating this challenge requires a strategic and well-thought-out approach. Here are proven strategies to help you win with tendering or competitive responses to RFPs.

1. Research Your Buyer

Understand who you are bidding for. Find answers to questions like: What are their business objectives? What type of projects have they had in the past? And what values do they hold dear? Here are ways to gather information about your buyer:  

• Visit their website. Read up about their operations to get an idea of what they do (news articles, annual reports, LinkedIn). What are their projects, facilities or services? Who are their stakeholders and end users?
• Look up the buyer's organisational structure. See if they have a corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy. This policy could give you a good idea of their values to highlight in your response.  
• Study the buyer's previous projects. Take note of the project scope, timeline and budget. This will give you an idea of what matters to them.  
• Research their industry and competitors. Knowing their industry norms can help you better position your bid against others.  
• Monitor their social media channels and news outlets. This can give you insights into their company culture and any recent developments.  

2. Create a Bid Strategy

After researching and understanding your buyer, use that information to tailor your bid strategy. The bid strategy is crucial for determining if or how you will respond, increasing the chances of winning the tender. This involves considerations such as the following:  

• Bid/No-bid decision making. Based on your research, determine if the project aligns with your company's strengths and capabilities. Preparing a competitive tender or RFP response takes time and valuable resources.  If you can't be a winner, it may be best to pass on bidding for that tender.
• Consider the type of work required by the bid. Do you have the necessary people, experience, methodology, tools, capacity and expertise to meet those requirements?
• Pricing strategy. A well-defined pricing strategy determines your bid's competitiveness while ensuring profitability. Consider factors such as geography to the opportunity, market rates, project complexity and potential risks.

3. Incorporate Key Components

Creating a winning tender involves several key components that can make your proposal stand out. Here are some crucial elements to consider:  

• Clear Value Proposition: Your bid must clearly articulate the value you are bringing to the table. Highlight in your proposal what makes you different from your competitors in a clever way.

• Competitive Pricing: Strike the right balance between value and cost to win bids. Being too cheap is a risk; being too expensive is not value for money. Use industry benchmarks, estimate your costs accurately, and price competitively.  
• Differentiating Factors: Identify what sets you apart from your competition, whether it is people, unique technology, expertise, or experience.
• Strong Project Plan: Outline key milestones, timelines, and deliverables to highlight your project management capabilities. This will give your reader confidence you can deliver the work.
• Relevant Experience and Expertise: Highlighting past successes and relevant experience builds confidence in your ability to deliver.  
• Quality Assurance: Assure the client of the quality of your work by detailing your proven processes, certifications, and quality assurance frameworks.  

4. Craft a Compelling Professional Proposal

Your proposal needs to grab the client's attention. It should be free of grammatical errors and written professionally. Avoid unnecessary jargon and ensure that your points are easy to understand. Do not make it overly long; it should cover all relevant points and be in the format required by the tender or RFP response. This generally includes:  

• Introduction and Appreciation: The introduction sets the tone for your proposal. Follow this with a concise executive summary that encapsulates the essence of your bid.  
• Project Approach & Methodology: Provide a detailed overview of your approach to the project. Address challenges proactively and present solutions.  
• Unique Selling Points: What makes your proposal unique? In a bid, the focus is usually on price and quality. You must highlight other factors, such as your methodology, technology, or expertise.  
• Transition / Start-Up Plan: Provide a detailed outline of expected deliverables and timelines. This helps the client understand your project plan better in terms of getting up and running.
• People & Team Structure: Your bid should detail the project's assigned team members, their roles and experience, and how they will work together to ensure success.
• Financial Section: Clearly outline costs and pricing, including any discounts or incentives you may offer. Be transparent with pricing to build trust.  

5. Sell the Value of Partnerships

Winning a tender is not just about securing one project or contract but also about building a long-term partnership with the client. Trust, reliability, and a record of accomplishment of successful projects can lead to future opportunities with the same client. When we say selling the value of partnerships, we mean:  

• Build Relationships: Show genuine interest in their business. The client will feel your interest in the project, putting you on the same page.  
• Strong Communication: Effective communication is vital to building trust with clients. Keep them updated on progress and be transparent about any challenges or roadblocks.  
• Offer Solutions: Focus on solving the client's current problems while anticipating future needs and offering solutions that add value to their business. This can lead to long-term partnerships.  

6. Manage Your Bid Efficiently

Bid management abilities are essential for completing a winning proposal. Organising your bid's aspects, from document creation to submission, is crucial. Consider using management software to streamline the process. Management abilities are critical because:  

• Consistency: Well-managed bids result in consistency and standardisation, making it easier for evaluators to compare submissions.  
• Collaboration: Bid management software makes collaboration effective by streamlining the process and addressing all bid components.  
• Data Analysis: Bid management software lets you analyse data from past bids. This can help improve future submissions by identifying areas for improvement.  

Ready To Win Tenders?

Now that you understand the tender process, you are ready to win your bid and secure contracts. After surpassing the bidding comes an even more significant challenge of managing it. But you have nothing to worry about because you can simplify the process and avoid administrative overhead using project and program management software such as Mastt.  

Mastt provides a central platform to manage all aspects of a project, from budgeting and scheduling to risk management and stakeholder communication. Learn how to create multiple dashboards and reports from templates, all powered by a single data source, in this webinar. Upgrade your project management skillset and save time by leveraging Mastt.