The Bid Journey – our best practice work winning methodology – is designed to help our clients win more profitable contracts more often.
Developed using our procurement expertise
Our Managing Director, Paul Johnstone, developed the Bid Journey methodology based on over a decade of experience in strategic procurement roles, where he procured and managed Construction, FM and Professional Services contracts worth over £750m.
Having reviewed hundreds of bids and proposals, Paul understands that there is more to winning work than writing bids.
He found that although most companies were technically competent in delivering the services they offered, their approach to bidding for contracts was often reactive.
This resulted in companies:
- Bidding for contracts they did not have a realistic chance of winning
- Bidding for contracts where they did not truly understand the buyer’s needs, and there was no prior rapport with the buyer’s key decision makers
- Submitting poor quality bids which affected the perception of their company with the buyer for future contracts
Did you know?
Approximately 60% of a buyers decision making is made before they issue an RFP or ITT, during their market research.
This demonstrates the importance of the pre-bid phase as part of your work winning activity
The Bid Journey is based on the mantra “if the first time you know about the opportunity is when it is issued to the market – it is too late”
The Bid Journey has been proven to deliver results for our clients.
The key principles of the Bid Journey are:
Prioritise quality of opportunity over quantity
Winning more contracts doesn’t mean you need to bid more.
Instead, take a proactive, strategic approach, and aligning your work winning activity to your business strategy and objectives. Identify clients you want to work with, and contracts you want to win, where you can make profit and grow sustainably.
Use the Pre-Bid phase to understand your prospective clients, build rapport and understand their needs. Perhaps more importantly, work out at this early stage if they are a good ‘fit’ for your company:
- Do they share your values
- Can you deliver what they are looking for in a supplier
- Do you understand what is important to them
- Are they open to new suppliers, or have they got existing relationships which make it unlikely they will change
These are just some of the questions you should know the answer to before you bid.
Knowing this information will give you a better chance of winning when it comes to writing the bid. If you don’t know the answers, someone else will.
Optimise Return on Investment from your work winning activity
Consider the cost to your business of bidding for work.
A typical bid can include Directors, Subject Matter Experts, Business Development, Sales, Marketing, Bid Writers / Managers and Graphic Design.
- What is the opportunity cost to the business of bidding for this contract.
- Are you taking resources away from existing client projects?
- Are there other, more winnable opportunities you are potentially missing out on?
- What is the contract worth to the business, and how much profit are you likely going to earn if you win?
- What are the realistic chances of winning the contract?
At the end of all of this, is it worth it?
The Bid Journey helps you to optimise your Return on Investment from your work winning activity by helping you uncover the answer to questions like these, and also helps you to identify the clients and contracts you want to win, BEFORE they come to market.
Work Winning is everyone’s responsibility
Bidding for contracts is not only the responsibility of the Bid team.
It is a strategic activity that requires sponsorship from Senior Management, and investment in the best people, processes and resources to maximise your chances of winning.
Work winning also requires a joined up approach between Business Development, Capture, Sales, Marketing and Bid Teams to produce a client focused and compelling solution, informed by the collective intelligence and inputs of these functions.
Not to forget, the subject matter experts such as Project Managers, technicians, designers and engineers who bring the technical expertise to the bid.
Deliver what you promised
Once you’ve won the contract, you need to keep your promises and deliver what you said you would.
This requires effective co-ordination and handover from the Bid team and the Delivery team, and implementing effective contract management discipline to demonstrate to your client that you are delivering in line with the quality, programme and budget requirements set out in the contract.
By doing this, you can influence your client when the contract comes up for renewal, giving you an advantage over your competition. You can also use this project as a case study to help you win other contracts.
Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement is at the heart of the Bid Journey methodology.
No matter if you win or lose the bid, you can always improve.
Gather feedback from the buyer on what they liked and didn’t like about your bid, and consider how you can use this to improve for the next bid.
Also think about how the Bid team worked together during the process, and how this could have been more effective.
What opportunities can you draw from the data and insights from the feedback – how do you compare to the competition?
The market is as competitive as it has ever been. You cannot afford to stand still.
The Bid Journey is designed to help you achieve optimum business growth.
Get in touch with our team today to find out more about our Bid Journey solutions.
