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As Nathanial Hawthorne once said – “easy reading is damn hard writing.”
That is exactly what every bid writer needs to do! Make the reading of the proposed content as easy as possible for the buyer/evaluator to comprehend.
Although I’m considered the Procurement / Content Manager across the Hudson Procurement Group, this is a position I gladly accepted based on my skills as a bid writer!
Like any job in the world, there are highlights and there are headaches. Bid Writing ain’t no piece of cake and you need to make sure you always focus on delivering the highlights to avoid getting a headache!
If you go in with the intention of winging it – you’ll undoubtedly lose. Make sure you create a Gantt chart (or similar) and assign clearly-defined roles for pertinent actions and time-bound deadlines for the likes of first drafts, content completion and reviews.
You can reuse some previous content but please remember that every question is different and you’ll need to adapt this to align with the specification. You will, in a lot of cases, have to rewrite your content based on the ongoing changing needs of buyers.
In ITTs, it is of course, typically all about your written word and the way you respond to buyer requirements in a confident and engaging manner. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t jazz your content up. On ‘free-flowing’ proposals (those that aren’t constrained by word counts and the inability to change your response layout). Use the likes of InDesign to make your proposal stand out! There’s nothing better than a first class response that is both descriptive, assertive and makes use of images, infographics, charts and other visually engaging content – depending on the opportunity and sector of course!
Research goes a heck of a long way, especially when you can provide additional value that accommodates your buyer’s goals and aspirations. Hit the [e]books and start researching the buyer to help you gain further insight into what further points you can respond to.
Never write terms like – ‘we shall try …’ instead use assertive vocabulary such as ‘we will …’ – act like the contract is yours already. Describe what you are going to do not what you’re willing, attempting or trying to do. Write this using bullet points. It allows the response to remain concise, free from superfluous information and more direct- overall supporting your assertiveness.
Get your peers to check this. If you’re working on a piece of work for 3 days straight, you’ll have undoubtedly missed simple grammatical mistakes that others will pick up on. Leave it a day or two and go back to review the lot. The more time you have away from any finalised work, the more attention and recognition you give when you come back to it.
Make sure you check out our Tender Consultants for further support OR our Impending Tender VLE service, offering FREE video tutorials on all aspects of bid writing and tendering.