The complete bid writing help guide for your first tender

Last updated: Dec 17, 2021 @ 9:46 am

At Hudson Succeed, we are committed to providing top quality bid writing help. If this is your first time tendering for contracts you probably have a lot of questions. Don’t worry, we can help you out. The tendering process alone is long and complex. We’ve put together a guide of everything you need to know for your first tender.

It can be hard finding the right bid writing help, but we have you covered. Here’s how to win a tender:

Finding the right opportunities for your business

There are numerous private and public sector tenders published each day. It might seem like an endless task finding the right one for you.

You need to be realistic about your chances of securing a contract. Ask yourself the following:

• Does my business meet or exceed the technical skills and experience required?
• Does the contract fit into my business strategy?
• Can my business afford to spend money on time and resources?
• Will the contract help my business grow?

Our portals are updated every day with various tenders covering a whole range of industries.

Break it down  

It can be overwhelming opening up a tender document and thinking to yourself, “Where do I start?” We suggest you break everything down as it will make the whole process easier. Make a list as you review the tender documents and ask yourself the following:

• Which sections/documents need completing?
• What tasks need to be done before starting the response?
• Do I need to provide any policies?
• Does the response need to be designed?
• Who in your team needs to be contacted and who will do what?

We recommend breaking down the question into smaller chunks if it is a large question. This will help you answer the question and consider each point of the question. By breaking down the question it will help you construct a more detailed and concise answer.

Make a plan

Another one of our top tips is to make a plan before writing a tender. Before you start writing your answer, you should plan out how you’re going to answer it. Your bid will only be as successful as the planning you put into it. If you don’t make a plan, it will make the writing process harder. This could result in missing out key points in your answer, so be sure to make a detailed plan for guidance.

When bidding for a contract, keep the submission date in mind. This will help with the planning process. You should allow yourself to complete the bid well ahead of the deadline date to alleviate the stress and pressure. The tender writing process can be long and complex, so you want to allow plenty of time. Unexpected delays may pop up and by constructing an effective plan, you’ll know what to do should any issues arise.

Brainstorm 

Good bid writing help and advice should recommend brainstorming. If you’re struggling with a particular question, ask your team to pitch in with some ideas. Just because you have been tasked with writing the bid doesn’t mean others can’t feed in ideas to help you. Two heads are better than one. Other team members may have a speciality on a question you’re stuck on, so it’s worth asking for help.

Evidence

When writing your response, think about how you can present what you’re capable of. It’s all well and good telling the buyer what you can do for them. If you don’t back it up with evidence, then why should they believe you? Back up what you’re saying with evidence such as case studies and statistics. This bid writing help technique should help you on your way to winning a bid.

Most economically advantageous tender (MEAT)

We still have plenty of things to discuss about bid writing help, such as MEAT. When applying for public sector tenders, you will need to be the most economically advantageous tender. This does not mean the cheapest bid. The MEAT allows the buyer to award the bid based on aspects other than price. These include:

• Technical ability
• Accessibility
• Proposed design
• Innovation
• Customer service
• Ability to deliver on time
• Quality
• Environmental benefits.

Case studies

When tendering for work, you will usually be asked to provide some case studies. You will be asked to provide three case studies of contracts similar to the bid at hand. These examples must have been carried out in the last five years.

Buyers want to know what work you have done in the past that is similar. Make sure your examples are relevant. For example, imagine you are writing a tender for a car park extension in Leeds. If your only experience is in social housing in Edinburgh it is unlikely you’re suitable for that particular tender.

Buyers want to see how you’ve handled similar projects in the past. This will give them an indication as to whether you’d be suitable to deliver the contract.

Comprehensive answer

Another key element to bid writing help we can offer is how to construct a comprehensive answer. If the answer is asking for 500 words, writing only one sentence will not suffice. The buyer is looking for a detailed answer. If you aren’t able to provide a detailed answer, you are not suitable for the bid.

Simple language

To communicate clearly and effectively, use simple language to get your point across. You will not gain extra marks for using complicated jargon as this makes it harder to read and evaluate. If your answer has to be read more than once it is not clear and concise.

Proofread

As part of our bid writing help service, we always reiterate the importance of proofreading. You want to demonstrate why you should win the bid, not give the evaluator reasons why you shouldn’t. If you submit a bid that is full of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, you could lose the bid. This could easily be avoided by taking the time to read over your work. You could ask someone else to take a look as they may pick up on mistakes you’ve missed.

The results

The final step of bid writing help is to ask yourself – what did you learn? The bid management process doesn’t finish once you’ve submitted your bid. Learning from your results is vital to continuously improve your bid writing and approach. Unfortunately, you won’t win every tender but don’t let that hold you back as you can learn from your mistakes. If the buyer doesn’t provide any feedback, ask for it. It’s worth knowing where you lost out on marks and how you could improve next time. Some reasons you may have lost your bid include:

• Bidding for the wrong contracts – Be selective about which contracts you tender for.
• Lack of evidence – You are not providing evidence to back up what you are saying.
• Lack of proofreading – Your answer was full of bad spelling and grammatical errors.
• Re-using your old tender – Buyers know when you’re sending them generic copy and paste text.
• Too focused on your business – It’s about what you can do for the buyer not about how good your business is.

We provide bid writing help

Hudson Succeed is here to help you with all your bid writing needs. Our team of professionals have decades of experience, and we write to win. Giving you the confidence that your bid writing is in good hands.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect contract for your business, why not send it our way? Our Bid Writers can take care of it all for you. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need someone to double-check it for errors, Tender Mentor can help. The Bid Team will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They’ll also ensure that it’s in line with the specification before you submit.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready 4-week programme is perfect for businesses that have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to make sure you have everything in place to tender successfully. Tender Ready offers your business:

• A 12-month subscription to one Hudson Discover portal.
• Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding Professionals.
• An Organisation-wide Bid library, including 3 case studies, 5 CVs and 8 policies.
• Additional flexible benefit options.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing the results you want, our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions.

Discover Elite

Upgrading to Discover Elite can help optimise your tendering efforts – even when you’re busy. Our two new time-saving tools can improve your competitor awareness and success rate when tendering.

Find more helpful tips and advice in our blogs. We cover topics including:

• How to win a tender
• What is a Bid Writer?
• The tendering process
• Writing winning bids
• 7 tips for tendering for contracts
• Tips for bid management
• Bid writing services
• The types of tendering procedures
• Writing bids
• Bid writing consultants
• Submitting a tender response
• And many more.