TOP 7 TIPS TO MAKE YOUR TENDER STANDOUT

Are you wondering how to make your tender standout? Am assuming you have realized the benefits of winning a bid or tender and are motivated to make your bid count.

Tenders are a viable way of growing your business. The issue is that they tend to be very competitive which is why you truly need to know how to make your bid standout from those of your competitors.

Let’s go over top seven tips to make your tender standout

Plan how you intend to respond

Whether you are responding to an Invitation to tender (ITT), expression of interest (EOI) or a Request for Proposal (RFP), your success will depend on your plan. The buying organization can tell if your response was carefully crafted or rushed simply because you wanted to beat the deadline.

Once an Invitation to tender has been released ensure you don’t waste time even if the deadline seems to be far away. Start working on your response so that you can finish it before time.

Do your research on the buying organization

You are only going to make your tender standout if you know exactly the type of buyer you are dealing with. Researching the organization will make it easy to know the nature of solution they are interested in because not all organization are precise about the solution they are looking for, which is why some just put out a request for proposal and the proposal is what is to result into a contract.

Find out the general targes and objectives of the company and make this come out in your bid. As a small business this gives you an opportunity to show how sustainable the solution you are presenting is going to be, things like environmentally friendly cleaning products or working towards being carbon neutral/negative. Most organizations will find it advantageous to work with business that are sustainable.

Pay attention to the testimonials you present

The first thing you need to understand is that all organizations are keen on managing contractual risks and that will mean that they, for the most part, want to work with companies that have a record of providing the kind of solutions they are in need of.

Adding a positive testimonial from clients you have worked with in the past is a good way of assuring the buying organization that you know what you are talking about. Ensure you include the contact details since the buyer may want to verify what you have said, this way they are certain you are not fabricating such.

Ensure you have relevant qualifications

You must read the specifications thoroughly to ensure that you know all the qualifications and accreditations required of the entity submitting the bid. This way you don’t end up wasting time tendering your bid.

By having the qualifications required, you increase your chances of winning. You also show the client that you are not a contractual risk and that working with you will improve their position in the market.

Ensure the format is not boring

Having sharp response in bid and tenders may not be enough to make your tender standout. The manner in which you convey and display the response will make a big difference.

This is the part where how you format everything comes into play.

You can:

• Pay attention to the design – while the buyers may be strict about the type of format they want you can still be creative about it. For instance, you could include you brand colors in your proposal. This will help your response standout from the rest of the competitors.
• Make use of bullets points and subheading – To break up text blocks these can help you as well as make it easy for the buyer to go through your documents

Show the value you are adding

Showing the buyer how you are going to add value through your tender is an obvious way to make your tender standout. You have to realize that buyers are always interested in getting the most out of their money which means they will be keeping an eye out for responses that show add value.

Ensure company CV is uniform

In some cases, you may be required to present CVs of the persons involved in the execution of the tender. In such a case ensure that the CVs you present are written in a similar format to avoid looking chaotic.