03 Feb Finding the Right Bid Opportunity
By Katy Berrill
February 3rd 2016
An Organisation with a poor win rate will often attribute this to the quality of the submission or pricing, however, quite often the failure is in identifying a suitable opportunity to Tender for which has been selected based on its alignment to the businesses experience, capability, capacity and strategy for growth. By only going for opportunities that are well aligned to the business and its’ objectives means that the likelihood of winning is increased further.
Time and resource play a big part in bringing together the Overall Business Strategy, and the Bid Strategy into a Business Plan that actually works day to day for those identifying bids and submitting responses. With so many Portals out there, some specialist, and some generalist, it can be a mine field to navigate through actually finding relevant, let alone suitable, Tenders.
By applying a few simple rules and setting clear search parameters, companies can save not only time in the Search process, but also time and money by avoiding submitting a Bid which they have very little to no chance of winning. Our top tips for conducting an effective Search:
- Set out Clear Search Terms for the Type of Work you actually want to win i.e. fits your capability and is going to be profitable work
- Calculate a realistic Annual Contract Value, which you should be aiming for, on average aim for no more than 25-30% of your annual turnover. For example if you turnover £1million per annum, do not Tender for Contracts worth £5million per annum, it is highly likely you would fail at the initial Financial Evaluation Stage.
- Be clear on your Target Market/Sector to help refine searches down to specific areas, i.e. Public Sector, Schools, Oil & Gas
- Set geographical limits within the resource capability of your company. Are you Nationwide, International or do you just deliver within a Region?
- Identify your strengths as a business (in terms of experience) and select opportunities within those areas so you know that you have the Case Studies, References and Examples to support your relevant experience on similar contracts.
If after applying these tips, you still find you are struggling to find the right opportunities, or are unsure how to make sure your searches are aligned to the business strategy and objectives, then please give us a call, we can help you put in place a process that actually works, and delivers the results you need to grow and succeed.
With our knowledge, vast experience of tendering, as well as our expertise in searching for relevant tenders, you will be in a better position to win that bid!
