20 Sep Bid No Bid Checks
By Christine Brown, Tuesday 20th September 2016
Bid Qualification
The bid response process can be time consuming to say the least, and the last thing anyone wants is to go through all that stress and all those long nights then not win the business. By taking a short time to qualify bid opportunities before investing too much time and effort, you can increase your win rate and make sure you are focusing your energy into the right projects for your company.
Product Fit – Score up to 25 points
Whether it is a product or service you are offering, first and foremost you need to check the core requirements of the customer and score your offering against it. If they state a number of features are mandatory and you can’t offer them, chances are this isn’t the opportunity for you. For a perfect score you need to know your solution can meet all mandatory requirements as well as the terms in the contract.
Existing Customer Relationship – Score up to 25 points
This isn’t based solely on your relationship with the customer, also consider if the customer is known to have a strong relationship with one of your competitors. If the Client has been buying solely from one supplier for years and shows no sign of wanting to change prior to this tender release, chances are they will favour their preferred supplier’s response. For a perfect score here you will need an existing good relationship with the client that has proven the benefits of a partnership with your company time and again.
Availability to respond – Score up to 25 points
How much time can you commit to this response? Are there are key personnel in the company that would need to add input? Are they available to do so or are they on holiday until after the deadline? Even if you have the perfect product fit and a great customer relationship, if no one has time to compose a well written response to the requirements, you won’t score highly enough to win. Consider outsourcing the writing and reviewing to the experts to improve your score here if you can’t do so in-house.
Value add and other positives – Score up to 25 points
Is there a chance to add value to this bid? Are they looking for a local supplier and you know you are the only one in a 40-mile radius? There are often key elements to a bid that are additional to the main product or service requirements, but that can be the deciding factor between companies scoring similar results. For a score of 25, you need to know you can offer a great overall value proposition with 2-3 key points that will make you stand out from the crowd, e.g. if they are interested in companies that ‘give back’ and you have an exceptional company social responsibility program, or you can add a range of free beneficial ‘add-ons’ to your proposal.
Your total score out of 100 is your percentage chance of winning the bid. Each company will have their own cut off level for when to take the no bid decision. In industries with a large number of bids released consistently through the year a higher cut off of around 70-75% can be established as there is so much choice on what to go for. For those in niche markets, a 50% chance might still be worth considering.
Struggling to know where to start with your bid and the qualification process? Bid & Tender Support can help review client documents and compose a crib sheet of key points you need to be aware of to qualify your opportunity. We can also provide the support required to write and review your bid to meet the requirements to increase further your chance of winning.
