Tendering to Win

Is it worth writing a tender even when you think the contract may have already been unofficially awarded is a question I am often asked. The truth is that it depends.
No matter how strongly you may feel that a tender is going to be awarded to the incumbent or one of your competitors, you must think carefully before deciding not to tender.
Incumbents do not automatically win all their tenders.

They lose tenders for all kinds of reasons.

Laziness- They think the tender is automatically going to be awarded to them and so submit an inferior tender document

Underperformance-They are not delivering very well on the existing contract

Pricing-They could be too expensive or not adding enough value

Knowing too much- This often happens with the incumbent. When they put the tender together they include items that they know are there but are not included in the tender. If you focus your tender response on the scope of the actual ITT you stand a much better chance.

You can change win if you provide a good enough reason. The trick is of course to find that reason!
Change the rules, change the game, take a risk, offer something new and innovative and you never know, you may just win!

Apart from time, you have nothing to lose. Based on that simple statement here are some of my ideas:

1. Be Brave: You will not win the contract just by being better than the supplier you think it is going to be awarded to. You must be different, very different. You must really challenge the status quo and present a real and viable alternative. Be brave, be innovative and take risks.

2. Reinvent you tender: Throw out all the management rubbish, all the “we are bigger, better, stronger ,brilliant “ nonsense! If you genuinely think the customer is going to award the contract to someone else, throw out all your templates, change your approach, your tone, your language. Capture their imagination and make them want to engage with you. You have to give them a reason to want to use you.

3. Turn a negative into a positive: If you think that the tender is already awarded this means that the customer will probably know all about your competitor, good and bad! For instance, if it is a term maintenance contract and you think the client is going to award it to the incumbent , use it to your advantage. Make sure you find out, by any means possible, what they are not good at. Don’t highlight their shortcomings, highlight your strengths and successes.

4. Take away the pain: Large organisations are risk and change averse (and lazy, but I didn’t tell you that) You need to be different but not risky. You need to take away any potential pain they may feel by switching (sometimes called switching costs). Manage all their risk out of the contract and reassure them that you have the architecture in place to meet any eventuality. Make it easy for them to change, if that means changing some of your processes, then do it!