This week marks the two-year anniversary for six members of the Executive Compass team – one of the largest cohorts of the company to date.
Our bid writing courses are tailored to suit the requirements of your company to help give your workforce the knowledge they need to win more work.
Bespoke Bid Writing Courses
To provide your company with the skills and knowledge to successfully bid for contracts, we have developed specialised, CPD-certified bid writing training courses, based on our 15 years’ experience supporting with more than 7,000 submissions.
Our in-house bid writing training is delivered via online workshops to your team at times to suit you, tailored to your current levels of experience, competence, strengths and weaknesses. Regardless of whether your organisation is new to bidding and needs to explore the whole tender process from start to finish, or if you are more experienced and are looking to improve your ability to create high-quality and persuasive responses to increase your success rate, our bid writing training can be tailored to meet your requirements.
Ahead of the training, our team would review one or more past tenders submitted by your organisation, helping to drive the personalisation of the course to specifically respond to identified development areas. We will also discuss which industry and sector you work in, tailoring the training accordingly. We produce winning bids in partnership with organisations in all industries, completing construction tenders through to social care and professional services bids, and as such we understand the nuances of the works or services that you provide. Our team are involved in circa 700 bids and tenders each year, and therefore we are well-placed to support your organisation.
Throughout the training day itself, content, examples and discussions will align specifically to your experiences, priorities and objectives, helping you and your team to make the most of the course. As well as bid writing skills, we target abilities relevant to the whole bid and tender process, all captured within a CPD-certified tender management course.
The workshops are designed to be interactive and to provide you with a wide range of skills and knowledge to help your company complete PQQs, SQs, bids and tenders to a high quality and become successful bidders, using the same proven bid processes that our professional bid managers and writers apply every day.
Half-day introduction to tendering course
For those new to the procurement process, our online introduction to tendering course covers:
- Discovering how to source the right opportunities from the public sector
- Developing your approach for deciding whether an opportunity is for you
- Understanding what documents you will need to fill in
- Understanding how to complete the documentation.
All courses are bespoke, meaning we would tailor this to your industry and provide suitable examples for your business.
Bid and tender writing training
The bid and tender writing training course is a one-day bespoke workshop, covering topics such as:
- Recognising the core purpose of the tender process, and how it affects a bidder’s approach
- Responding compliantly and successfully to PQQs (SQs)
- Effectively demonstrating your track record and experience
- Proven bid management processes
- Developing, maintaining and benefiting from structured bid libraries
- Making use of model answers
- Developing an effective overarching bid strategy and making informed bid/no bid decision
- Fundamental understanding of good bid writing techniques.
Delegates completing the course become more confident in navigating the complex public sector procurement process with a strong understanding that allows them to participate and manage the tender process effectively.
Intermediate bid writing training
The training course is aimed at organisations with experience of participating in bids and tenders who are looking to improve their success rates through a more targeted approach, robust structure to quality questions and enhanced writing techniques.
Before delivering the training, we will conduct a review of previous submissions to identify the main areas for improvement in how you approach responses.
Core themes include:
- Bid management
- Strategic ‘bid/no bid’ decisions
- Establishing and implementing win themes
- Structuring responses
- Evidence-based tendering
- Techniques for writing winning tenders
- Building persuasion into narrative responses
- Managing challenging word or page limits
- Social value
Delegates come away from the training with improved skills and an ability to produce targeted, detailed and impactful responses, in turn supporting your organisation’s tender success rates.
Advanced bid writing training
The advanced bid writing course is appropriate for organisations with more extensive experience of bidding, and in most cases is delivered to delegates who have already undertaken the intermediate-level course. We explore persuasive writing techniques relevant to tendering, as well as more advanced project management approaches for bidders.
Core themes include:
- Capture planning
- Project management for bid managers
- Expert use of evidence
- Advanced writing technique
- Modes of persuasion and their application in bid writing
- Presentation and design
- Social return on investment (SROI) perspectives for social value
For all levels, practical activities and examples reinforce the course objectives throughout the day. All one-day workshops have been approved by CPD UK and all delegates receive a certificate.
Social value in tendering training
Our social value in tendering course is designed to support a stronger fundamental understanding of social value and its application in the tender process. Key topics addressed are:
- What social value is in the context of public procurement
- What separates it from similar concepts such as CSR and ESG
- What’s driving social value in procurement
- The different categories of social value
- Practical examples of social value
- Identifying social value within your existing activities
- Measurement, monitoring and evaluation methodologies
- How best to respond to questions on social value in public sector tenders
- Priority areas – i.e. how to identify and research what purchasing authorities are looking for, whether you work with central government, local government, or both.
Key outcomes for the bid and tender training include cascading a shared awareness of and commitment to social value across your team, as well as developing the skills required to demonstrate social value to buyers in a competitive environment.
Contact us now to discuss your requirements and book a training course.
Bid and Tender Training FAQS
Do I get a certificate when I complete a bespoke bid writing course?
As a testament to their quality and further learning value, our bespoke bid writing training courses have been accredited by CPD UK. All delegates attending the training will be awarded CPD points and certificates as evidence of their professional development.
How long are bid and tender writing courses?
We have different course lengths available. Our introductory workshops last around four hours and are designed to provide introductory information to individuals new to public sector tendering.
Our bespoke courses last one full day which can be delivered in their entirety or split into two half-day sessions depending on preference.
Which course is best for my business?
The introductory online workshops are designed for people completely new to public sector tendering, and provide a basis on which to begin competitive tendering.
The bespoke bid writing courses are delivered at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels depending on previous experience and your requirements. If you are unsure which best suits your team, please get in contact and we would be happy to identify which best supports your needs.
When we first contacted Executive Compass, we knew that we needed training but we did not know what we needed training on. From our initial discussions through to the in-house training, Matthew guided us each step of the way, using previous tender submissions to identify our weaknesses and worked through these in a easy to understand and jargon free way. Matthew explained the principles behind PQQ, Bid and Tender writing in such a way that all those attending the training, from the Director, the Department Managers through to our Administration Officers all came away from the training with not only a greater understanding of how to prepare a successful tender but also more importantly a desire to be involved in preparing successful tenders.