Time to Tender - How to manage your time during the bidding process

This week we held our Ride the Wave Smart bidding workshop at Jubilee Library, supporting businesses going through the tendering process. One of our speakers, Clare Evans, gives us her top tips below. 

Six key things you need to know: how to maximise your time, skills and resources as you go through the tender submission process.

Before you decide to get involved in the bid or tender process - you need to understand what it will actually mean to your existing business and the potential impact. It will take up a considerable amount of your time to manage and complete. You may need to learn additional skills and/or take on people with the skills and resources you need.

Here are six key things to consider.

1. Planning - first things first, know the deadlines and timeframes you need to meet. You want to be planning to reach these with time to spare. Don’t leave everything to the last minute.  Put the dates into your calendar and give yourself some leeway by setting your deadlines 2-3 days ahead of when things are due. Plan time to go through your final bid before sending it off, picking up any errors and omissions. There will always be something that crops up at the last minute that you either missed or need to change. You certainly won't win any prizes and will probably put yourself out of the running if you ask for an extension or miss a deadline.

2. Scheduling - set aside specific blocks of time to work on pulling your tender together. It may be tough finding this time alongside your day to day work. Expect to put in a few extra hours and late nights to complete your bid. Bids can take anything from a matter of days to several months. Do you have the time to see the process through to the end without impacting your existing clients and customers?

3. Delegating - The chances are you won't be able to do everything yourself so be prepared to either outsource or take on additional people to help. Create a ‘bid team’ and make sure the right people are involved in the process. Who else either in your organisation, your support group or within your network could help you in putting your bid together? Talk to someone who’s been through the process before - what tips do they have? Have someone else look through your bid, who’s not directly connected with the process. Like an editor reading your manuscript, they’ll have a fresh pair of eyes and will pick up any obvious spelling and grammatical errors. Having to delegate or outsource means that you need to have a clear understanding of your business and have good systems and processes in place.

4. Resources - what skills and information do you need to produce the tender document? How much work can your business actually handle, what’s the future impact on your existing workload? It might seem great to win a big contract but you need to show you have the capacity and resources to take on the work. Do you know someone who is familiar with the company who can give you some guidance? Read all the documentation you’re provided with as part of the tender.  Don’t make assumptions. Ask questions or get clarification if you’re not sure about anything.  There’s a huge amount of information online to help you understand and guide you through completing a bid, use it.

5. Control - make sure you know who’s doing what, identify roles and responsibilities, where is the information you need, when is it needed by? If other people are involved give them sufficient lead times to get the information back to you in time to add to the bid document. Create systems and processes to track, monitor, collate and organise all the information you need during the bid process - online Project management tools or simple folders. Plan regular update meetings to track progress. Look after your existing business, don’t lose focus on your existing customer by focusing all your time and effort on the bid. Keep on top of things and you’ll preempt any problems either before they occur or you’ll be able to deal with them as soon as they happen and avoid any last minute panics and surprises.

6. Say ‘No’ - perhaps this should be the first thing to consider. Do you have a list of criteria that each tender opportunity must meet before you decide whether to proceed? Not every tender opportunity will be suited to your business. Don't waste your time, resources and effort going after something that isn't a good match, you’ll never win or your won’t be able to deliver. The first part of your planning will be to assess whether it’s the right bid or appropriate for your business. Don’t be afraid to say no rather than feel you have to say yes - there will be others that will be a better fit.

Even if you don't win your first bid or tender, it’s a good exercise in enabling you to clarify what your business does, identify what you’re good at and understand what differentiates you from the competition.

Plan in a follow-up, review session with your team, if you have one, to go through any feedback you may have been given and to understand any lessons learned.

You can identify any changes you need to make for the next one and to hone your ‘bidding’ skills. You’ll be able to reuse the information and resources and much of the content for the next one.

If you would like to contact Clare please email info@clareevans.co.uk. For information on our Ride the Wave workshops please contact ridethewave@businessinbrighton.org.uk or call 01273 719097.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk