{"id":5335,"date":"2018-09-11T18:04:33","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T17:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sagestaging.wpengine.com\/en-gb\/blog\/?p=5212"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:31:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:31:28","slug":"winning-tenders-bids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/winning-tenders-bids\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 tips for winning tenders and bids"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGrowth & Customers<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTop 10 tips for winning tenders and bids\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Ashley\t\t\t\tAshley Thompson<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve found a tender that you want to go for, which is great news for your business. But how do you increase the chances of succeeding with it? Sarah Pickard<\/a> is a freelance bid consultant, who helps businesses prepare high-quality, well-written bids and tenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, she shares 10 basic tips for writing a successful bid and winning tenders. They might sound a bit obvious but they can often get overlooked in the buzz of bidding for new business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get this right, though, and you can grow your customer base<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Make sure your company meets the minimum requirements for the opportunity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These will be set out in the bid documents. You don\u2019t want to waste time and resources submitting a bid that is doomed to failure from the beginning<\/mark>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Pass\/fail questions do what they say on the tin<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If your answer doesn\u2019t meet the pass criteria then the client\u2019s assessor is likely to fail your entire submission. Always check through the pass\/fail questions first to make sure you will pass them before starting work on the rest of the bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Assume ignorance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t fall into the trap of thinking that the person reading your bid knows anything about your company, even if you are already working with the organisation that you are bidding to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Answer all the questions as fully as possible<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you can\u2019t provide all the information then explain why not rather than leaving blanks. Use N\/A (not applicable) for the questions that are not relevant to your company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Read the submission instructions carefully and follow them to the letter<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Check early on to see what format(s) are needed \u2013 leave enough time at the end for printing and packaging hard copies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This always takes long than you think and no amount of willpower can make a printer go quicker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Now is not the time for modesty<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Make sure you clearly explain what you do, how you do it and why your company is a good fit for the opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It takes time and care to craft well-written bid responses but remember that this is the only information that the client will be assessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Stay within the word limits<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The assessor may well stop reading anything over the word limit. Also try to use the word limits as a rough guide for how long to make your answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contracting organisation is looking for a certain level of information. For example, 100 words is a quick overview, while a limit of 1000 words means they want a detailed in-depth answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good rule of thumb is to aim for a minimum of 80% of the word count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Give substance to your answers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Back up what you have said with evidence \u2013 statistics, quotes from clients, awards and accreditations all add credibility to your bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Use diagrams and photographs to illustrate your bid<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A picture tells a thousand words\u2026 and often don\u2019t count towards a word limit. A well-presented bid that makes good use of graphics will give a great first impression and will be easier to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Read, review and proofread your bid<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Use the client\u2019s evaluation criteria (from the bid documentation) to mark the bid from their perspective. It can be helpful to get someone else who hasn\u2019t written the bid to review it from an objective viewpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be critical and thorough with this, as you want to make sure you\u2019ve said what you think you have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final thoughts on bids and winning tenders<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are bidding at the moment then good luck. Bids and tenders really aren\u2019t that complicated, you just need to read the documents carefully and tell the client about your business<\/mark>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These tips will help you get through the procurement process and allow your business to be assessed on its own merit rather than failing on a technicality. If you\u2019ve covered the basics then your bid has every chance of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A free guide to growing your customer base<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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A dependable customer base is the foundation for every successful business. Get our free guide for plenty of insights to help your businesses find new customers and improve relationships with your existing ones.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet your free guide<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Join more than 500,000 UK readers and get the best business admin strategies and tactics, as well as actionable advice to help your company thrive, in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe now<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest blog by Sarah Pickard, a freelance\u00a0Bid Consultant helping SMEs and corporates to prepare high […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":281,"featured_media":3878,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[15],"business_type":[4],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[73,74,75],"imagine_tag":[109],"coauthors":[354],"class_list":["post-5335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth-customers","tag-grow-business","business_type-small-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-gb","author_name":"Ashley Thompson","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/02\/SAGE-P-74_All-Uses.jpg","imagine_tags":{"109":"Small business"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice UK","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/3878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5335"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=5335"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=5335"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=5335"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=5335"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=5335"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=5335"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}