One of the most intelligent moves a bidder can make in a critical, highly competitive bidding race is to be strategic in its selection of the specific individuals who will perform client-facing, information-gathering roles during the pre-contract phase.
Bid strategist and writer Jordan Kelly says many organisations automatically opt to put highly social, talkative personnel (often the conventional choice for “business development” positions) into such roles. However, this personality type is not always the best-suited operative to send into a meeting in which a depth of questioning (and a lot of listening and retaining of information) is required.
Kelly recommends appointing a more deep-thinking, detail-observant person to head this aspect of bidding activity – and then ensuring a process for the accurate and comprehensive conveying of their findings back to the broader bid team.
