T
This month, ACC columnist, bid strategist and writer Jordan
Kelly, provides readers with the following tips for creating
compelling responses to high-value tender calls. Kelly has
just released her latest book, 50 Essential Bid-Writing Tips featuring
a pithy articulation of her best bid-writing advice. A ‘must read’ for
anyone involved in the preparation and submission of bids and
tenders, it can be ordered online from: www.bidstrategist.com/
products/for-entrepreneurs/50-essential-bid-writing-tips
• A clear strategy paves the way for clear articulation
As in strategy, so in articulation.
Never put pen to paper on an
important, high-value submission
without first producing a documented bid strategy as a
blueprint. And make sure that
strategy document is user-friendly.
• Think and write in terms of
benefits, more so than features
Be cognisant of the distinction
between benefits and features i.e.
the benefit results from the feature.
Join the dots for the client organisation and its evaluation team members;
don’t leave them to extrapolate the
benefit from the feature for themselves.
Important: This involves thinking
deeply about the client’s contract and
associated needs.
• Answer the question
Don’t devolve into evasive writing
because you don’t know how to answer a
question, or because you have insufficient
material to address it with substance.
Have the integrity to correct the problem at its
source, seeking out the information you need, or going back
into the planning room if your content is lacking as a result of an
incomplete or incoherent strategy.
• Don’t let a lack of substantiation erode your credibility
One of the most common flaws in EOI and RFP responses and,
indeed, any other form of bid is the proliferation of “empty” claims –
claims made with no attempt to provide specific points of proof or
any other form of substantiation.
Largely unintentionally – but very effectively, all the
same – these convey an arrogant, salesy tone
that screams: “Look, just trust what I’m
saying, OK?” Frequently, bids peppered
with these come across as jut the
reverse: Untrustworthy.
• Process, don’t parrot
You’ve heard the old adage, “A
consultant is someone who asks for
your watch, tells you the time and
charges you for it.”
A similar concept underlies the
common tendency to either repeat
verbatim, or to minimally re-phrase,
large tracts of the client’s own EOI or
RFP documentation. That demonstrates neither any conduct of your
own research, nor employment of
your own thought processes.
• Be client-focused in both your
content and in your writing
Be client-focused from the beginning.
If and whenever possible, use your
choice of opening words to let the
client know that your answer and
information is going to be framed in the context of his
interest, his needs, his contract, his priorities, and his concerns.
• Avoid the temptation to slip into sales-speak
Don’t be tempted to go into marketing copywriter mode. It’s not
required. Worse, you’ll come across as an amateur, if copywriting
isn’t your day job.
26 Australian Concrete Construction – May / June 201
