1. The 9 Habits
Of Successful Tenderers
Mark Mansfield
NG23 Tender Support Ltd
T. 01636 555 063
www.ng23tendersupport.co.uk
mark@ng23tendersupport.co.uk

2. Habit One: Gain Market
Insight
 What are your customers
needs?
 Who is the buyer?
 Who is the incumbent?
 Value of current
contract?
 Current terms?
 Route to market?
 When?
 Any issues?
Contract
Notice
Tender
Contract
Award
Need
Tender
Planning

3. How Can I Gain Market
Insight?
 Meet the buyer events
 Speak to the procurement team direct
 Freedom of Information Act requests
 Tender feedback
 Track contract awards and check out the competition
 Websites, Accreditations, Service Offering, Performance Info,
Customers

4. Habit Two: Begin With The
End In Mind
 We have won….. what
difference will this
make?
 Profitability
 Order book
 Reputation
 MOTIVATION
 We have won…. what do
we need to do to
successfully deliver?
 What?
 How?
 Who?
 When?
 Existing customers?
 CAPABILITY

5. Habit Three: Have A Targeted
Approach
 Avoid knee-jerk bids
 Use Market Insight to plan and prioritise target
opportunities
 Ask yourself ‘Can I Win?’ rather than ‘Can I Deliver?’
 Have you ever met the customer?
 Does the customer know anything about my business?
 Do I understand the customer’s problems and real issues?
 What do I know about the incumbent and their
performance?
 Who are my competitors? Relative strengths / weaknesses?
 Use written bid / no bid criteria

6. What is a good tender
opportunity?
Strategic fit Profitable
Capability fit
(skills/
resources/
accreditations)
Competitive
advantage Low risk

7. Habit Four: Project Plan Your
Tender Response
 Who is going to write it?
 Subject specific contributors? e.g. pricing, method
statements
 Key dates - site visit, questions, first draft, review and
revisions, sign off, submission deadline
 Resources – who, what, when?
 Key Document Reference Library - Policies, Accounts,
Key Personnel Details, Accreditations, Method
Statements, Case Studies etc

8. Habit Five : Read, read and
follow the instructions
 The specification – do we meet all the requirements?
 Any gaps? How can we address these?
 Q & A clarification process – if in doubt always ask
 Answer the question
 Word limits
 Cross referencing
 Deadlines are absolute
 Allow time to upload

9. Habit Six: Write To Sell
Thinking of a specific opportunity that you would like to
win, ask yourself:
Why us?
Why not them?
What are the benefits to the customer?
How can I demonstrate each benefit?

10. Write to sell (2)
 Why us?
What you offer that is different and
better than what the competition
offers relative to the customers needs
 Why not them?
Sell yourself whilst un-selling your
competitors
Ghosting – don’t name competitors
Example – competitor uses
inexperienced project team to reduce
price
Response – highlight risks of launching
a project with an untested unproven
team ( longer learning curve, trial and
error management, negative surprises)
versus
the lowest possible risk of using an
experienced, better qualified team of
professionals (no learning curve,
proactive problem solving, lessons
learned and so on)

11. Write to sell (3)
 Features
“Our project team brings 200
years aggregate experience to
the challenge”
 Features create so what
questions
 Benefits
 Benefits answer the so what
questions.
“We will deliver the project two
weeks early and reduce the impact
of local traffic congestion on
residents and local businesses”
“We will create 3 local
apprenticeships and 4 new jobs
through advertising opportunities
with local schools and colleges and
attending local job fairs”
But remember
All major claims need to be
supported – proof statements,
metrics, validators and examples
We have provided 6 apprenticeships
and created 8 jobs in the last 2
years whilst successfully delivering
two local construction contracts.

12. Habit Seven: Make It Easy To
Evaluate
 Good proposals that are easy to evaluate are more
likely to be scored higher than great proposals that are
difficult to evaluate
 Powerful Executive Summary
 Audience Designed
 Customer Focused
 Benefits Rich ( Answers Why Us? And So What?)
 100% Compliant with Tender Instructions
 Roadmap all Tender Requirements to the Tender Response

13. Habit Eight: Treat A
Reference Like Royalty
 Only the best references will do
 Nurture past performance references
 Make sure they are relevant to the tender
 Always get permission
 Vet in advance
 Would they score you 5 out of 5?

14. Habit Nine: Win or Lose, always
debrief with the customer
 We are keen to improve our service offering and learn
from the tendering process? We value your feedback:
 What did we do well?
 What can we improve?
 How many tenders?
 Who won?
 What influenced your decision?
 And internally – what can we do differently?

15. Thank you
Any, questions?