Business owners may only be as good as the team that supports them. This is certainly true of a business that has an in-house tender team. Competition is tough and frankly you’re only as good as your last submission.
Building your Tendering Team
The BIZphit Tendering Team often have conversations with clients about their tendering activity. More often than not, the task is stuck on the end of the Directors daily to do list. Or as is routinely seen, its the job of the sales Director to oversee the process (that means doing it).
But completing the tender response is not just about being able to write well. Its the bringing together a whole range data, information, insight, product and service knowledge that moulds and drives the complete tender process.
We see only a handful of clients who have applied sensible and pragmatic processes to recruiting good tender team members. Now a team doesn’t have to be half dozen people. A team could well be just two who have the responsibility for securing more contracts.
So what might we want to consider when thinking about building our team?
Team players – We want team players not individuals who work in a team for the bigger picture result. We must put all of our efforts into winning that contract.
Diverse skills and knowledge – Putting together a team made up of people from different backgrounds can really have a positive effect on the quality of content. Selecting from a variety of ages, cultures, genders and ethnicity can help to bring out a whole new level of creativity.
Open and defined responsibilities – Once your team has been formed, it’s important that each team member is given a specific role to focus on. This ensures that tasks are completed efficiently and without conflict, while also allowing each person’s individual skills to be acknowledged. You need to have clear team structure and ensure that everyone knows where they fit into the hierarchy. Equally, in a small team, members may need to be flexible and open about what they do and how much.
Quick, creative thinking – A strong team will do most of this for you automatically. But it’s vital that you encourage everyone to come up with creative and forward-thinking ideas. This creativity could mean the difference between winning or losing a bid. The team need to be able to know the competition – identifying strengths and weaknesses and pinpointing specific areas where you can beat them in the bidding process.
Good communicators – Effective, positive communication is not only key to keeping a business running smoothly. It also ensures that your clients are satisfied. Keeping all employees up to date on the latest issues and developments reduces the possibility of oversights. This will help to ensure that the team is constantly focused on what is best for the business.
Passionate about their work – When tendering for work, it’s always worth adopting a ‘bid/no bid’ process. Assess how likely you are to win the bid, and perhaps more importantly, whether or not you’ve got the resources to deliver the project. If not, it’s neither cost-effective nor time-effective to submit a bid. By ensuring your staff are following this process, you won’t waste valuable resources on bids you simply won’t be able to win.
Honing Skills – If you would like to see the existing team hone their skills then BIZphit can support you with the right type of initial or updated training. Providing exceptional results for your tender response process is so important, you invest in the response, but do you invest in team skills too?
The tendering process can be complex, time consuming and costly. If you feel your in-house team need help from an external expert, it’s worth biting the bullet. Your team will only benefit from some expert guidance in the long run.
© The BIZphit Tendering Team
