Cost of proposals, bids, and tenders

By Linda Julian

Winners are grinners, as they say.  But losing can cost more than you think.

There are lots of reasons not to bid where you have poor prospects of success.  Think about these costs of "lost" proposals:

• financial costs  -  production, delivery
• opportunity cost for team
• morale cost for your team
• possibility of being cast in role as a "loser"
• perhaps harder for your next proposal to succeed
• professional and management attention deflected to damage control.

The lessons are clear:  make an assessment of your probability of success up front, and if you decide to proceed, make sure you put in a credible bid.