How to write a winning executive summary for tenders, bids & proposals
The executive summary is often the most read and scrutinised section of tender, bid or proposal submissions. However, in addition to pulling together a fully compliant and compelling bid (and under time pressure), it can be daunting to write an executive summary that helps clinch a ‘win’. This blog sets out some general principles, tips, […]
Continue ReadingHow to respond to an e-tender – online procurement portal tips
The last decade has seen an increase in the use of online procurement portals or e-procurement systems to manage competitive selection processes (e-Tendering), especially by large consumers of complex services. From an evaluator and procurement perspective e-procurement and e-tenders makes it easier to rank suppliers based on data and dollars. However, there’s usually little facility […]
Continue ReadingIf you’re bidding for everything, how can you improve your chances of success?
One thing is certain in this post lockdown world: it is highly unlikely that any business will decline the opportunity to respond to an RFP. In fact, with revenues under pressure for most organisations, every RFP will likely be viewed as a genuine ‘opportunity’. This means that even for those businesses with a robust go/no […]
Continue Reading5 more tender trends for the 2020s
As the first year of the 2020s approaches its conclusion against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic; JMA has pinpointed 5 more tender trends your business should not only be aware of, but be ready for. TENDER TRENDS #1: SUBMITTING & THEN ‘PITCHING’ YOUR BID ON THE SAME DAY JMA recently supported a client in […]
Continue ReadingHow to manage a bid remotely – Part 2 – keeping up remote bid team morale
In Part 1 of How to manage a bid remotely we discussed the importance of setting clear and consistent communication protocols to drive effective bid collaboration. However, in these uncertain times it’s a very good idea to look beyond ‘formal’ bid communication and take time to regularly check-in on your remote bid team’s welfare. While […]
Continue ReadingAnd the winner is…Environmental scanning
And the winner is… ‘Sid-an-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!’ Juan Antonio Samaranch annoucing Sydney’s winning bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics. The exhilaration from winning a tender, bid or proposal is hard to beat and the benefits are many! But what about lost bids, tenders and proposals? An infamous proposal failure was Australia’s lost bid for the 2022 Soccer […]
Continue ReadingResponding effectively to (unspoken) questions in tenders, bids and proposals
Over the years we’ve read hundreds of requests for tenders and proposals seeking services from professional services firms. Often RFT/Ps can seem cobbled together bastardised versions of older requests that have been edited by committee and end up asking silly, repetitive or irrelevant questions. Most of the time nothing sinister is going on, it is […]
Continue ReadingSame-same, but different – Best practice for recycling boilerplate tender, bid & proposal content
I once had a client say he wanted to do ‘fresh writing’ for the entirety of content in every single tender, bid and proposal response. That’s right…every time…every bid…100% written from scratch. Unsurprisingly the ‘fresh writing’ diktat put considerable extra pressure on his already frazzled team and didn’t help his firm’s win rate. When it […]
Continue ReadingLost proposals…was your price really too high?
For many prospective clients, the fastest and easiest way to tell you that they’re not proceeding with your proposal, tender or bid is to say “sorry – the price is too high”. Sometimes this is the entire story. Other times, it is simply a quick way to avoid saying what’s really the problem – […]
Continue ReadingWinning tenders, bids and proposals: what matters most?
Clients often ask me what will help them write a winning tender, bid or proposal. Look through the following list of proposal or tender attributes (or key pieces) and pick the three you think will have the most impact on whether you win (or not): content accuracy clarity of writing completeness conciseness persuasive language addressing […]
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Feature article

Tender readability – tips to improve your tender presentation and some tender presentation no-nos
Tender readability remains a problem for some in the 21st century. I still see submission documents that cling to a handful of really old hat tender presentation and formatting techniques. I suspect this is because some of these ‘rules’ are viewed as being more appropriate to a ‘formal’ style of document such as a tender. […]