How to create a winning tender document
Leif Kjetil Skjæveland, Parter of Xait
Illustration: P. Dybvig
Which Tender
do you want to deliver
Illustration: P. Dybvig
What is your client thinking?
•So what?
•How so?
Golden rules for winning work
1. First and foremost, a proposal is a
sales document.
2. Customers do not buy what it is;
they buy what it does for them. They
buy benefits, not features.
3. In a proposal, you do not just sell
here and there.You sell all the way
through.
4. Virtual planning is virtually useless.
5. The audience, not the author, drives
the design.
–
Tenders are 2.5 times more likely to win
when they designed and delivered key
messages directly to decision makers
6. Ease of evaluation is a very real
factor of success.
Source: D.G.Pugh, A bidder's dozen
7. In the early phases of evaluation,
they are not looking for the winner.
They are looking for losers.
8. In most cases, proposals do not win
contracts, but they can lose them in
a heartbeat.
9. When writing a proposal, writing is
the last thing you should do.
10. Win or lose, always debrief with the
customer. If you have to choose,
debrief after a win.
11. When capability becomes
commodity, competition becomes
communication.
What is it?
GOOSE OR DUCK?
11 Rules for Effective Selling in Writing
1. Recognize the
importance of writing
2. Care about the things
you write
3. Become a believer in
bad first drafts
4. Lose your ego
5. Outlines payoff
6. Set aside time
without distractions
Source: http://mandelman.newsvine.com/
7. Read
8. Read it aloud
9. Words: Shorter is
better. Jargon is
embarrassing
10. The logical
progression of
indisputable facts
11. Revise, revise,
revise… then send it