Tendering to Win

A Two-Day workshop 17-18 May 2010

Regional Business Centre, Harts Farm Way, Havant, Hants PO9 1HR

The Challenge          

Winning new contracts is a mission-critical activity for the commercially robust organisation. Tendering for public and commercial contracts is a specialist skill, requiring knowledge and experience. 

At the same time, you have fewer people available to write more proposals than ever before and you have to share their time with other projects. The language and formats used in a bid document are critical and an application that fails to use them appropriately is unlikely even to make the short list.

Identifying and drafting tender responses, keeping abreast of current offerings, prices and the reputations of other service providers is time consuming, demands a systematic approach and requires thorough industry knowledge.

Whether you are trying to grow your business, or you are just trying to maintain your current order intake, you know that if you don’t make the most effective use of the resources available to you within the most efficient process, then you are not going to meet your business targets.

The Solution

Shipley and Wessex Partnerships have adapted Shipley’s corporate training modules to develop a bid writing workshop specifically for small and medium sized businesses that is proven to achieve:

• A clearer and more effective writing style
• A greater understanding of customer issues
• Better Bid/No-Bid decisions
• Higher win rates
• Lower proposal costs
• Improved proposal team management

The workshop is presented in five modules, which follow the proposal development lifecycle:

Selecting Winning Proposals

In this module participants learn to recognise the characteristics of winning proposals and understand how evaluators make decisions. By the end of this module participants will be able to:

• Identify the features of superior proposals.
• Describe how proposals influence evaluators.
• Recognise the seven indicators of a balanced proposal.

Improving Your Chances of Winning

In this module participants learn to align and link the organisation’s sales strategy with its proposal strategy and recognise the customer’s key issues that they have to address. By the end of this module participants will be able to:

• Identify suitable tender opportunities
• Understand the procurement process
• Understanding the requirements
• Apply the business development framework.
• Develop a sales strategy.

Planning the Strategy before Writing

In this module participants learn to plan the activities required to deliver the right proposal first time. They learn to ensure that the proposal strategy is effectively communicated and the importance of the correct use of compliance checklists, and re-use material.

Pricing to Win

In this module participants learn what drives a customers pricing decision and how to gauge the budget range for optimum price positioning. It also covers a ‘top down’ pricing model that is within the overall budget versus a ‘bottom-up’ pricing model that incorporates layers of contingency and risk.

Preparing the Proposal

In this module participants learn best practice techniques to prepare a winning proposal. They learn to organise the proposal to be clear and persuasive, using proven techniques such as:

• Informative headings
• Theme statements
• Callouts
• Action captions
• Success stories
• Using proposal reviews to maximise your chances of winning, hints and tips

The Benefits

Participants receive a copy of Shipley’s award-winning Proposal Guide.

Organisations that implement the principles and develop the skills taught in this workshop have used their proposals to gain a competitive advantage, increasing their win rates and their organisation’s profitability.

The Audience

Participants typically come from businesses with 5-20 staff, typically:

• Managing Directors
• Senior Managers
• Proposal Contributors
• Business Development Managers

Cost

Cost £850 + VAT for the two-day course, including lunch and refreshments

Potential for grant funding

WPL can help Company Directors and Senior Managers access grant support of up to £1,000 for leadership and management training.

To qualify for Leadership and Management funded training an organisation must be:

• Based in the South East of England region
• Employ between 5-249 staff or volunteers
• Have not accessed any previous training funded by this scheme since October 2007.

Further details on grant support available on request.

Booking details

Reserve your place on this workshop by contacting Wessex Partnerships:

Tel:                      023 9244 9449

Fax:                     023 9244 9535

Email:               info@wessexpartnerships.com

Address:          The Regional Business Centre, Harts Farm Way, Havant PO9 1HR

www.wessexpartnerships.com                                      www.shipleywins.co.uk