What it's like working with TenderWise

I know that spending money on professional tender writing services can be like taking a walk into the unknown if you’ve never worked with the business or person before. That’s why I decided to write this blog to give you a few insights into what it’s like working with me.

First, a little about me. I’m Pauline Sabin, and I started TenderWise 10 years ago after a. long career in General Management positions in large commercial and medium-sized businesses. I founded TenderWise after leaving my employer (who wanted me to move to a different state - this would have resulted in a promotion, but I live on the Gold Coast, and I like it here, so Melbourne didn’t hold a lot of appeal).

Throughout my previous career, I’d had plenty of experience on the evaluation side of large tenders and I’ve always had pretty persuasive writing and communication skills, so the move to establishing a business that’s effectively all about writing seemed like a natural fit.

Fast-forward a decade, and I have completed successful tenders for just about every industry sector. I also have many amazing clients who use my services exclusively. I’ve also been named as one of the world’s to 20 tender blog writers, and I’ve recently won an Innovation & Excellence Award from Corporate Live Wire. One way you can get a sense of what it’s like working with me is to read some of the testimonials I’ve received, which you can do here.

In more detailed terms though, when you work with me you can expect a streamlined and effective way to enhance your chances of winning a bid. Here’s a detailed description of the process:

Initial Chat

During our initial chat (after you’ve sent me the tender documentations), I’ll assess the requirements of the tender. This includes understanding the specifications, deadlines, and criteria set by the client or issuing authority.. I’ll also take time to understand your business, including your products or services, strengths, and competitive advantages. From this, I’ll develop a strategy for the tender response, including identifying key themes, messages, and unique selling points.

Information Gathering

Once you’e agreed to my Proposal, I’ll ask for the key information I need to develop the response. Initially this will be in the form of a brain dump from you - you don’t need to worry about how it’s written (that’s my job) but I do need relevant information that I can pull into a cohesive and compelling story. If you have any existing documentation such as previous tenders, marketing materials, and project reports I’ll also review these to identify anything that can be recycled into the new tender.

Drafting the Tender Submission

Next, I focus on the tender response, with clarity, compliance, and persuasive content being top of mind. This involves several rounds of writing, editing, and revising. I’ll share the draft with you when it’s pretty close to the final version so I can incorporate your feedback into the document. I have never had a client make anything more than superficial or very minor changes at this stage of the process.

Review and Finalisation

Prior to sending you the final version, I proofread the document closely for spelling, grammar, and formatting errors to ensure a professional presentation. I also complete a thorough thorough check to ensure that all tender requirements and criteria are met, and that all necessary documents are included. Then it’s over to you to submit the tender response through the specified means (iusally an online tender portal) before the submission deadline.

Post-Submission

Sometimes the tender issuer may have follow-up questions or requests for additional information and if this happens I’ll help you to develop the post-submission response. If the bid is unsuccessful, I encourage you to seek feedback and I’ll help analyse feedback to identify areas for improvement in future tenders.

Benefits of Working with a Professional Tender Writer like TenderWise

1. Expertise: A professional tender writer brings specialised knowledge and experience, increasing the quality of your tender response.

2. Efficiency: I manage the process efficiently, saving you and your team time and effort.

3. Compliance: I ensure all requirements are met, reducing the risk of disqualification on technical grounds.

4. Persuasiveness: I’m a skilled writer, so I can present your strengths compellingly, improving your chances of winning the bid.

In summary, working with TenderWise involves a collaborative process where I take care of the bulk of the writing and compliance work, allowing you to focus on providing the necessary information and expertise about your business. If you need a hand with your tender - or if you’d like a completely obligation chat, just give me a call on 0400 514 579 or shoot me an email to pauline@tenderwise.com.au.

6 Reasons Why Incumbents Lose Tenders

So you’ve been enjoying a lucrative Government or Commercial contract but the term is coming to a close and you have to get on the tender merry-go-round once again. But all too often I see the incumbent fail — and I usually end up talking to them three years later when the contract is again up for tender.

What goes wrong? 

I’ve reviewed loads of tenders prepared by the incumbent service providers, and I can tell you a few common issues I see time after time:

1. You’ve been doing it for years, and they know you, right? 

Wrong. The tender evaluation panel will be made up of a bunch of people who don’t know you from Adam, so don’t let your history with the client lull you into a sense of security that this one is in the bag because it most definitely isn’t. 

Now is the time to demonstrate your experience and quality service delivery for the client, and make sure that you point out that since you’re the incumbent service provider, you’ve accumulated a wealth of knowledge about the site and client processes and that no transition is required.

2. You haven’t done your homework. 

Check out who is tendering so you know who you’re up against. How? Well, the tender briefing session (if there is one) is a good opportunity to suss out the competition. Some tender sites also display who has registered their interest or downloaded the documents, so check it out.

3. You think you know what the client wants.

It’s because you’ve been providing incumbent services to them for years. That may be the case, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t thoroughly review the documentation just to see if any requirements have changed.

4. Your pricing is out of step with where the market is at. 

If you’ve been providing services for years to the same client and increasing your rates annually, it may be that you’re no longer price-competitive. Use your client contacts if possible to (carefully) find out if you need to review your rates.

5. You’re not thinking about innovation and value-add. 

ANYTHING you can include in your tender that demonstrates your ability to go the extra mile as an incumbent service provider — innovating or adding value to the client will go a long way to help you create a winning bid. If you’ve gone above and beyond the contract requirements, don’t be afraid to highlight it.

6. You leave your preparation until the last minute.

Preparing a quality, persuasive, and winning tender response is no small task, so ensure you give yourself plenty of time to finish the job well.

Wrapping Up

If you’re the incumbent service provider on a contract that has just gone out to tender and need a hand with your tender submission, I’m here to help - just call Pauline on 0400 154579, contact me here, or even better, send me an email at pauline@tenderwise.com.au. I write fantastic tender submissions morning, noon, and night, and I can help you put together a great pitch (and I do all of the hard yards; all I need from you is a brain dump of key information).

Want to know what my clients say about my services? Check them out here.

Government Tenders - Are They Worth All the Effort?

Government tenders can be hard work. Lots of hard work, and that takes lots of time. Most businesses I work with to write tenders are really, really great at what they do, but when it comes time to submit a bid, it suddenly becomes too hard.  

Many businesses soldier on with a poorly written response to save on cost, only to find their bid unsuccessful because it didn't meet all the criteria. Let's face it — if you're going to produce a half-hearted tender response just so you can get something in, you can't expect to be seriously considered.

So the dilemma for many businesses often comes down to whether or not the reward is worth the effort and the cost — and regardless of whether you go it alone or hire a professional, you still need to put in some effort and, of course, pay the cost.

The Effort Required to Write a Great Tender Response

All tenders are different but there are usually common elements across all of them and these include:

Demonstrated Experience

It's not good enough to simply list some of the similar projects that you've worked on. It is your opportunity to really showcase your business and how well you match the tender requirements.  If you're not going to put some effort into this, don't bother going any further.

OHS&E and Quality Management Systems 

You can't just state that you comply with Health and Safety, Environmental, and Quality requirements. Most tender responses these days want to see a copy of your OHS&E and Quality Management Systems, and they'll want to know if it's ISO certified.  

If you don't have this documentation, only go further once you do. Most tender writers should be able to write these documents for you. When I write these, I always state in the tender response that the documents are not ISO-certified but have been developed in accordance with ISO principles.  

If you hire a tender writer, you won't need to put as much effort into your tender submissions response, but be warned — you'll still need to provide plenty of information to enable the bid to develop.

The Cost of Writing 

So you have two options — do it yourself or hire a professional. If you do it yourself, you won't have many out-of-pocket expenses, but you'll need to find a fair bit of time to get the job done.  

Since tenders vary quite a bit, how much time depends on how savvy you are when it comes to writing. But I'd spend around 30 - 50 hours on most tender responses I work on before I'm happy with the result.  

You must allow more time than this if you're not a professional writer. If you don't have the time, don't respond or find someone to do it for you.

Speaking of which, a professional tender writer will probably cost you around $300 — $5000 to complete your response. But this figure should include all your supporting documentation, such as your OHS&E and Quality Management Plans. Expect this to be more if you also need individual processes documented to support the plans.

And there is a third option — that is to write your own tender response. But hire a professional ISO consultant to help you through the OHS&E and Quality process. If you're a small business, you can expect the ISO certification process to take 6 to 12 months. 

Getting the documentation ready will set you back around $10,000 — $15,000, and the annual certification process will cost you another $3500 — $4500 (note that these are rough guides only; it's different for each business.

So, is a Government Tender Worth the Effort?

In my book, if you have the capability and capacity to meet the tender requirements, then yes. These figures are from the 2014/15 financial year):

• 69,236 Government contracts were awarded worth a staggering $59.5 billion

• 67% of contracts were worth < $80,000, and 18% were worth between $80,000 to $249,000

• 62% of contracts related to services and 38% to the supply of goods

If you want to be a part of this $59 billion opportunity but need help figuring out where to start with the government tenders, call me at 0400 514579, email me at pauline@tenderwise.com.au or fill out this form here. Let's chat.

To Bid or Not to Bid? That is the Question!

So you've seen a tender opportunity that looks like it might be a good fit for your business. The question of whether to bid or not to bid arises.

But writing a good tender response takes a lot of time and effort - so it's important to have a solid strategy to help you determine whether or not this particular tender is worth putting in a response to.

Here's a few simple tips to help you decide whether or not this is a good opportunity

The Contract

If you win the bid, you will be bound by the conditions of the contract for the term of the contract. It is usually a good thing! But make sure you've read the tender submission contract thoroughly to ensure there aren't any deal breakers in there for you. Pay particular attention to the payment terms to ensure they suit the cash flow requirements of your business.

The Location

Is location important? If the contract is located in your city and you're happy to travel from one end to the other to get the job done, then that's great! But if it doesn't make good financial sense for you to travel potentially hundreds of kilometres a day to perform work, then maybe this isn't a good fit for you.

Anticipated Return

Many businesses will only go through the tender response process if the potential contract value is worth pursuing. But sometimes, it's worth chasing a contract with a lower total value than you usually bid for. 

For example, if the tender has been issued for a sector you've been trying to gain experience in, you can use this for future larger tenders.

In general, it's a good idea to know what the lower and upper limits of the contract value are that will make sense for your business.

In general though, it's a good idea to know what the contract value lower and upper limits are that will make sense for your business.

Experience and Stability

Like it or not, your demonstrated experience and financial stability will have a BIG impact on your likely success rate for tender submissions. If you're just starting, you might want to leave it a year or two before responding to tender opportunities. 

But if you spot an opportunity that seems to have your business written all over it, then there are strategies you can use to give it your best shot. For starters:

1. Highlight the experience of your key people — particularly the experience they've had on similar projects and how many years they've been doing what they do.

2. Clearly demonstrate your understanding of the conditions of the tender response and what it will take to deliver on them. For example, if you're a security service provider, include detailed information showing how you will deliver the services. If you're in the food service business, show how well you understand food safety requirements.

3. Establishing financial stability when you're a relatively new business is challenging. Still, financial projections showing actual versus budget for the period you've been in business are a good place to start. If you have them, you can also add evidence of your bank accounts, line of credit, or bank guarantees in your tender submission.

What's it Going to Take?

If you put the time and effort in to bid, make sure you are very clear about what it's going to take to deliver if your bid is successful. Can you handle the contract with your existing staff? If not, what is the labour pool like in your area, and are you confident you can hire enough skilled people to meet the contract requirements?

Also consider if you need to spend capital buying new equipment, if you'll need to expand your premises or if our internal systems can cope with the extra workload for the tender response.

Still not Sure? Give me a Shout

If you have a tender opportunity but you're just not sure if it's right for you, or if you have one that you need a hand with, shoot me an email, call me at 0400 514579, or fill out this form An initial discussion costs you nothing, so what have you got to lose?

In the meantime, happy tendering!