February 26, 2010 carts before horses
Someone asked me last week to find them a full time tender writer. They said that the volume of tenders they were putting together had gotten so high that they needed one. I spent some time talking with them and together we decided that what they needed was distinctly NOT a fulltime tender writer. What they needed was some attention paid to their processes, and the need to employ a fulltime staff member, with all of the associated on-costs and time spent, evaporated.
Here is part of the conversation we had.
Tender Process
Before we engage in fundamental changes to the way that operational functions take place, it is important to understand what it is that we are attempting to accomplish. Tendering in the Australian marketplace is a fundamental component of winning government and NGO business. A “necessary evil”, the aim when designing a tendering process is to:
a) Ensure visibility to major opportunities
b) Streamline opportunity qualification
c) Provide structure & guidance for planning sales message
d) Create templates and library text for some information
e) Ensure ownership of document and opportunity
f) Identify additional resources that can be accessed
g) Build pricing guidelines
h) Create review process
i) Identify and eliminate production bottlenecks
By attacking these macro issues, the broader question of the effectiveness of the tender process will tend to resolve itself. For example: Once the qualification mechanism is rock solid, the amount of tenders that sit outside core business drops. The downstream consequence of this drop is a considerable reduction in workload for operational tender staff – the number of tenders drops, but so does the complexity of those tenders.
Each point on the list has a similar effect. We can measure the success of these process changes as we move through the project; each will have a quantitative impact on the volume, complexity, success and quality of tenders.
By streamlining process, we are able to drive a larger wedge into the project timeframe to actually consider the business needs of the client. We can spend time thinking about the reasons for their project; the likely value adds that will appeal, and design a list of ideas or concepts to be “seeded” through the eventual document.
Once the initial program is undertaken, a professional tender writer can be engaged at significant points in the project timeline, rather than for its entirety. A consulting tender writer can then function as
a) A “neutral” party to moderate qualification meetings
b) A “translator” of tender documentation, particularly in contract terms
c) A reviewer of assembled documentation
d) A polisher of existing text, bringing it together with a single “voice”, and seeding with core themes
With this methodology, the client reaches the end of the first year of engagement with a considerably improved tender product, at reduced cost, and without the hire of any additional staff.
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