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How to Write Bids That Win Business

A guide to improving your bidding success rate and winning more tenders

By Martyn Curley and David Molian and Stephen Oldbury

Hardback £45.00 / $55.00
eBook £25.00 / $30.00
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How to Write Bids That Win Business

A guide to improving your bidding success rate and winning more tenders

By Martyn Curley and David Molian and Stephen Oldbury

Jacket text

How To Write Bids That Win Business brings together over 30 years of know-how in creating and crafting successful bids for tendered contracts.

This book is an invaluable guide for bid managers and bid writing teams. It shows you how to:

– create a bid writing strategy that plays to your organisation’s strengths
– increase your success rate by focusing on bids you are more likely to win
– avoid at the outset bidding for contracts you don’t want to win
– embed robust bid writing management systems that deliver results time after time
– ensure you follow the three golden rules for bid writing success

Based on extensive research, How To Write Bids That Win Business explains what bid evaluators are really looking for, by deconstructing the questions asked and explaining how to answer them to achieve top scores. Parts I to III guide you through the complete bid creation process, providing the tips, techniques and tactics for maximising your effectiveness at the shortlister interview. In Part IV the book examines the forces shaping the future of bid writing, and outlines the three key factors for success in the years to come.

Co-authors Martyn Curley and Stephen Oldbury, co-founders of Bidwriting.com, have advised many UK business-to-business organisations across 35 commercial sectors. David Molian was for many years Director of Cranfield School of Management’s renowned Business Growth Programme and has consulted for numerous companies on developing their brands and growing their businesses. He is a Criticaleye Thought Leader and remains a visiting Fellow at Cranfield.

If you are looking to take your organisation’s bidding performance to the next level, improving profitability and morale throughout the business, How To Write Bids That Win Business is the book you need.

About the author

Martyn Curley is a co-founder of Bidwriting.com, a specialist bid-writing consultancy that works in 35 market sectors. It was established 10 years ago. The founders, at that time directors of a FTSE 250 company, spotted a gap in the market when they were bidding multi-million pound projects in the public and private sectors. They developed the business via Cranfield University’s Business Growth Programme and achieved Investors in People ‘Gold’ Accreditation. The company is consultant to some of the UK’s and Europe’s largest organisations. Martyn is co-founder of the Bidwriting Academy.

About the author

David Molian is a commercial writer and educator, who has served on the faculties of Imperial College Business School and Cranfield School of Management. For many years he was Director of Cranfield’s prestigious Business Growth Programme and post-retirement remains a Cranfield Visiting Fellow. He has personally founded or co-founded three businesses and has advised numerous business owners on growth strategies for their companies. He is the author/co-author of several books and award-winning case studies on such businesses as Hotel Chocolat, Cobra Beer and GoApe, and has contributed features and commentary to the Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph and Director Magazine. He contributes a monthly column to the website Fresh Business Thinking, is a Criticaleye Thought Leader and a co-founder of the Bidwriting Academy.

About the author

Steve Oldbury is a co-founder of Bidwriting.com, a specialist bid-writing consultancy that works in 35 market sectors. It was established 10 years ago. The founders, at that time directors of a FTSE 250 company, spotted a gap in the market when they were bidding multi-million pound projects in the public and private sectors. They developed the business via Cranfield University’s Business Growth Programme and achieved Investors in People ‘Gold’ Accreditation. The company is consultant to some of the UK’s and Europe’s largest organisations. Steve is co-founder of the Bidwriting Academy.

Reviews

As procurement consultants, we see many poorly written bids from prospective suppliers, failing to reflect the actual needs of the client. This book challenges bidders to not ‘pray and spray’ but rather to build a bid strategy reflecting their core strengths. It provides practical advice on avoiding common mistakes at bid preparation and shortlist interview stages, emphasising the value of continuous improvement. With massive growth in the value of global tenders, coupled with higher levels of competition from bidders, the winners will be those who up their game and reassure the better informed prospective clients of their ability to add value and mitigate risk. Following the advice in this book will significantly increase the chances of your business being on the winning side.

Matt Roper, CEO of Buying Support Agency Ltd

A very useful book. This really gets to grips with what is required in a bid. It is clearly written and contains clear directions and tips to help the reader navigate their way through the written process and potentially improve their win rate.

Fuad Mahamed, CEO Ashley Community Housing

Contents

About the Authors
Acknowledgements
Preface

Part I - Preparation
Introduction
A Bird's Eye View: the Bidding Supply Chain
Beating the Odds
Creating a Bid Writing Strategy
Linking Your Strategy to the Sales and Marketing Functions
Building the Plan and Creating Improvement Objectives
Hard Benefits and Soft Benefits of a Bid Writing Strategy
To Bid or not to Bid?
Preparing for Battle
Political and Cultural Considerations
Map and Match
Takeaways from Part I

Part II - Creation, Review and Preparation for Shortlisting
Introduction
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Forming the Bidding Team
Writing Bids that Clients Want to Read
Reviewing the Bid as it Evolves
How to Prepare for When You Make the Shortlist
The Best and Final Offer
Site Visit[s]
Takeaways from Part II

Part III - Review and Improve
Introduction
Recap: the Story so Far
Learning from the Best
The View Across the Bridge
Reviewing Your Wins and Losses
How to Capture What You've Learned
Housekeeping
Takeaways from Part III

Part IV - A Glimpse of the Future
Introduction
The Lessons of History
Three Big Things to Think About and Plan For
Implications for Bid Writing
The Good News

Appendices

About Bidwriting.com



Published: 19/03/2018
Edition: 1st
Pages: 212
Formats: hardback - ISBN 9780857196538
ebook - ISBN 9780857196545
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