Our team of tender, bid and proposal writers love helping companies like yours across New Zealand win bids and tenders. Here are five tips you may incorporate when developing your next tender or bid:

It sounds simple, however, it’s important to use the tender templates provided. Often tender documents are released in Microsoft Excel format. This may seem annoying from your perspective, but more often than not the client has designed this format so it’s easier for them to compare. Also, the format can be an indicator of the type of response the client is looking for. For example, attaching generic marketing material is often discouraged, with precise tenders being preferred.

This is another one that is simple and easy but also important. Whether it’s word limits, upload instructions or naming conventions, it is important to comply with all the requirements of the tender and to attach the correct supporting documentation as required.

It is important to write in clear simple English that is easy to understand. Although you may have strong technical knowledge of your product or service, you need to assume that the reader knows nothing. Your response also needs to be compelling. You need to clearly articulate the reasons that you should be selected and put forward your key points of difference in a clear concise manner. It’s important to add visuals where possible and break up your text with subheadings and bullet points.

You need to address the selection criteria and continuously refer back to it throughout your response. It’s important to ensure your response is tailored to the opportunity. For example, even though questions may seem generic, it’s important to tailor your response. Let’s say you are a construction company specialising in roofing solutions and you are looking to win a tender to provide roof and landscape maintenance services. If you have content from a previous tender which was purely a roofing tender, it’s not enough to simply cut and paste that content in. You need to take the time to tailor it to ensure your general capability covers the landscape component as well.

References are critical to winning any tender and sometimes the most obvious references aren’t always the best. Think about the contract, what is involved, and where you have previous experience delivering similar services for another client. Think about the likely challenges you will encounter and where you have encountered them in the past. Finally, it’s critical that your referee has great things to say about you so ensure that is the case.

For professional help with your next bid or tender in New Zealand, give us a call here at The Tender Team.