UK-based proposal expert Jack Wills draws on 40 years of experience to describe how you too can strive for bid nirvana
In this episode:
How Nirvana includes pre-engagement, Hot Buttons and effective working with subject matter experts (SMEs)
Most businesses are normally reactive, often not expecting a bidding opportunity to be released and then trying to cater to it with a bad timeline.
Common mistakes include knee-jerk graphics, underestimating the time to create effective graphics, which should be done well before writing.
Where possible, I pre-engage for capture, discover the hot buttons, and establish win themes. Also a trainer, and I help with authoring.
Great insight can derive from what I call "Car Park" conversations. Clues and even body language help you get the key 3-4 hot buttons.
How to influence to engage earlier? Persistence. Show the stakeholders the benefits in dollars saved, time saved and improved win rate. Stop bidding on everything and your effectiveness and win rate will naturally increase.
My motivation years ago, initially, was to win. Now my motivation is to have the team believe in what is possible and to win better.
When Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQs) first came out, there was a lot of concern from the industry.
My top tips? Pre-engage and pre-prepare. Have the content and stories and case studies ready. It makes a huge difference in how you win.
Contact me through the website:
www.willsconsultants.co.uk
Also please join me and listen in on my podcast:
'Winning bids and proposals'
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/winning-bids-and-proposals/id1517455655
Also Available on all major platforms.
Links to free tools:
Website: www.willsconsultants.co.uk
Podcast: 'Winning bids and proposals'. Available on all major platforms.
Free fact sheets to download with podcast 'Winning bids and proposals'.
About our guest
Jack Wills has forty years of experience in proposal and bid development. His interest in bid writing started when was called in to evaluate a major contract in the UK Ministry of Defence as a staff officer in the British Army.
As a 'gamekeeper' he quickly became a 'poacher' in the bid world!
Leaving the Army in 1988, he started his own business in the video and multimedia world, developing some 5-6 proposals per month! He is now a consultant working with many bluechip clients.