Have you had enough of working late into the night to prepare a tender response, only to be told you missed the mark?
Does it get under your skin knowing that what you offer is at least as good as your competitors, but feeling shut out of all the best opportunities?
Are you frustrated not knowing why you miss out on great opportunities or what you need to do to change that?
Tender Partner may be for you.
Tender Partner is a service for small and medium-sized businesses who are committed to winning at the tendering game.
For an affordable monthly fee, you receive practical, specialist support through the whole tender cycle. We help you plan ahead, build and nurture relationships with the right people, ensure your company is perceived in the best light, make sound bidding decisions, prepare strong supporting material and produce persuasive submissions when the opportunities arise.
Winning at the tender game starts with thinking and acting strategically. As your Tender Partner, we'll help you do just that with a methodical, five-step process that minimises wasted effort and maximises the kind of effort that produces results.
Successful tendering begins long before a request for proposal is released. We begin by helping you establish where tendering fits within your business-development strategy. This may include:
The goal is not simply to submit more tenders. It is to pursue the opportunities most likely to support your business goals.
Not every tender is worth pursuing. In fact, chasing the wrong tenders can cost you dearly.
We help you assess opportunities objectively through a structured bid/no-bid process. We consider:
You can then make a deliberate commercial decision rather than bidding because an opportunity happens to be available.
Tender responses become faster and stronger when the essential material has already been prepared.
We help you build and maintain a practical tender content library that may include:
The content is developed around your actual business. It is not generic material copied from templates.
When a suitable tender is released, we help turn the opportunity into a clear and manageable project.
Depending on the subscription and the needs of the bid, support may include:
Our role is to help you present a clear, credible and persuasive case for choosing your business.
Every submission should strengthen your future performance. After a tender, we can help:
Over time, your submissions become more efficient, consistent and competitive.
Because we work with you over time, we develop an understanding of your organisation, services, people and competitive advantages.
You do not need to explain your business to a new writer whenever an opportunity appears.
Your technical and operational specialists still contribute the knowledge that makes the response credible. We provide the structure, questioning, writing and coordination needed to turn that knowledge into an effective submission.
A disciplined selection process helps you avoid tenders that are unlikely to deliver an acceptable return.
Each engagement helps create and improve material that can be used in future tenders, proposals, capability statements and other business-development documents.
Tender Partner introduces a repeatable approach to planning, writing, reviewing and submitting bids.
You receive professional tender support without carrying the ongoing cost of an internal bid team.
Tender Partner is designed for small and medium-sized businesses whether they tender occasionally or frequently.
It is particularly useful if you:
· Want to win larger contracts
· Supply government, councils or major organisations
· Receive requests for proposals from commercial customers
· Do not have a dedicated bid manager
· Depend heavily on owners or senior managers to prepare tenders
· Find every tender becomes a last-minute exercise
· Have strong experience but struggle to communicate it
· Want to become more selective about which opportunities you pursue
We discuss your business, growth plans, current tender activity and the types of contracts you want to pursue.
We review your existing processes and material, including recent submissions, case studies, templates, supporting documents and opportunity pipeline.
We recommend a subscription structure based on your goals, likely tender volume and internal resources.
We gather the information needed to understand your business and establish an organised tender content library.
We work with you throughout the subscription period to plan, prepare, pursue and improve.
Don't wait until the deadline's approaching to discover that your evidence is incomplete, your content is outdated or your team doesn't have enough time.
Build the strategy, material and support network you need now.
Talk to Department of Writing about Tender Partner.
or email info@departmentofwriting.co.nz
or call Ken: +64 21 393 170
Does the whole tendering process sometimes feel to you like an expensive lottery? You invest hours of time and maybe a lot of money into putting together a response that delivers everything that's asked for. And yet, so often, the winning bid seems to be from a company that doesn't come close to matching what you can deliver.
The fact is, tendering is a time-consuming, expensive exercise.
We're currently touring New Zealand leading short, two-hour seminars called Winning Tenders: The Essentials for Success. It covers those things you must do and what you mustn't. What matters and what you can safely ignore. Whether to bid or not bid, and how to manage the whole bid process for a successful outcome.
Click here for the schedule and how to register in your region. If we're not in your location, you can also choose the online webinar.
Winning Tenders: From Mystery to Mastery is a one-day workshop for anyone who wants to:
Well-written bid responses help you win contracts that boost profits, lift your company’s reputation, and create even more opportunities. Our specialist, Shipley trained team has worked on countless bid documents for clients like Fletcher Construction, HEB, Besafe Training, Ventia, Aurecon, Platform 4 and many others. We’re the in-house writing team for OfficeMax, responding to dozens of tender opportunities every year.
We specialise in writing expert communications aimed at high-level decision-makers who are time sensitive and discerning. These individuals have a keen ability to see through insincerity (aka “bullshit”) and can be difficult to persuade.
An integral part of our team
The writers at Department of Writing have become an integral part of our bid writing function at OfficeMax and have supported us in winning millions of dollars of business. They are astute, highly experienced professionals who produce work to a very high standard, often to tight deadlines. Coupled with this, I've personally appreciated the insight and advice offered to me and my team on ways to be smarter and more successful in our bid writing strategy.
Sonja Webb
Marketing Manager, OfficeMax
A tough assignment
A huge thank you to you and your team for the effort put into our Registration of Interest. Being right on Christmas, a short bid period, and much content to research and write, this was a tough assignment. We were thrilled to learn we’d been shortlisted! Thanks for the part you played in getting us there. Submissions Manager, HEB Construction
Melanie Johnson
Submissions Manager, HEB Construction
Nailed it!
Milford is one of New Zealand’s largest investment companies, with over $20bn of funds under management. We’ve recently engaged Department of Writing for two mission-critical projects aimed at powerful decision makers. Both demanded an ability to quickly grasp the strategic subtleties of the project and the skills to build a case that was both compelling and engaging. Department of Writing nailed both projects with ease and I have no hesitation in recommending them to others
Sarah Norrie
Chief Marketing Officer, Milford Asset Management