How do you follow up and evaluate your bid performance and outcomes?

RFPs will usually state a decision date (even if estimated). Set a calendar reminder so you remember to follow up with your client.

Bid performance evaluation is an ongoing process. Continuous monitoring and updating will lead to a more efficient and effective bidding strategy.

Sending thank you note and expressing gratitude for getting to Bid for the opportunity are the basic etiquettes of the relationship management with clients. We need to stick to professional when we win or lose any opportunity this helps form a relationship with customer and shows interest in working with client again. This opportunity to have a connection with client and use it to get feedback on Bid becomes an unmatched thing. If you are selected then you will be given access to further documentation of the clients to closely fine tune the proposal with new clarity and understanding. Further round could be Best and Final offer from your side.

Sharing a thank-you note is always good to create a lasting impression in the minds of the procurement team, which will set you apart from the crowd. Next time, if they release a restricted RFP, there is some chance that they will include you. It may sound unrealistic, but there is no harm in sending one.

In addition to all of the great points above regarding external and/or client feedback. I would ensure feedback internally from across the business. I believe the key is doing this before any award/result. A bad process can be easily forgotten if it resulted in a win, but that doesn’t make it a good process and may cost you other opportunities.

In my years of working in bids in the professional services sector, asking for feedback is often overlooked. This is often due to time pressures on bids teams having to move on to the next deadlines. But, win or lose, this stage is as critical as bid strategy, capture planning and excellent bid writing. Requesting feedback = 1. A further touch point with the vendor. If a loss, this demonstrates you really care about working with them as well as helping remain on their radar for future opportunities. 2. Provides critical information to refine and improve bid strategies and go/no go processes. 3. ROI. Bids require teams of people, they are costly. Gathering feedback provides valuable information, a useful ROI.

Don't take no for an answer. In the UK, procurement guidlines entitle you to feedback on your bid.and the comparitive advantages of the winning bid.

Remember to also ask for feedback if you won. In the UK Govt arena you tend to get more feedback from the customer if you lost (e.g. your scores as well as the winner's and why they were scored higher on specific questions - as well as your price score and the winner's). If you win, you only get your scores. In any bid, if you won, you also need to know what the reasons for winning were - and where you were scored lower than those who ultimately lost. It might have been close. There might be areas where you under performed. There might be things you promised that the customer doesn't actually want.

Client feedback - Even if you've received written feedback, ask for a meeting (either in-person or a video call) so you can have an open conversation and see the client representatives' non-verbal communication cues.

Sentiment analysis can enhance understanding of clients' experiences and perceptions, and proposal strengths and weaknesses. Awareness of potential evaluation bias patterns is also key. If winning patterns emerge with specific internal stakeholders, these discrepancies can indicate preferences to be considered in future proposals. Similarly, rebidding to the same customer with an improved solution and different evaluator can reveal insights about the client's internal dynamics. Post-bid analysis isn't just learning from mistakes but also capitalising on successes. Leveraging insights from customer feedback and sentiment analysis continuously improves bid strategy and strengthens client relationships. Bidhive is a useful tool for this.

Don't be afraid to seek clarification on ambiguous or vague feedback. Usuall feedback is only given to the losers (bluny but true) who have invested time and money in bidding. Look upon that as an invesment - you need to.maximise your return.

Analyzing any feedback which you receive becomes very important for any individual and working to improve on the pointers raised becomes more important. We should try to analyze the key lessons that stand out the most and do a 360 comparison of the work which you have done with help of other stakeholders and reviewers. Also we should document the feedback and the analysis which we got from client and share it with your team and stakeholders so that we are not making the same mistakes again from that type of Bid. Also, we need to improve the content library more frequently to the important questions asked by customers and try to customize each response tailored to the client.

I learnt it's important to benchmark against the competitors. If possible, acquire data on competitor success rates and pricing to identify areas where you can/could've gained an advantage.

Without implementation of Feedback nothing will change and situation will remain same as it is. Importance is in implementing the feedback and work on the changes and reengineer things. Reviewing the Bid process and having Debrief sessions planned with the Bid Team is important because this will act as a input for future RFP's. Also, try to update the Content Library, Increasing understanding of team on the questions asked, More Comprehensive checklist, Bid Template updation etc. Measurement and monitoring of the changes incorporated becomes very important because bottomline is to increase the winning chances of the organization and to apply lessons learnt from feedback.

Implementing feedback is the real-world test of your adaptability and commitment to excellence. It turns 'lessons learned' into 'lessons applied.' It's crucial to go beyond simple revisions—update your bid templates and performance metrics to make the feedback systemic, not just episodic.

Debrief feedback (both internal and external) should be incorporated into your bid/no bid decisions for future opportunities.

I feel bid performance evaluation is an ongoing process. Continuous monitoring and updating will lead to a more efficient and effective bidding strategy.

I've found it useful to review bids before you get the outcome - certainly for significant or different to the norm bids. You can review how the process went, what the challenges were etc. Of course, review as well after the result and once you have feedback - but those reviews are often 'tainted' by the result - everyone's happy if you won and fewer lessons are often learnt. Too many people are looking for what went wrong if you lost (and any positives are downplayed)

Celebrate or commiserate? I prefer the sentiments set out by Brian Johnson in his book Arete: Activate you heroic potential. He presents the idea that when we win (at any task not just bidding) we win and when we lose we still win! The idea being that losing always provides the opportunity to learn, to act on feedback, losing means we can improve. Effectively a winning mindset even when the outcome isn't a 'project win' - a much better mindset than one focussing on commiserating!

Outcome of the Bid lets you to Celebration or feel sorry for losing the Bid. Taking along the team and all stakeholders either you win or loss to acknowledge their efforts, contributions to show appreciation of down selection from client. We should always provide encouragement and also attempt to ease tensions/stress in Bid process. Rewarding each and every small step taken by you to move forward with the desired goal of achieving various deadlines and reaching completing each Bid adhering to the process is very important.

If you won the bid, follow up and use the information on the project to create a case study that you can use in future bids. Ask your client if they will ask as a reference for you. If you lost the bid, stay in touch as a lot of projects fail during implementation. I've worked for companies who have lost bids and then been awarded the work as a "rescue project" as the originally selected provider could not deliver the work to the required standard and timeline.

After winning the project, followup is important as whatever commitments you have made in the response you need to fulfill the same. Communication becomes another important pillar because we need to have a strong mechanism to check on the progress and address any roadblocks if any. Feedback from client becomes very pivotal on the promises which we have made in outcomes or transformation in the processes. Every effort should be to improve quality of your service. Followup with client on the reasons for the loss and getting to know the reasons why Bid outcome went to the winner becomes important as this will act as input for next Bid. Learning from issues/problems of this Bid and incorporating them in the new Bid which we do is most vital.

Client debriefs are fundamental. These provide the opportunity to get real, quality feedback directly from the client to support informed continuous improvement. Further, it shows the client genuine interest in understanding how we could have provided better support, and that we’re committed to enhancing the solution for the next time. This also goes a long way to possibly keeping the door open to potential other work. What’s equally important is ensuring the feedback is shared with key stakeholders and that feedback is documented and translated into an action plan with clear responsibilities and project management to ensure that continuous improvement eventuates.

Consider who will attend the client debrief - you may gain more helpful information by having someone independent attend rather than someone who was part of the core bid team.

1.Factors include technical capability, price, past performance, delivery schedule, and compliance with specifications. 2.Weighted Evaluation Criteria 3.Comparative Analysis of Bids 4.Use of Scoring Mechanism 5. Best Value for Money 6. Involving stakeholders for decision making 7.Reference checks and site visits 8.Comprehensive Assessment 9. Negotiation and Contract term 10.Weighing the Overall Value Proposition 11.Conducting Due diligence