Writing to Win

The definition of winning

In the context of bidding, winning is much more than just securing new business. A well-written bid will pitch your organisation or services in a way that will give the buyer something to think about. A memorable bid can position you for future tenders with that buyer, or indeed compel them to proactively seek you out for other business opportunities. This happens because whilst you haven’t won the business you bid for, you have won the heart and mind of the evaluator/buyer. This type of win is what bid writing should target.

In my experience, there are three key principles to doing this successfully:

1. Answer the Question (ATQ) – show a deep understanding of what the customer has asked, and address each part in a clear way
2. Tell a Story – present something that is well-written, weaving in key messages in a relevant and consistent way that draws the reader in
3. Convey Value – differentiate so they can see how value will be delivered in a way that resonates with them and solves their actual problems

This article looks to outline an approach to writing that helps build content using the above principles. But first…

Writing is a team effort

Creating a high-quality proposal is not the sole responsibility of a single individual. It requires input and ownership at various points from the sales/capture lead, technical and non-technical SMEs, senior stakeholders, and of course, the Bid Manager. It may be managed and edited by a Proposal Manager, but content will be created and shaped by those who are best placed to do so. A couple of things to remember:

• Writing is a process. It follows a series of tasks, steps, and deadlines. When a repeatable process is followed, uncertainty can be removed and outcomes can be more consistent.
• Writing is not linear. It typically follows a cycle that involves all contributors at various points. To write effectively, content needs to be revisited and amended if it is inconsistent, incomplete, or key messaging has changed.

Typically, 50-60% of a writing process is used to create the first draft. The first draft need not be perfect, or even written well. It should however cover the full scope of the question and key points you want to make, whether in bullet form or full prose, even if it takes the answer over the allotted word count.

The final 40% of the effort is then for review, revision and perfecting; again, a task that requires input from all key bid team members to make sure that the content is correct, and the agreed strategy has been applied. The bid or proposal manager can ensure the final edit adheres to the customer guidelines, whilst also being visually appealing.

Conveying Value - Define a strategy

A bid strategy is not about giving the client your full portfolio of services or solutions. Nor is it being the cheapest bidder. The latter might get you over the line, but if you are not delivering value to the client over and above price, then the best case might be that you can’t deliver to the agreed budget, or aren’t able to retain the business later.

A good bid strategy shows understanding of the client, their desired outcomes, and the problem they want to solve. This is information that isn’t always stated in the RFP, but is identified through customer engagement and insight. The strategy is then defined to addresses the client need/problem, demonstrating competitive strengths that achieve the outcomes and deliver tangible benefits.

The strategy is articulated using win themes/statements that can be applied throughout the proposal. A way to create these statements is to:

• Define the customer Pain (the need or requirement).
• Map your Proposition to the pain (the solution).
• Determine a Positive outcome (the benefit).
• Validate it with a Proof-point (the evidence that the solution can address the pain and deliver the benefit).

For every pain, writing the above down as high-level statements helps to ensure the question “so what?” is answered for every outcome, whilst creating re-usable messaging that can be spread throughout the proposal itself. You can test the uniqueness of the win themes by replacing your name with that of a competitor and asking if it still makes sense. If yes, then the statement may need to be tailored further. Similarly, replace the customer’s name with that of another customer – is the pain still relevant? If yes, then it may not specific enough to show a deep understanding.

Tell a Story – Storyboarding

Often referred to as answer planning, this stage is about creating an outline of your response that ensures it addresses the question, includes key messaging, and identifies the proof-points, re-usable content, and images that will form the response. It is more than merely filling in a form; storyboarding helps structure thinking and facilitates the creation of a “story” – a response that flows from demonstrating understanding of the question, identifying associated pain points, explaining how the problems will be solved, and outlining the benefits the customer will receive as a result.

By storyboarding, you will see clearly how your proposal will persuade the client to buy, first by making sure you are addressing each question fully for compliance, and then by ensuring you have identified the right messages and evidence to support your response. You will also see where there are potential gaps in your thinking or strategy. Good storyboards consider the evaluation criteria; great storyboards also consider the customer and the relationship to your strategy, and feeds into the evolution of win themes.

Storyboarding is both an individual and a collective exercise. It is easy to fill in a table using bullets and ideas in isolation, but the best storyboards have enough detail to inform authors and reviewers, and discussed as a team and ensure they consistently cover the value you are trying to deliver across all questions/sections. This can be done through workshops, individual development with group reviews, or using wall-walking to allow all authors to check their responses align to others, and avoid unnecessary repetition or contradiction between answers. Storyboarding also enables and supports vertical reviews, from Pink Team to Red Team, acting as a bridge between what was intended to be said and what was actually written in the final copy.

ATQ - The client perspective

To win the hearts and minds of the buyer, the most important thing to consider is your reader. A good response needs to capture the readers interest and help them make a positive decision in favour of the bidder. This is done by offering them a compelling solution to their stated problem that resonates with them, and establishing credibility – both as a supplier and a partner.

Clients want to know how your business will make them better. By tailoring responses specifically to the client, and showing a deep understanding of their actual problems, you can instil confidence and create an emotional connection, influencing a positive call to action. This can be done by:

• Reflecting client language.
• Showing empathy to their situation and issues, using relevant examples to show understanding.
• Working in the win themes appropriately, not shoehorning them in where they don’t make sense or come across like a standard sales pitch.
• Avoiding suggesting you know the customer better than themselves.
• Quality testing responses to ensure the messaging is both in the client’s voice and unique to them.

Key success factors

As this article suggests, writing to win is a team activity that goes through many iterations, from defining a strategy, to creating structured outlines and producing content that is both compliant and resonates with the reader. Some key points to remember:

• Start early and create first draft responses within the first 50% of the bid phase. Don’t worry about quality – use the storyboard to maintain structure, and focus on quantity and ATQ.
• Focus on customer outcomes and benefits, not processes and features.
• Use language the customer understands, not technical jargon or marketing.
• Use positive statements, being clear about what you will do and what the client will get as a result, and not what might/could happen.
• Continuously review and quality test the content, and ask yourself “so what?” with each stated benefit.

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This article outlines my view on creating high quality content for bids and tender responses. I acknowledge that not all bids may be able to apply this thinking, for lack of time, resources, or the nature of the bid itself. This approach also does not represent all aspects of proposal creation; I haven’t touched on things like the importance of reviewing properly, using competitive intelligence to inform win themes, developing images that align with and enhance the response, how to apply this process to an executive summary, editing strategies to ensure the response reads well and fits the word limits, etc. Let me know in the comments what things you consider important to the concept of writing to win, and let’s have a discussion.