In the midst of a recession, small businesses need to fight for tenders. Online tendering has become popular but whatever method of tendering the contractor choose the basis is the same.

Biding starts to become an art as various businesses compete for contracts and fine tune the skill of bid writing. The main criteria for winning tenders is usually knowledge and informing yourself with the what the contractor wants.  The company must prove their worth amongst many others but if successful the benefits could be a big boost for your small business. 

In the article below Emma Mcmillan discusses the techniques to win tenders and what is popular now in business and tenders. Use the navigation link to view articles on Online Tenders on CBN's website as well as business related articles.


Winning Tenders: Advice For Small Businesses
Author: Emma McMillan

Bidding for tenders is a tough game but one that is well worth playing as the benefits that come with being successful far outweigh the effort involved in getting there, especially for smaller businesses. While there is no set formula to ensuring that you win the tenders that you bid for, there are a number of things that you can think about and implement in relation to your business that might improve your chances.

A tender bid is really little more than a marketing pitch for your company, albeit a very specific marketing pitch. If you have done your research you should know exactly who your audience is, what their motivations are for placing a contract for tender and what they are looking for in a potential bidder. This information should help you to form the foundations of a very targeted and focused tender bid that is a good representation of what your business can really do for the contracting company.

Being armed with the knowledge of what a contractor might be looking for is not license to construct a response that is not true to the merits of your own company. Your bid should be true to the strengths and weaknesses of your business and not the product of the company spin doctor. If you have to sugar coat your application in order to boost your chances of winning, then there is some suggestion that it is time to take a look at the business itself and see where improvements can be made internally before you offer your services to contractors.

If you can see tendering as a chance to improve your business then you are already on the right track to becoming a success. One such way that businesses look to improve when tendering is to increase their operational reach. Obviously operational reach is very much dependent upon the product or service that is offered, and when tender bidding it is important to be very precise about defining the geographical area that you are able to reasonably work within.

However, no matter what the market, tenders offer the chance to seek business opportunities beyond your local area. Of course many smaller business do very well in the local market and are happy to continue to do so, but if there is the chance that your business could grow and develop the capacity to deliver results on a greater geographical scale, then the tender opportunities available to your business will grow exponentially.

It is also a good idea to include material in your tender bid that alludes to the reliability of your business as well as how you plan to approach the project at hand in an innovative way. Proof of your reliability can come from being able to offer a 10-year guarantee as well as references from previous clients or previews of existing products confirming that you and your workmanship are reliable. Once reliability is established the contracting company is more likely to have time for the next aspect of the tender bid that will help you to stand out from the crowd - innovation. It goes without saying that there are thousands of other businesses out there that do the exact same thing as your business so it pays to have an innovative product, service or approach to the proposed activity to make you stand out in the tenders process.

Innovation can come in many forms, the most popular of which seems to currently be the ability to offer a product or service in a more eco-friendly or carbon neutral way. Whatever the innovation, the contractor should be provided with supplementary information that lays out your vision for the project that includes the future benefits that are to be gained from using your services or buying your product. There also needs to be a project development programme that shows that you have though about potential risks and considered ways in which to manage or reduce those risks.

Another key factor in tender bidding, especially for smaller businesses, is the price at which you submit. While it can be difficult to know where the balance lies between being affordable and making decent money from the project, you should always aim to be value for money by putting a fair price on the product or service that you offer. You shouldn't aim to under cut the competition as this can often be counterproductive; making your business potentially look low quality and seriously under selling yourself. To reiterate why your price presents value for money you should aim to highlight exactly what the contractor gets for the money that they pay, including whether their overall running costs will be lowered, they will end up with a new line of revenue or it will help streamline their existing business in some way.

Finally, be organised and efficient in your approach to the tender application. Start filling in the forms and gathering the relevant information as early as possible and be aware of the deadlines as there are no second chances. Submit the application no later than 48 hours before the actual deadline and appear as professional as possible. Your tender forms, and the supplementary information that you include, will be the first impression that the contractor gets of your business so make it a good one.