How do you make your bids stand out from the rest of the competition? 30 Ways to Win a Bid provides professional advice on transforming your proposals. Bidding is the life-blood of any organisation; so making sure your organisation has winning bids is vital. Ensuring your proposals are compelling, insightful and passionate requires constant attention. It is the responsibility of every client-facing team member to keep the bids fresh and perceptive. 30 Ways to Win a Bid shows how to review your approach to bidding across the whole client life-cycle. It provides 30 valuable hits and tips that help anyone responsible for bids, tenders or sales to keep ahead of the competition.
The Winning Bid is an easy-to-read practical guide which will teach the reader how to think like a professional bid manager. It gives essential advice on, amongst other things: PQQs and bid readiness, GIVE analysis, competitor analysis, grantwriting and funding bids best practice, freedom of Information as a research and continual improvement tool, a view from the buyer's side - featuring feedback from buyers on their experiences of being on the receiving end of bids, measuring bid performance over time, virtual team management, sharing bid best practice with other Bid Managers through APMP membership and accreditation, LinkedIn groups, the new Cabinet Office feedback channel. It will appeal to anyone engaged in bidding activity, from the bid novice to professional bid managers.
Acquire the necessary skills to win business through proposals, bids, tenders, and presentations—this hands-on guide is your partner for success You have in your hands the collected knowledge and skills of the professional proposal writer. Proposal writing is a profession — a growing and increasingly important one and an essential part of a broader group of business development professionals who plan and execute strategies for businesses who want to obtain new customers. Proposal writers have a professional organization — the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) — and their best practices are the foundation for this book. Proposal writing is a skill you can learn, practice, and master; you can even go through a professional certification process to prove your mastery. Writing Business Bids & Proposals For Dummies is your no-nonsense guide to finding out what professional proposal writers know and for applying it to your own business. If you're a small- to medium-size business owner, a first-time proposal writer in a medium-size company, or a sales representative, you know that a written proposal (printed or electronic) is still a common, personal, and effective way to win business. Written in plain English, Writing Business Bids & Proposals For Dummies will help you to: Know the difference between reactive proposals (the RFP or request for proposal) and proactive proposals Focus on the customer by going beyond their requirements to address their true needs Know your competition through research and analysis Write persuasively to develop a winning business proposal Plan and use a repeatable proposal process Incorporate a lessons learned aspect to your proposal process Use tools and templates to accelerate your proposals Motivate and lead your proposal team to ensure they're on the same page Use graphics to enhance your proposals Learn ways to automate your proposal development process And a whole lot more Additionally, you'll gain access to ten templates for building a proposal, find out ten common misconceptions about bids and proposals, and add a compiled list of online resources to your toolset. Grab a copy of Writing Business Bids & Proposals For Dummies to start sharpening your proposal writing skillset.
Managing Bids, Tenders and Proposals shows suppliers and vendors how they can gain competitive advantage by being more effective and productive when pursuing sales opportunities and competing to win new contracts. Suppliers and vendors can also learn how to identify and reduce delivery risk and commercial risk. Responding to requests-for-tenders (RFTs) and requests-for-proposals (RFPs) is frequently a challenging time for the supplier and vendor bid teams. Within tight timeframes, they must finalise their win strategy, determine their delivery plans and create compelling documentation that responds to the customer's questions and requirements. This essential reference work explores what needs to happen when responding to RFTs and RFPs and explains the essential knowledge needed by the bid teams. In clearly written and well-structured chapters, Managing Bids, Tenders and Proposals addresses everything a bid manager or bid team member needs to know. Understanding profit, pricing, value and risk are essential for competitive pricing and profitable business. How customers manage their procurement programmes drives the lifecycle of a sales opportunity. Sales governance based on objective criteria identifies the right opportunities to pursue. Knowing what to look for in RFPs and RFTs helps to structure powerful bid responses. Understanding contracts, finance and business cases protects the commercial position of the supplier or vendor. Mastering these topics makes bid management a complete discipline that places a premium on leadership and managerial skills. Not only are the fundamentals of bid management captured simply and concisely, Managing Bids, Tenders and Proposals also explains how to plan and manage a bid response. Additional chapters define what makes a bid response compelling, as well as how to write and review bid documents to best position your bid, tender or proposal. Managing Bids, Tenders and Proposals introduces the Bid.Win.Deliver Framework, a new and unique approach for responding to sales opportunities. In 16 procedural steps, the Bid.Win.Deliver Framework guides bid teams through the development process from identifying a sales opportunity to developing a compelling and competitive bid response. Any supplier or vendor in any industry that submits bids, proposals and tenders will benefit from adopting the Bid.Win.Deliver Framework. The framework provides a clear roadmap for implementing best-practice bid management at suppliers and vendors in any industry or market. The Bid.Win.Deliver Framework equips any professional with the skills to lead and manage a bid response. For experienced bid managers, the Bid.Win.Deliver Framework provides a common reference for discussion, reflection and professional development.
Learn how to price creative work with confidence. Win more bids. Make more money. When it comes to pricing their work, far too many freelance designers and agencies merely guess what to charge their clients. As a result, profitable projects have as much to do with luck as they do anything else. In The Psychology of Graphic Design Pricing, you'll learn how to take luck out of the equation by calculating the cost to produce your work, understanding its market value, and extracting your client's budget. These three variables are used in a pricing spectrum, empowering you to price your work with confidence and profitability in every project opportunity. This book will teach you how to calculate your production costs, understand market value, extract your client's budget, bid with the right project price, and increase your profitability.
How To Write Bids That Win Business brings together over 30 years of know-how in creating and crafting successful bids for tendered contracts. This book is an invaluable guide for bid managers and bid writing teams. It shows you how to: - create a bid writing strategy that plays to your organisation's strengths - increase your success rate by focusing on bids you are more likely to win - avoid at the outset bidding for contracts you don't want to win - embed robust bid writing management systems that deliver results time after time - ensure you follow the three golden rules for bid writing success Based on extensive research, How To Write Bids That Win Business explains what bid evaluators are really looking for, by deconstructing the questions asked and explaining how to answer them to achieve top scores. Parts I to III guide you through the complete bid creation process, providing the tips, techniques and tactics for maximising your effectiveness at the shortlister interview. In Part IV the book examines the forces shaping the future of bid writing, and outlines the three key factors for success in the years to come. Co-authors Martyn Curley and Stephen Oldbury, co-founders of Bidwriting.com, have advised many UK business-to-business organisations across 35 commercial sectors. David Molian was for many years Director of Cranfield School of Management’s renowned Business Growth Programme and has consulted for numerous companies on developing their brands and growing their businesses. He is a Criticaleye Thought Leader and remains a visiting Fellow at Cranfield. If you are looking to take your organisation’s bidding performance to the next level, improving profitability and morale throughout the business, How To Write Bids That Win Business is the book you need.
These days, most companies find themselves having to tender or bid for new contracts and clients. It's now part of the business landscape -- companies simply have to be good at tendering and pitching if they are going to have any chance of getting new business and clients. This book, written by one of the leading consultants and trainers in competitive business tendering, provides the key principles for winning bids, tenders and proposals. Savvy and practical, the principles are based on the author's extensive consulting experience with large and small companies, helping them to win big-ticket, "must-win" contracts (with a success rate of 86%). These essential principles apply to any company, in all sectors, which are seeking to improve their new business win rate.
While it is becoming increasingly common for contracts to be awarded through formal procurement processes, smaller business are missing out. Without the training and confidence needed to write a successful bid or proposal valuable business can be lost. Bid Management is an easy-to-read practical guide which will teach the reader how to think like a professional bid manager. It covers the basics of how to find opportunities, understanding the rules of the game and how to get to know your customer. It also gives essential advice on how to compete with other bidders, present a deliverable and profitable bid, project manage your bid, work out a pricing strategy, clinch the deal and learn from success as well as failure. With an insightful interview with the Director behind the London 2012 Olympic bid, Bid Management uncovers the myths of bidding and teaches all the skills needed to get noticed, retain existing clients and win new ones.
"The Contractor Fight" is what HGTV host and best-selling author Tom Reber calls the battle between your ears. We all have stories and experiences that have formed us into who we are. We are what we think, and the battleground is our mind. The Fight is not with the people you think are "cheap customers." It's not with the unlicensed competitors or the "illegals," as many contractors think. The Fight is with yourself. Sadly, most of the struggles contractors have are self-imposed. It's friendly fire. The negative ways we think about ourselves and our worth... friendly fire. The growing debt, working too much, small bank account... friendly fire. Winning the Fight is a choice. You're noble and full of integrity. You bend over backward to serve your family and clients. You have taken it on the chin more times than you can count. Now, it's time to get yours. Earn what you're worth. Create a business that serves you and energizes you, instead of one that beats you down. Choose to own your crap and get better today.
If ever a company could be described as the "800-pound gorilla" of its industry, eBay is just that in the exploding world of online auctions. But with more than 50 million registered users and almost $15 billion in annual merchandise sales, the only thing easier than selling on eBay is getting lumped in with all the other sellers. People looking to exponentially increase their visibility and potential profit keep turning to eBay the Smart Way, the definitive guide to smarter eBay tactics. Now in its third edition, this priceless tool has changed with the times to cover the latest trends, including local auctions, live auctions, fixed-price auctions, buying and selling cars on eBay motors, enhanced PayPal services, using digital photography, setting up eBay Stores, great inventory sources, bulk listings, eBay tools and more.Brand new chapters explain how to maximize profits in real estate sales, work with auction management services and negotiate international transactions. As always, eBay the Smart Way is the go-to resource for first-timers and veterans alike, with step-by-step instructions for listing products, creating attention-grabbing photos and descriptions, offering top-notch customer service and maintaining high credibility. eBay buyers will also benefit from strategies for negotiating the best deals. For the most in-depth and accessible information on how to make the most out of online auctions, "nothing explains it better than eBay the Smart Way." - The Internet Marketing Bookshelf.
