Business Guide to a successful tender

It takes a lot of effort preparing a tender or bid. From studying the bid requirements, to collecting the needed information, to determining your capacity needs, to costing, to confirming the source of supplies, to writing a compelling document, to collecting all the needed certificates and compliance documents, to presenting it all in a tender pack.

In taking all the effort, it is important to ensure that your business has a good chance of being awarded the tender. But it is seemingly very common for business owners to make mistakes in the preparation of their bid.

There are some common shortcomings and mistakes that can cost you a tender, which business owners repeat over-and-over. So if you’re going to take the time to prepare and submit a bid, look out for these things to avoid, which we can call the “seven deadly sins of tendering”:

1. Not attending to the tendering brief
2. Not having the required documents
3. Late submission
4. Poor presentation and layout
5. Misrepresenting your company or capability
6. Nor following the tender requirements
7. Not triple-checking your document pack

And remember: Even if you have the tender document, it’s always a good idea to keep a copy of the original advert from the newspaper, as sometimes the requirements for delivery of the tender, such as the relevant official and what it must say on the envelope, are only mentioned in this advert and not on the actual tender document.

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