You have made the decision to bid
Now the hard work begins, so let's get writing!
No. Wait! Here is why...

Preparation is the key to winning
The temptation when the documentation arrives
Is to open it up
Read the bits that are of interest
Dive in and do SOMETHING!

But if you don't plan, you will waffle
Fill pages and say absolutely sweet nothing

Be methodical
Read all the documentation and know where everything is
Prepare a brief of the opportunity for the Bid Kick Off
Use it for on-boarding people through the bid
Use it to brief reviewers and approvers

Get everyone together and hold the Kick Off
Get a senior sponsor to brief the importance of the bid
Encourage challenge and discussion
It is probably the first opportunity to get everyone together
Time will be precious as the submission deadline approaches
Use this time wisely

I can not stress enough the importance of having the solution ready
Without this you will generalise when you write
Put time aside, set deadlines, allow for change as the team learns
Solutions can evolve but this complicates the process
So freeze as soon as is practical

Develop and set out your bid strategy
Using the insights gained in capture
Plan how you will win
What will competitors do?
How do you reduce the impact of their strengths?
Play on their weaknesses
Play up your strengths
And negate any weaknesses you may have

Lay out your win themes
I like to limit them to 5 or less
Themes that play to the client requirements and vision
From these set out your key messages
Phrases everyone can use, throughout the response
That bring familiarity, build understanding
And increases the trust in you and your team

Identify what the customer hot buttons are
Things that make them say "Yes Please!"
Linking Win Themes, Key Messages and Hot Buttons
All get the evaluators to mark you favourably

Test with reviews
Blue team to validate your strategy
Are we meeting the requirement?
Are we on track with the customer?
Do we have a clear advantage over the competition?

Black Hat to anticipate the competition
What are they likely to pitch?
How do we counter this?
What issues do we ghost?
If we are the incumbent, how do we stay there?
If not how do we unseat the incumbent?

And here we are, 5 steps in and we haven't started writing
And we have tested ourselves against the requirement and competition
We are not wasting time but planning how we ensure we win
Maximising scoring, delighting the evaluator, understanding the competition

I'm Rob Dustan, Bid Expert.
With my help, you can win more bids than ever!

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