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A Bid Writer is someone who is responsible for completing PQQ’s and tenders in order to secure new contracts or funding.
More and more organisations are outsourcing this role to freelance Bid Writers or bid writing companies, such as ourselves. This is due to organisations not having the appropriate time or resources, and that is ok.
Bid Writers are paramount to any business or organisation. Whether this is a large corporation or an SME.
It can sometimes take hours, or days to complete a bid. This means Bid Writers have to possess a specific set of skills. They have to be organised and devoted to the task at hand.
Excellent communication skills are essential too – this cannot be underestimated.
A Bid Writing environment is fast-paced and full of never-ending deadlines. To be a Bid Writer and be successful in your role, you need to keep your composure.
A Bid Writer will research your sector extensively. They will create answers, develop winning themes and ensure your proposal stands out from the crowd.
So, what is a Bid Writer? It is one of the most important positions in any organisation.
Once the tender documents are released, the Bid Writer needs to carefully analyse the submission. This is to ensure the client can meet all the requirements set out in the specification.
Important questions must be asked such as;
From this analysis, the Bid Writer will note important information:
Breaking down the opportunity is another way of asking, is this the right bid and tender for you?
Doing this initially not only prevents the client from spending unnecessary money but it also saves time and resource.
Even with extensive knowledge of the tendering process, no two bids are the same. There can be so much variation.
Here at Hudson Succeed, we have created a standardised, extensive, easy to follow Bid Plan. This is used for documenting and outlining actions, timescales, and resources needed to complete the bid.
Within this plan, we break down the questions and plan our approach.
For more information on breaking down a question, please see our Tender VLE website.
We completely tailor our Bid Management to the requirements of the client and the opportunity. Our Bid Plans include:
Once the client has made a decision on whether to go for an opportunity, our Bid Writers always present clients with a tailored, extensive Bid Plan within 48 hours.
When undergoing the tender process and assisting clients, collaborative working is essential. Neither the client nor the Bid Writer will be able to achieve their common goal – a winning bid – without this.
As a Bid Writer at Hudson Succeed, we never claim to be subject matter experts.
We are experts in Bid Writing and Bid Management.
The client is the one who knows their business and their industry inside out. It is essential that the client or service specialists provide the writer with key information.
It is then the Bid Writer’s responsibility to turn that information into a high-quality narrative – a tender response that will win the contract. The response should fully answer the question and align with the evaluation criteria.
The more technical information needed is usually gathered by:
A key component of any successful business development is a highly skilled Bid Team.
It is crucial that each member of a Bid Team is aware of each project and its timescales. Clear communication underpins any working environment.
There may be instances that arise where Bid Writers are tasked with a large project with a tight deadline. When under this strain, it is important to cooperate.
A cohesive team is a more successful team.
Interim Bid Writer – A perfect solution to writing and managing tenders when you don’t have the time or resources to do this in house.
Public sector tendering can often be a difficult and time-consuming process for any business looking to expand. With many ITTs or RFPs consisting of tens of thousands of words, finding the opportunity to dedicate sufficient time can be difficult. Interim bid writers can help to alleviate this issue, taking the pressure off your hands and assisting you with your tender submissions.
Tendering can be a daunting prospect for many businesses looking to focus on their key daily operations. Spending time to internally digest 50-page specifications, write 10,000 words and attach 5 different policies can be difficult when time doesn’t standstill.
Having an interim bid writer will benefit your company by:
Interim bid writers can provide you with a cost-effective solution to any shortfalls in bid management. Despite this, hiring an interim bid writer will still require some work from your team. For example:
Bid writing companies in the UK are part of an expanding demographic. There’s no doubt about it, tendering can be a minefield. Many companies feel that they have neither the time, resources, capacity or even technical know-how to complete strong tender response. Hence, more and more small businesses, start-ups and even long-established companies who are new to tendering are choosing to outsource their tendering requirements to bid management companies in the UK such as Hudson Succeed.
Professional bid writing consultancies or tender writing companies, such as ourselves, offer the following services:
See our Tender Writing services
Bid writing companies in the UK have their hands full. The tendering process can be a tricky one with lots of precise information required. There can be strict hoops to jump through and technical processes to be undergone. Below are just some of the more confusing parts of the bid writing and tendering process which requires some careful consideration.
Buyers often set multiple key dates in the documentation for a tender, which aren’t necessarily always listed together. These often require some careful digging, but nonetheless, relay key information. We have spoken to clients who in the past, in the rush to submit a bid, have overlooked a date to ask a question to the buyer, or for a site visit, for example.
These oversights have either cost them key information or the ability to ask for vital clarification and have sometimes lost them the contract. Hence, bid writing companies in the UK such as ourselves, often assign consultants to a client’s case. Each consultant is then responsible for taking the time to sift through all documents and notices relating to a tender to ensure nothing is missed.
The submission process is not as straightforward as it seems. Whilst some buyers ask for supplier submissions to be emailed directly to them, the majority require submission through a regulated, official portal. Each portal has its own navigation routes and submission process and these are often anything but simple. We have heard horror stories from clients in the past who have accidentally submitted or overwritten bids due to their unfamiliarity with the portal submission procedures.
Some portals require bidders to “opt-in” before submitting anything, others allow bidders to overwrite previous responses providing this is done prior to the deadline. They may require documents to be uploaded individually and others require zip files. Being well versed in how to use these portals and what the submission process looks like is key but is often difficult due to the complexity and scope of these.
Bid writing companies in the UK have teams who are specialists in the use of these portals. Bid writers are able to handle the bid process right through to submission, eliminating the risk of accidental submissions, accidental uploads or system errors.
Many tender questions often seem impenetrable. Buyers often include questions within questions, all written in an obscure language. Even the most seasoned professionals often, understandably, have difficulties figuring out what is required of them, before they even start writing their responses. All too often, in a panic, or based on assumptions, many bidders get things wrong.
Bid writing companies in the UK specialise in answering even the trickiest of questions. They go through a process of breaking down the requirements of each question, in conjunction with buyer marking criteria. This allows us to ascertain precisely what is required for a winning response in each case. Indeed, many companies in the UK who are struggling to find the time to go through such a methodical process are now outsourcing their response. Proposal writing to companies such as ourselves have teams dedicated to sifting through the detail, helping to create a winning bid response.
When people ask, what is a Bid Writer? What does it take to be a Bid Writer? Well… there are 4 major fundamentals.
Bid writing skills & Bid Management are essential to the tender process, but what is bid writing and why is it so important? In essence, a ‘bid’ is another word for a tender. When tendering for work, you will nearly always be asked to complete a tender, or bid, that involves submitting a pricing document of some kind and a quality submission. The quality submission is usually a set of questions to which you write a response. Questions often cover topics such as; contract management, quality management, staffing and resources and other, industry-specific topics.
Honing your bid writing skills is key to success if you want to score highly on the quality aspect of a submission, but how do you go about that? Well, a good starting point is our free to use, online resource, Tender VLE, which features short, easily digestible videos covering the basics of tendering. However, to get you started, here are a few helpful hints.
Having bid writing skills isn’t just about the writing; before you attempt your first tender, do your due diligence. Make absolutely sure that you meet all of the criteria for the bid, such as:
Once you have established that you meet the minimum criteria for the bid, review the tender instructions carefully. Whether this tender is an SQ/PQQ, or an ITT, will determine in part how large and complicated it is. You can find out more about PQQ tender writing here.
An important aspect of bid writing involves how you write the tenders. Steer away from a colloquial style of writing; you want to present your company as professionally as possible. Avoid contractions (such as ‘isn’t’, use ‘is not’ instead) and excessive use of industry-specific jargon. The person evaluating your bid might be a procurement manager but not an expert in your field. Use of jargon may end up in them misinterpreting your response and marking you lower than you deserve.
Often, the best bid writing skill you can have in your arsenal is knowing when less is more. Avoid ‘waffle’ and write concisely and to the point. Whilst you do want your responses to read professionally, what is most important is conveying, in simple terms, your companies’ experience and ability. Also, by cutting out unnecessary content you leave room for more relevant details about your tangible service offering.
Once you have everything in place, now it is time to start writing your tender. Like anything else, great bid writing skills come with time and practise. But preparing yourself and working methodically will stand you in good stead to start with. Dissect each question by breaking it up into segments and use those as your guiding points for the response you are going to write. For example, you are presented with the question:
“What are your quality management processes? Include how you will monitor and audit contract performance. 500 words maximum”
Break it up! Your first section could be under the sub-heading Quality Management, where you talk about your companies’ general approach to quality management (here it is incredibly useful to have ISO accreditations, such as ISO 9001, to prove your company’s commitment to these principles) for about 150 words. Your next section would be Monitoring, where you detail your monitoring processes and how you would implement them on this particular contract for approx. 150 words. Your third section would be Auditing where, as you can likely guess, you list your approach to auditing work and how you would specifically approach auditing the contract at hand, approx. 150 words. With your remaining 50 words, you can draw together the strands of your response and ensure all elements have been covered.
Once the final drafts are completed and have been reviewed by the client, it is time to assemble. All tender documents are compiled to form the FINAL tender.
This includes compiling all requested policies and procedures, accreditations and any other supporting documents. These will be presented as appendices. We always ensure appendices are numbered correctly to match the references within the quality responses.
It is ESSENTIAL to approach this last stage in a methodical way. Failing to upload a vital piece of information can result in a failed submission.
Due to us Bid Writers being super organised, we always aim to submit 24 hours before the deadline. To do this, we set our own internal deadlines. This provides us with breathing time. Time to calmly check over the documents and ensure nothing is missed.
It might sound a bit corny, but the best way to improve your bid writing skills is to remain open to learning from the lessons that come along. Unless you are incredibly lucky, you are unlikely to see instant success from your initial bid writing efforts. Always ask for feedback from the buyer if you are not successful and use the comments to improve the next tender you write. Always have your work reviewed by somebody else and be open to suggestions. Most importantly, do not be afraid to ask questions or seek advice when it comes to competitive tendering.
If you are interested in learning more about our bid writing and bid management consultancy and how it could help your company, watch our free content on Tender VLE or see how we could help you by browsing our services.
Ever wondered how to write concisely and be successful?
Bid Writing and concise text go hand in hand. When buyers read through numerous responses, they want to see concise, short sentences that summarise coherently. Check out these bid writing tips.
We’ve all encountered writing that little bit too much and going over the word count. It usually results in a stressful cutting-down period, whereby you try to choose something in your bid writing from which to delete. To avoid this, it’s best to write concisely. Now, we understand that this is easier said than done. Sometimes, when you start writing, the words fly out and you just can’t stop, and suddenly find you had far more to say on the subject than you ever thought possible.
However, that’s why it’s always best to plan ahead. If you’ve got a strict word count, it’s best to structure out your answer, making sure you’ve definitely covered all relevant points to your argument. This way you can manage how much more you need to say without running out of the room, and also most importantly, time! There’s nothing worse than thinking you’ve finished on time for your deadline, to then realise you’ve got to edit down your work. Structuring your response is the first step to writing concise text.
If you’ve got a generous word count, you may be able to elaborate more. However, when questions are reasonably broad, and there is a lower word count than you’d desire, here are your basic steps on how to approach:
If you go in with the intention of winging it – you’ll undoubtedly lose. Make sure you create a Gantt chart (or similar) and assign clearly-defined roles for pertinent actions and time-bound deadlines for the likes of first drafts, content completion and reviews.
Research goes a heck of a long way, especially when you can provide additional value that accommodates your buyer’s goals and aspirations. Hit the [e]books and start researching the buyer to help you gain further insight into further points you can respond to.
This is so important! You may be completely confident in your answer but think about fitting it into space constraints. Make sure you’ve definitely thought out the relevant points that will match up to the question. Perhaps use bullet points to note down exact information, this is easier to follow for the reader! When bid writing it is always favourable to break down your response into easily digestible points.
You can reuse some previous content. However, please remember that every question is different and you’ll need to adapt this to align with the specification. You will, in a lot of cases, have to rewrite your content based on the ongoing changing needs of buyers.
Write your answer out, get it all down in a word document and assess all the points you’ve covered. This is a good exercise for seeing how you’d approach the answer off the cuff (and great practice if you ever need to write accurately under pressure).
In ITTs, it is of course, typically all about your written word and the way you respond to buyer requirements in a confident, concise and engaging manner. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t jazz your content up. On ‘free-flowing’ proposals (those that aren’t constrained by word counts and the inability to change your response layout), use the likes of InDesign to make your proposal stand out. There’s nothing better than a first-class response that is both concise, assertive and makes use of images, infographics, charts and other visually engaging content – depending on the opportunity and sector of course!
Now it’s time to go over your answer with a fine-toothed comb. Have you really answered the question? Have you covered all the points you wanted to? Is there anything that isn’t really relevant that can be cut out? These are all the questions you should be asking yourself during this process, it keeps your writing well-rounded and informative.
Writing concisely needs to be practised, make sure you fully comprehend your subject matter. Perhaps if certain points seem slightly hazy or maybe the topic is not your specialism, it would be advisable to do some research. Make sure to always visit trusted sources when researching, ensuring you have found quantifiable research that tallies up. Research is always a good idea, so you can fully brush-up on knowledge surrounding your topic area. Having a fully informed opinion will able you to write concisely about the topic.
Ask your peers to check your work. If you’re working on a piece of work for 3 days straight, you’ll have undoubtedly missed simple grammatical mistakes that others will pick up on. Leave it a day or two and go back to review the lot – the more time you have away from any finalised work – the more attention and recognition you give when you come back to it.
Ensure you’re using a wide range of intelligent vocabulary and try to cut down on colloquial terms and any jargon that would possibly come across confusing. Never write terms such as – ‘we shall try …’ instead use assertive vocabulary, for example, ‘we will …’
Act as though the contract is yours already. Describe what you are going to do not what you’re willing, attempting or trying to do. Write this using bullet points – it allows the response to remain concise, free from superfluous information and more direct- overall supporting your assertiveness.
Remember to write clearly and consistently, always ensuring your writing makes sense! If you’re arguing something, make sure to cover both sides, pros and cons, giving a conscious and insightful response. Finally, when you think you’ve mastered your perfect response, proofread it over a few times to check for any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes. These can trip you up when it comes to writing clearly, and it’s always important to check before submitting. Having a second pair of eyes read over your work is always an advantage, as you become immune to your own errors after spending considerable time rewording and rereading the same text.
After all these bid writing tips have been implemented, you should be left with a concisely written piece of work you’ll be proud to submit.
Joining the Hudson Team
Starting out as a professional bid writer can be quite daunting, as can going into any new role. A team of bid writers are often a tight-knit community, due to the competitive challenges they face on a daily basis. The tight deadlines and the niche industry can all bring a bid writing team close together. They become a family ready to win business and secure lucrative deals.
Saying that the team at Hudson make the transition into bid writing smooth and natural. Hudson has a clearly documented bid writing process and follows a pattern of best practice. This makes it easy for any new bid writer to get to grips with the rules of procurement.
The Hudson Succeed team is made up of approachable and extremely supportive bid writers. So even though you may feel a little flabbergasted at first, you will carve a niche for yourself.
Being a bid writer is a brilliant profession, with more and more organisations realising the benefits of procuring sales through an effective and efficient bid writing team.
Hudson Succeed recognises the need for bid management teams, for companies that don’t have their own procurement departments, hence why we offer such a range of services to our clients.
Perhaps you don’t have time in your busy schedule to focus on the tendering process, or perhaps you’re interested in tendering but don’t know how to approach it?
Our bid writers are on hand to guide you through the process, no matter what kind of tenders you’d like to go for.
Our Bid Writing Consultants are highly skilled across many industry areas and will set aside time to assess your needs as a business.
First things first…. Coffee!
As professional bid writers, our day successfully begins with a nice cup of coffee. This is to get the day started and our brains stimulated. Before we get down to the nitty-gritty of writing compelling bids!
At 9am, before our day fully begins, we have a fifteen-minute team huddle. This is an opportunity for the Hudson Succeed team to get together and discuss the projects we are working on, and how they are progressing.
Being a bid writer means constantly sticking to tight deadlines.
Discussing the progress of our projects allows us to plan workloads for the day. It also ensures we never miss those stringent deadlines.
Our team huddles also allow for discussions on contract wins, contract losses and any feedback given from buyers. We feel it important to know what we are doing well, as well as areas of change that we see across both the private and public sector procurement space. This is to enable us to constantly improve our bid writing services and our already fantastic win rate of 87%.
After this time, our tender writers start to focus on their own projects. Alongside this comes liaising with clients, doing research and filling out PPQs and helping out colleagues with proofreading.
Ultimately, we complete tenders and PQQ’s in order to secure new contracts or funding.
However, there are so many significant tasks that make up our daily workloads. These include:
A bid writer and the tasks they do make the role one of the most important positions in any organisation.
Our team was created with the client in mind. Our many different packages can be tailored to your business, providing individual service to your company.
The team provide a consistent service, ensuring all the businesses we engage with are fully supported by each member of the team.
As part of our job roles, we are all bid writers. Project Management is a huge part of our role, and to stay on track we regularly schedule meetings to discuss how far clients are along and new ways we can work to improve their success.
In a recent meeting, we discussed utilising a new project management tool, so all of us as bid writers can work collectively to understand each other’s clients and workloads, enabling us to jump on and help others on particularly busy days.
We are currently working internally through Hudson Labs to develop technical specifications to build a product that will serve the team and our clients. This database will help us further in scheduling products and improving efficiency as a team.
The main part of a professional tender writers’ role is completing PQQs, ITTs and quality questions. This means that a large portion of our day can be spent creating innovative content for our clients.
Most writing can be planned in advance. We like to make sure we are being succinct enough to showcase our client’s services within restricted word counts. Our professional tender writers are real wordsmiths with excellent levels of grammar and exceptional writing abilities.
Many of our bid writers have published works, and the expertise and quality they bring to professional tender writing is absolutely critical to creating and winning fantastic tenders for all our clients.
Writing tender responses is a time-focused task. We often work to tight deadlines and our professional tender writers ensure they set aside enough time to complete the contracts before submission.
We always allow for a two-step review stage in-house. This is to ensure that the tenders we submit here at Hudson Succeed are of the highest possible quality. At Hudson Succeed, quality is our top priority. When you sign up to any of our services, quality is always our mission.
Our team of professional tender writers are well-rehearsed in working reactively. With constant deadlines, we work instinctively to what needs doing the soonest.
In a typical day, you can see our bid writers handling up to four different bids for that coming week. To do this they ensure the following:
Juggling a busy workload is something our professional tender writers grasp with ease. We have a natural ability to write passionately about our clients, ensuring they are presented in the best possible light to potential buyers.
Our professional tender writers are experienced in all stages of the process. This means that no matter where you’re at with your tendering journey, we have a dedicated team on hand to deliver bids for you.
On an average day, it’s quite normal for our bid writers to be working reactively across different bids. This means you could be working on a cleaning tender in the morning, then switch to a creative or digital tender for the supply of smart boards for schools in the afternoon.
This means our workdays are incredibly varied, which is a great positive for our professional tender writers. Writing for different clients and industries is incredibly important, and we’re proud to say that we can cover any industry.
Our commitment to learning and research has seen us develop ten sector-specific portals, ensuring our knowledge reaches far and wide in terms of business. It’s because of this we’re able to write instinctively and with gusto about different sectors.
To find out more about the different industries we currently work across, please visit Hudson Discover.
By the afternoon, there may be meetings to attend and new clients to account for. For all tenders we commit to, we ensure the client is fully aware of what an opportunity entails before suggesting they go for it!
This means we’re likely to point out and find anything that may trip you up in one of our handy breakdowns. Our tender breakdowns are designed and created by our professional tender writers.
This is a great way of ensuring when we put forward a client for a bid, they have a great chance of winning. Our motto is: we write to win! And we make sure we see this through on every single tender we submit.
With our aims high, we always make sure that our clients are fully supported throughout the tender process. We understand it can be a minefield of acronyms, but we’re here to keep you grounded!
Once a client has decided that a specific tender would benefit them, we’ll create a bid plan. Our professional tender writers will focus on creating a schedule and gathering information needed from the client. We put this all into a handy format that is easy to understand and digest.
We think it’s really important to take time out in our day to fully engage with our clients – although most of the time we do have our heads down writing fantastic content! We’ll send out a bid plan on the same day a client decides to go for it, ensuring they’re supported from day one.
Now comes the part most feared by most business professionals – the actual bid writing. If it’s something you dread, then fear not! Our team of professional tender writers can take this task off your hand, whether it be ad-hoc for the one-off tender or as a retained client looking to pursue new avenues of work through outsourced Tender Management.
To find out more about how an interim bid writer or perhaps a whole team of professional tender writers could integrate with your team.
We offer a range of services dedicated to providing excellent support where YOU need it.
We’ll work with you to create the perfect bid response. We’ll gather all the information from you about your business, including policies, working practises and methods.
With this information in mind, we’ll really get a grasp of your goals and aims, ensuring we pour as much passion into our writing as we possibly can. It’s always our plan that our bids will shine and stand out in the crowd, and with an 87% success rate at winning bids, we can ensure brilliant quality each time.
Each bid is different. Never forget it. This means that our professional tender writers can tailor your content to suit the needs of each bid you decide to tender for. Decide what’s most important to you and your company and we’ll include it.
Since starting a bid writing career at Hudson, it is evident that essential personality traits and skills are required.
Successful bid writers must be able to:
To complete the above successfully, bid writers need:
I bet you are thinking ‘oh the obvious’, right? However, you need a specific set of writing skills. A good bid writer will write in a language and style that suits the buyer and their requirements.
The evaluators may not be technical experts, so it is important to get straight to the point. We always say, ‘if the response has to be read twice, it will lose points’ – Don’t be fluffy!
Here at Hudson, we have a three-stage proofreading process. This is to ensure that typos, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are picked up and corrected.
Attention to detail is paramount to any bid writing team. Ultimately, good grammar will help the readability of the tender response.
Bid writers require the ability to write a good story. A successful tender will ‘paint a picture’ in the buyers’ mind, from implementation to contract commencement.
What will the supplier deliver? What makes this supplier stand out from their competitors? Why are they the correct supplier for us?
These questions will be answered clearly throughout our responses. We have the ability to develop our stories in a relevant and persuasive style.
Compliance allows for a common language between bid writers and evaluators. Being compliant and demonstrating this in the tender response is an essential skill.
This will ensure that any mandatory or desirable criteria is met and reiterated through the response. Conclusively, increasing the chances of a win.
To be a successful bid writer, you need that inner Sherlock Holmes. You need a crime, a detective and the solution. A good bid writer will seek to fully understand the client’s Unique Selling Points (USPs). This typically includes researching all aspects of the client’s business by:
Irrespective of how well a tender submission is managed, it can still get manic. It is sometimes impossible to meet a deadline by working 9-5 hours.
It is important for a bid writer to be committed to their role – those extra hours of overtime should not be a problem.
There is no question about it, bid writing is a challenging role. Nevertheless, it is one of those most rewarding.
For example, a junior bid writer role is unique from so many other entry-level positions. Notably, it gives the new bid writer a 360-degree view of a company’s business, products and services. It is a valuable role that not only builds skills vital to business success; it is also a rewarding long-term career.
Some of the ‘perks’ of being a bid writer include:
The skills you learn as a bid writer are extremely important and critical to success within any industry sector.
Being a bid writer promotes the importance of fantastic teamwork. Collaborative working calls for success – especially when trying to hit those stringent deadlines. Working together, interacting and sharing ideas, can speed up our solutions.
Here at Hudson, we always:
It is important to remember that talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.
The bid writer role carries great challenges when it comes to coordinating the overall tender process and working collaboratively together as a team to procure and win contracts on behalf of Hudson’s.
Our main aim with our bid team is to provide support – you won’t find a more dedicated team elsewhere, ready to absorb the details of your business that make you shine.
If you have a question about the tendering process, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone or email us to ask. We’d rather you ask than be stuck worrying over something we can solve for you.
Once signed up to one of our brilliant services, may it be Tender Ready, Tender Mentor, Tender Improvement or Tender Writing, our team are happy to arrange a schedule for your bid (if you have a specific one in mind) or a schedule for your business accomplishments in order for you to start tendering.
Our bid writers will get in touch via email, informing you of the process, and how we think best to handle it. This is where you’ll have your input.
We’re a friendly team, always aiming to do the best for our clients. When we win a tender, we celebrate with you too – after all, we’re both working towards the same goal: success.
Our services are fully flexible to suit your needs. We understand that every business works differently, therefore we believe you should have a say too!
Our focus as bid writers, through all of our services, is to build a brilliant relationship with you. Our clients mean the world to us, and we’ll go above and beyond to ensure their tender responses are innovatively written.
Our bid writers are dedicated wordsmiths, with quality at the forefront of their minds and provide excellent support to our clients and other team members.
Let us know what types of opportunities you’ll most likely be going for and we can organise daily opportunity tracking, sourcing excellent contracts on our 11 sector-specific portals, dedicated to providing you with endless opportunities that will fit to your business.
The opportunities we find will be sent directly to you, therefore this saves you time, cutting out the endless scrolling through portals trying to find something relevant to you.
We know the tender marketplace can be tricky, with many tenders not labelled properly with CPV codes – this is why we don’t use them.
Our sites are designed for ease of access, meaning we use keywords instead. These keywords are designated to specifics within that tender, meaning if you’re focusing on IT systems within secondary schools and the installation of Windows 10, the tender will be tagged as such. This then narrows down your search when using our platforms!
Once you’ve found an opportunity that really suits, and you’re interested in participating, the tender process has begun. We’ll take care of the whole process from start to finish (if you’d like us to!). You always have the option of submitting yourself if you wish!
Us Tender Coordinators are often habitual creatures, and we love to follow a process. That’s because processes work and get results.
We follow the same intuitive steps below to ensure success:
Find more information about the below steps at Tender VLE.
Whilst doing so, we’ll keep you informed of any changes or updates you may need to know about regarding the tender. We always aim to keep in contact with you throughout the process, ensuring the smooth delivery of our service.
At Hudson Succeed, our team of bid writers proudly hold an impressive success rate of 87%. The bid team support businesses of all sizes with their tendering efforts. Collectively, the team have over 6 decades of experience.
We want to create lasting relationships with our clients and grow their businesses. Visit our site today and find out more about what it is like to work for Hudson and to be a bid writing consultant.
Please take a look at our ‘Meet the Team’ videos which go into detail regarding all of our job roles.
We are an incredibly friendly team and welcome any questions regarding the tendering process and what a bid writer role includes.
At Hudson Succeed, the team of Bid Writers proudly hold an impressive success rate of 87%. The Bid Team support businesses of all sizes with their tendering efforts.
Our team of highly experienced writers cover virtually every sector and subject area. We have worked in areas such as:
Here at Hudson, we know the importance of good tender management consultancy. We have heard horror stories from clients who have had poor tender management. They have then missed questions, deadlines and ultimately failed in their tendering efforts.
Our tender management consultants are on hand to offer expert advice and guide you through the process.
Jill, our Founder and Managing Director, is an expert Tender Manager and Consultant. With almost twenty years of experience under her belt, Jill has sat on both the buyer’s and supplier’s side of the table during the procurement process.
Jill is well-placed to help businesses of all sizes win work and for purchasing organisations to streamline and improve their tendering processes.
Since the start of her career, Jill has worked in the creative, IT and technology sectors and is particularly experienced in delivering bids across the UK’s digital industry. Indeed, Jill regularly delivers bids across sub-sectors including:
Jill has sold, project managed and marketed hundreds of creative products throughout her career. She is well-known for delivering results, having won clients over £300m worth of work to date.
Whilst Jill’s main focus is now on driving forward the growth of the business, she regularly delivers work and is on-hand to give the benefit of her experience and expertise to our Bid Team.
Dan joined the firm back at the end of 2017 as Procurement and Content Manager. He has rapidly risen through the ranks to become Head of Bid Management, offering expert tender management consultancy services.
Dan has delivered work across every conceivable sector during an impressive and varied career.
He is particularly experienced in the following sectors:
Dan is also experienced in writing bids from the construction industry. He has a proven track record of success in winning work for clients on large, multi-disciplinary construction contracts.
He works closely with clients and is our bid team’s key point of contact for most tender-related queries. Every day, Dan brings to bear his extensive multidisciplinary experience in Public and Private sector procurement to advise clients and the wider team.
He is constantly drawing on insights gained over the course of his career.
Dan also delivers our Start level masterclasses on our free learning platform, Tender VLE.
Since launching the resource in 2018, Dan has lead classes discussing topics such as:
Katherine is a Bid Writer in the Hudson Succeed department. In her role, Katherine works alongside fellow Bid Writers to ensure that our clients submit the most compelling and professional bids possible.
She is responsible for winning new contracts for our clients by creating persuasive and coherent tender responses.
Katherine is an accomplished writer, previously working on a freelance basis for various publications. As well as this, Katherine is a skilled editor and transcriber. She has worked in the English Legal sector, producing accurate and complex documents whilst maintaining high levels of discretion.
Katherine provides the team with valuable insight into the following sectors:
Jonathan sits on the Bid Writing team, working with clients, daily, to produce bid responses. Daily, Jonathan completes bid writing work for clients in numerous sectors including:
Previously, Jonathan has worked for several large-scale organisations. Most recently Jonathan performed remediation handling duties for an international banking group.
This experience provided Jonathan with excellent business practice knowledge that he brings to the team at Hudson Succeed.
Olivia is a Bid Writer here at Hudson Succeed. In her role, Olivia works alongside the wider tender management consultancy department to create winning responses to bids for multiple disciplinaries.
She is a proficient writer, graduating from Durham University with a BA in Modern Languages. As well as her talented writing background, Olivia has previously worked in a number of sectors including:
Such experience in these industries allows Olivia to create accurate tender responses for clients in varying fields.
Robyn joined the Hudson Team with a strong background in writing and a flair for creating powerful content. As a Bid Writer, Robyn’s primary focus is to win new business contracts for our clients by showcasing them in the best light.
Since joining the Hudson Succeed Team, Robyn has seen success with a range of clients, in industries such as;
Professional bid writing services can add incredible value to your organisation in many different ways. Consider all the activities, tasks and procedures your organisation carries out every day. You know the ins and outs of your industry best practice. Your accounting team is on the ball. You have daily meetings to analyse KPIs, productivity, and training needs. Maybe you attend networking sessions online to update your skillset and put some processes in context. On Fridays, you might share a drink with your team through Skype to reflect on the week’s successes. You know your business inside and out.
But what if you’re struggling to get new business that you know your organisation can deliver? Why doesn’t your organisation gain consideration in a buyer’s market? How can you take your product or service delivery to the next level?
The key to getting that next big contract is through three points:
Let’s not pretend that these points are simple – because they’re not. But what they are is effective. And we know what makes an effective bid. There’s no ‘golden ticket’ to winning a bid. But there is a very effective strategy which will maximise your chances both now and in the future. The benefit that professional bid writing services bring is to strategize these 3 key points.
Let’s say that you have your evidence. This might include:
To submit a tender, we must present these documents in response to what the buyer needs – their specification. Do you have the right insurances? Do you have relevant case studies to the contract you want to go for? Is your company branding presented in a basic format, or professionally and consistently? Do you have all of the policies and procedures you need for this contract? Are they relevant? Professional bid writing services are the Marie Kondo to your evidence bank and stress levels. A bid writer will compile your evidence so it is relevant, organised, up-to-date and suitable for your bid.
Buyers commonly request quality responses as part of a bid submission. This is where presentation and persuasion strategies come in.
Professional bid writing services will thoroughly review all of your tender documentation. They will then assess and understand your organisation – how it delivers – inside and out. Following this, a bid writer will draw out the best of your organisation’s attributes in meeting the specification. They will then produce a final bid response. This response connects your evidence, content and delivery strategy persuasively, in the manner the buyer asks for.
There’s a lot to consider. This is why professional bid writing services can be invaluable for your organisation.
I ensure that businesses considering working with us have all the information they need, before commencing work. I’m interested in talking to any business considering tendering as a route to new business. In my role, I also support purchasing managers who require assistance during the buying process.
Professional bid writing services cover a lot more than just writing bids. I work with clients who consider services within our Hudson Discover and Hudson Succeed strands. This means that professional bid writing services can also involve support like:
Absolutely. More than that –In my experience, no two business requirements are ever exactly the same. That’s why it is important to tailor tendering services to client needs. Helping clients fully understand their options enables them to make decisions that will benefit their business. Whilst we tailor our services, our professional knowledge is consistent across the board. That’s what contributes to successful bids –collaboration and mutual understanding with our clients.
Identifying your business needs and expectations can help maximise the benefits gained from professional bid writing services. Managing expectations is also key – this is where professional bid consultancy can really benefit your organisation.
Consider a small care organisation that has been incorporated for 3 months. They may have excellent policies developed, and train their staff to legislative standards. The organisation is keen to expand its service delivery. However, they don’t have any public sector experience. This will make it very challenging for the organisation to win bids on big frameworks or contracts.
All is not lost. This is an example of how professional bid writing services can help. Let’s take it back to our three strategy points – evidence, presentation and persuasion. In this case, our Tender Ready service would optimise this organisation’s bidding success.
Typically these examples should be performed during the last three to five years. Even for an incredible case study of work carried out a decade ago – it won’t count. Case studies need to be relevant and current.
Some buyers offer leniency for new bidders. They may ask for an explanation of why case studies cannot be provided – i.e. you may be a new organisation. Your dedicated bid writer may advise that competitors will have an advantage if they have more experience.
Going for smaller contracts, or some voluntary could prove beneficial in the long run. Professional bid writing services have your organisation’s best interests in mind. They will assess your current position within the competitor market and advise you how to improve. Professional consultancy services go hand-in-hand with bid writing services. Advice gained through one bid writing service can benefit your tendering and business efforts in the long run. Many of Hudson’s Tender Ready service clients have already seen success through this process.
You may be wondering where you can find a tender for your business. There’s no shortage of websites offering multi-sector tendering opportunities and leads. Ideally, you should be searching for a sector-specific site that posts all unique, public and private sector opportunities.
Our sister company, Hudson Discover, has 11 sector-specific tendering portals. One centralised and easy-to-navigate portal can help you save time, streamlining the process.
Once signed up, you’ll have access to your own dedicated Account Manager. They’ll be able to answer any questions you may have about public sector contracts. You’ll also get an email alert when new and relevant tenders are uploaded to your sector.
Upgrading to Discover Elite can help optimise your tendering efforts – even when you’re busy. Our two new time-saving tools can improve your competitor awareness and success rate when bidding for a contract.
We host all kinds of tenders in both the public and private sectors. These are inclusive of, but aren’t limited to:
Now you know how to accurately perform a tender search, you may be wondering how to write a bid. Our Bid Writers have over 60 years of bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. Whether you’re completely new to tendering or aren’t seeing results – we can help. There are four bid writing packages available:
Once you’ve found a tender you’d like to go for, send it over to us. One of our Bid Writers will write the tender response for you. They’ll provide a full Tender Writing breakdown and even submit it on your behalf.
Tender Mentor can give your tender response a once over before you submit. The Bid Writing Team will analyse your response, notifying you of any errors and opportunities for improvements prior to submission.
During the Tender Ready service, our team will create professional policies, procedures, and case studies in your company branding. If you already have this content, we will review everything carefully to ensure that nothing is missed. This service also helps businesses who are new to tendering with terminology and industry knowledge.
The Tender Improvement package can help those who have tendered before but aren’t seeing results. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous responses and work with you to develop improved content.
Get in touch to find out how we can help your business grow.
Our support doesn’t end there! Our creative content agency, Vocal, are on hand to help.
The Vocal Team are not afraid to stand up and be heard. And we make sure our clients aren’t either! From small, micro businesses to large organisations, we are vocal about the things that make your business unique.
Our creative service is dedicated to growing your business through striking and thought-provoking content. Our team specialise in six areas, including:
If you’d like to know more about what we can do for your business, introduce yourself to the team!
Contact us today to find out more.
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