How to lose a tender in 10 ways

Roshan Sahukar, Tender Specialist (Sydney)

Remember that Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey movie from the early 2000s where a magazine writer deliberately makes common dating mistakes to see if she can lose a guy in just 10 days?

Make these tendering mistakes on your next bid and that lucrative job you’re tendering for might just be the one that got away.

 1.      Don’t bother with a strategy

Tender strategies are overrated. Why would you plan for something and get an edge over your competitors when you could just totally wing it? You’re already the incumbent and far superior to your competitors. It’s a shoe-in, for sure.

2.      Ignore the question

If the question seems silly or doesn’t make sense, it’s probably the client’s lack of knowledge on the subject and what’s required for the job. In this case, you know best and you should just answer the question you think should have been asked. You’ll impress the evaluators so much with your response that they’ll probably just give you the job straight away.

3.      Copy/paste the whole thing

That last bid you worked on was so brilliant, I bet you can just copy/paste it and have the whole thing done expeditiously. This one’s practically the same. Or close to. You should definitely Ctrl+C the entire returnable and not worry about contextualising or editing it at all.

4.      Don’t collaborate

There’s no point getting a bunch of experts in a room and debating the finer points of the solution before you start writing a response. You don’t need their input. Meeting is cheating – don’t forget you’re the hero here. You got this. Besides you’re just going to copy/paste anyway, you don’t need a team for that. Collaboration will only slow things down.

5.      Exceed the page limit

Page limits are like best before dates, just a guide. Nobody actually expects you to stick to them. More is more. Why say something in 15 pages when you can lay it all out in 60? Don’t forget to include a bunch of extra info in an appendix to really show them you know your stuff.

6.      Forget about formatting

It’s a tender not a glossy brochure. So it’s not about how it looks, it’s what’s inside that counts. I wouldn’t even worry about a template, really. Who cares if your headings and font sizes aren’t consistent, what does consistency add anyway? As long as all the info is there, that’s the main thing. Don’t even get me started on brand colours.

7.      You don’t need a style guide

Style guides are a waste of time. There’s no point spending time on writing one when you can just crack on and write your tender response. A little bit of inconsistency never hurt anyone. Who cares if the occasional organization slips in instead of organisation? Or your colleague is referencing figures one way and you’re doing it another. Or, hey, once in a while you get the client’s name wrong. You’re only human. Trust me, the evaluators only care about the solution, not the execution.

8.      Don’t proofread

Near enough is good enough. There’s absolutely no need to proofread your responses. Oh and I reckon you shouldn’t bother with punctuation either. Or a spellcheck. After all, you’re not bidding for a writing job, it’s construction, so you should really just concentrate on showcasing what you do best: building stuff. Your expertise is self-evident, full-stop.

9.      Always assume

If you’re unsure about what the client is asking, or if a particular tender requirement is unclear, just give it your best guess. How wrong can you be? Leave it to them to ask you for clarification after the bid goes in. It’ll be more strategic if you don’t ask them any questions.

10. Miss the submission date

Deadlines are like birthday gifts. You may miss the mark, but it’s the thought that counts. I mean, you knew it was meant to be in on Thursday so technically you were thinking about it. See? Thought that counts. And listen, it was only due a week ago, so if you knuckle down now and pull an all-nighter, you’ll be golden. Promise.

Spoiler: We definitely don’t recommend these methods if you want to succeed in tendering. Tender Plus offers specialist consulting services Australia wide to assist you to pursue and win competitive business. Find out more about our services here.