Bid Management Skills - how to excel in your role

Bid management skills are now very desirable  

Bid management skills are now critical for many sales and marketing professionals, or those business support functions involved in the tender process. Whether you are a seasoned bid manager, support with tender responses when they 'land', or just starting your career in 'bidding', developing bid management skills, can significantly enhance your chances of success and help you stand out in your role, as well as increasing your tender win rate.

With increasing scrutiny on public sector spending, and larger private sector organisations mirroring procurement practices to ensure fairness and accountability, there is a lack of bid management skills in the UK market. 

This article will provide a guide to excelling in bid management, covering essential aspects such as understanding the bidding process, developing a winning bid strategy, and overcoming common challenges. We will also explore key skills and best practices that can help you elevate your bid management expertise and drive better results for your organisation. 

Understanding bid management

Bid management is a critical process that involves overseeing the entire lifecycle of a bid, from identifying opportunities to submitting a winning proposal. It plays a vital role in helping organisations secure new contracts and grow their business. Effective bid management requires a good understanding of the client's requirements, the competitive landscape, and the organisation's strengths and capabilities.

Definition and importance

Bid management is the process of coordinating and managing the end-to-end bid process, from opportunity identification to contract award. It involves assembling and leading a bid team, developing a clear win strategy, and ensuring that all necessary resources are aligned with the client's requirements. Bid management is essential for organisations looking to increase their success rates when tendering for contracts.

For businesses who regularly bid for formal tender opportunities, a bid manager may have a dedicated team, including the following roles: 

• Bid writer 
• Bid coordinator 
• Bid administrator 
• Bid designer. 

It is the bid manager's role to take ownership of the bid, or the bid team in it's entirety in many cases. In many sectors winning tenders and frameworks is a must, so having a responsible person or people with effective bid management skills is essential. 

Core bid management responsibilities

The core responsibilities of a bid manager include:

1.  Managing the bid process from start to submission. Often under the director of a bid director, sales director or senior management team
2.  Leading increasingly 'virtual bid teams' and engaging with key stakeholders
3.  Developing a clear win strategy for each bid
4.  Preparing and reviewing the commercial aspects of the bid
5.  Risk tracking and management throughout the bid process, highlighting key issues to other responsible departments or team members 
6.  Contributing to or writing the quality tender responses or proposal, and managing the bid budget
7.  Ensuring timely submission of compliant and commercially sound bids
8.  Driving continuous improvement through post-bid reviews
9. Managing or overseeing bid library content or bid templates. 

Bid management process

The bid management process typically involves the following stages:

By following a structured bid management process and using the skills of experienced bid managers, organisations can significantly improve their chances of success in the competitive world of tendering.

Key skills for effective bid management

To excel in bid management, professionals must possess a diverse set of skills that enable them to navigate the complex and fast-paced world of competitive bidding. Here are the key skills essential for effective bid management:

Leadership and team management

Bid managers play a crucial role in leading and coordinating cross-functional teams throughout the bidding process. They must be able to:

1. Motivate and inspire team members to deliver high-quality work within tight deadlines
2. Manage complex business relationships and multiple resources effectively
3. Ensure seamless collaboration among various departments and stakeholders. 

Time management

Meeting strict deadlines is paramount in bid management. Bid managers must:

1. Work efficiently within tight schedules, leaving buffer time for contingencies
2. Prioritise tasks and manage multiple bids simultaneously
3. Delegate responsibilities appropriately to ensure timely submission of bids. 

Communication skills

Effective communication is vital for bid managers, both internally and externally. They should:

1. Possess excellent written and verbal communication skills
2. Articulate clear and concise messages in bids and to team members
3. Listen actively, ask questions, and summarise key points to ensure understanding. 

By developing these key skills, bid managers can effectively lead their teams, manage time and resources efficiently, communicate persuasively, analyse information critically, and deliver winning bids that showcase their organisation's strengths and capabilities.

Developing a winning bid strategy

Crafting a winning bid strategy is essential for success in the competitive world of bid management. By conducting thorough research and planning, tailoring proposals to client needs, and implementing effective pricing strategies, bid managers can significantly increase their chances of securing contracts and driving business growth.

At Thornton & Lowe, we often work hand-in-hand with existing in-house bid managers or writers, and support their bid strategy development and processes, as well as providing writing and bid management skills, training and capacity. 

Research and planning

Before diving into the tendering process, it is crucial to invest time in research and bid planning. This involves gathering documentation and intelligence to determine the specific requirements, deadlines, and formats expected by the client. Being able to answer strategic but essential questions before writing a tender response, helps maximise your organisation's return on investment from its bid management function. Developing an agreed-upon bid strategy with clear win themes and discriminators is also key to setting the foundation for a successful proposal or RFP.

Effective research and planning should include:

• Understanding the client's requirements and goals
• Analysing the competitive landscape
• Identifying the organisation's strengths and capabilities
• Developing a project schedule for stakeholder and subject matter expert input
• Creating a comprehensive proposal outline. 

Tailoring proposals to client needs

A winning bid proposal must be tailored to the specific needs and requirements of the client. Generic, off-the-shelf responses are unlikely to capture the attention of evaluators or demonstrate a deep understanding of the client's unique challenges and objectives.

To create a client-focused proposal, bid managers should:

1. Align the proposal with the client's evaluation process and criteria
2. Base the bid strategy on the client's perspective and priorities
3. Use a buyer-focused writing approach that emphasises benefits over features (we use benefit, feature, evidence as our structure of answering tender questions)
4. Customise content to address the client's specific terminology, pain points, and desired outcomes
5. Highlight relevant experience, case studies, and key personnel that demonstrate the organisation's ability to meet the client's needs. 

Effective pricing strategies

Pricing is a critical component of any winning bid strategy. Striking the right balance between competitiveness, profitability and client budget is key. While bid management skills sometimes require pricing knowledge, more often their skillset is in facilitating, challenging and clarification of the bid price. This allows the bid manager or their team, to then clearly articulate the solution and benefits. 

Some key considerations for developing effective pricing strategies include:

By combining thorough research and planning, client-focused tailoring, and strategic pricing, bid managers can develop winning bid strategies that set their organisations apart from the competition and drive long-term success in the bid management process.

Bid management common challenges and how to overcome them

Despite the critical role bid management plays in securing contracts and driving business growth, professionals in this field often face several challenges that can hinder their success. 

Meeting tight deadlines

One of the most significant challenges in bid management is meeting strict submission deadlines. When faced with a last-minute opportunity or a shortened timeline, it's essential to:

1. Carefully read the tender documents to understand the scope of work and submission requirements
2. Assemble a dedicated bid team and clearly communicate roles, responsibilities, and deadlines
3. Plan the project meticulously, setting achievable targets for each stage of the bid process
4. Track progress regularly using a record of responses, their status, and outstanding attachments
5. Maintain open communication with the bid team to ensure everyone has the information and support they need.

Bid management skill are therefore being able to prioritise, stay calm and be solution focused. 

Managing multiple stakeholders

Engaging and aligning multiple stakeholders throughout the bid process can be a daunting task. To effectively manage stakeholders:

As a bid manager you can't hide behind your laptop! Drive change, make progress and be seen as the solution to anything 'bid'. 

Ensuring compliance and quality

Bid managers must ensure that every submission meets the highest standards of compliance and quality. To achieve this:

1. Conduct a thorough review of the tender specifications and requirements
2. Develop a compliance checklist to track and verify adherence to all mandatory criteria, including regular updates based on tender portal clarifications 
3. Ensure a robust quality assurance process with multiple rounds of review and proofreading
4. Continuously train and educate the wider bid team on best practices, industry trends, and lessons learned from previous submissions.

An eye for detail is essential if you want to be a successful bid manager. 

Improving your bid management skills

Continuously working on your bid management skills is essential for staying competitive and achieving success in the tendering process. 

Continuous learning and development

Seeking feedback and improving

With the nature of bids and a continuous drive to be better - every day really is a school day!

1. Get feedback from your team, stakeholders, and customers on your bid process and outcomes, using surveys, ratings, reviews, and comments
2. Analyse the feedback to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in your bid management approach
3. Develop and implement action plans to address the identified areas for improvement, and track your progress over time.

If skills required for bid management are not quite your thing, then you may consider how to become a successful bid writer.