Freelance Bid Writers and What They Do

Freelance Bid Writers and What They Do?

Freelance bid writers are usually a self-employed professional and specialise in responding to formal tenders. They work on a day rate, or fixed fee, to help your business respond to formal tenders. Freelance bid writers will work as part of your team to understand the opportunity and your solution and either support a specific element of a bid, or lead the full quality written bid submission.

In competitive tendering there is often a fine line between winning and losing, so businesses will engage freelance bid writers in order to maximise their chances of success. The freelance bid writer provides both writing capacity but also added value based on their experience.

Our bid writing consultancy stands out in this market by offering 2 key options when it comes to freelance bid writers and bid writing services:

1. We directly employ a robust team, ensuring not just availability but also consistency, which is crucial for supporting successive bids. This setup combines the flexibility of freelance bid writers with the reliability of an in-house team, providing a unique advantage to our clients.You use our directly employed team as your high-performing, consistent freelance bid writer solution. For many clients we act their outsourced bid team providing bid administration, preparation, coordination, freelance bid writing, bid design and portal management services - just not the pricing. The key difference is that our team can offer consistency. This allows them to understand your business and work efficiently over time. We developed this solution based on one of the challenges of using freelance bid writers, which is that when you find a good one it is amazing! However, next time you need them there is a good chance they could be on another project and can't support you. All your investment into educating them on your solution and business is then lost and has to repeated each time. Our clients via this service, get a lead bid writer, but supported by our wider team for continuity and quality assurance.
2. Bid Resource is our bid recruitment solution. We have recruited and built one of the largest bid writing teams in the UK, while still recruiting freelance bid writers for our clients who prefer this option. As as a specialist freelance bid writer recruitment agency, we can quickly source you the vest best freelance bid writing candidate. We typically find larger clients prefer this option as they are looking for a single freelance bid writer to be part of their existing team. In a market place with a skills shortage, our bidding knowledge and position in the UK market, allows us to find a solution which works for you.

As a specialist and as we only supply freelance bid writing and management roles, you can be rest assured that you are dealing with experts in sector who understand your requirements.

Over the last 15 years bidding is all we have done! We have developed a healthy bank of proven freelance bid writers, which we supply via our bid specialist recruitment team.

This interim bid writing support allows our clients to increase bid capacity at peak times while bringing in new experience and skills to their team.

As a bid writing consultancy, we appreciate how different sectors may have different demands and expectations on their freelance bid writers. A soft FM bid writer has a different set of skills to a senior bid writer for complex infrastructure projects, for example.

Freelance Bid Writer Services

What to Expect and How to Choose

The tender process is complex, requiring a blend of industry knowledge, persuasive writing, and strategic insight — qualities embodied by a professional freelance bid writer. We understand the importance freelance bid writers can play in supporting businesses through this process, as well as writing the content. With our expertise in bid writing services, we aim to bridge the gap between your business and its potential to secure valuable contracts. The importance of selecting the right freelance bid writer cannot be overstated, as they become your voice in the competitive arena of tender submissions.

Our outsourced bid support service offers everything from the supply of freelance bid writers, through to a fully managed service, including bid management, bid design and bid technology solutions.

Advantages Over In-House Writers

Choosing our freelance bid writers over traditional in-house teams may present multiple benefits. Firstly, the cost-effectiveness is significant; you pay only for the services you need without the overhead of full-time salaries. This flexibility allows you to scale services up or down based on demand, keeping your business agile and responsive to market conditions. Moreover, our bid writers bring a wealth of diverse experiences from various industries, providing fresh perspectives and innovative solutions that enhance the creativity and effectiveness of your proposals. By integrating with your team, our bid writers quickly align with your business objectives, making every bid submission sharper and more targeted.

Our approach not only reduces your tendering workload but also ensures each submission is more effective than the last, continually improving your success rates in securing contracts.

Evaluating the Quality of Freelance Bid Writers

Let us help you make an informed decision when choosing the best freelance bid writer for your tender.

Assessment and Interview

Through our interview and assessment process, our team challenges a freelance bid writers ability to perform and meet client specific requirements. We have 4 key written tests in our assessment, along with an interview to discuss their experience and to review their performance of the tasks.

Assessing Past Work

When we evaluate freelance bid writers, we review their previous submissions or examples of their work, to understand their capability to deliver, the levels of complexity they are familiar with, but also their expectations of 'what a good bid' looks like. A skilled freelance bid writer should demonstrate not only a good understanding of the subject matter, in many cases, but also the agility to produce high-quality bids when time is tight. Via option 1 detailed above, our freelance bid writers are also supported with capacity, quality assurance and a full T&L internal review process before you would see a first draft. This management level, provides further value and reassurance for our clients, while ensuring our wider team understand your business for continuity purposes.

Measuring Success Rates

Success rates can be a good metric in assessing the effectiveness of freelance bid writers. However, win rates alone are not sufficient, as they are often also dependent on wider variables, such as bid strategy and the market position of the customers they have supported. As a result, we also consider customer feedback and internal reviews that delve into the quality of their work. High-quality proposals should align with strategic goals, be well-structured, and meticulously address client requirements.

Setting Your Budget and Requirements

When you consider hiring freelance bid writers, it's important to establish a clear budget and understand the specific requirements of the tender process, along with their role and your expectations. The cost of outsourced bid writing is ranges from £450 to £750 per day, as a guide, but can exceed £1000 depending on the role and levels of expertise required.

FAQ: Freelance Bid Writers

1. What are the typical charges for freelance bid writers? Freelance bid writers generally charge between £450 and £750 daily. The cost can vary based on the experience and expertise of the required writer, location and duration of the bid. Typically, less complex tenders with fewer or smaller competitors or those that are more compliance-focused require a smaller investment in terms of the number of days required.
2. Is there a standard freelance bid writer role job description? See Freelance Bid Writers, which provides an overview.
3. How do I become a freelance bid writer? Most freelance bid writers have been employed as a bid writer, proposal manager or freelance bid manager, for example, before going freelance. Before becoming a bid writer you need to ensure the demands of the role fit with your skills and nature. Successful bid writers possess a variety of skills, including excellent written and verbal communication, keen attention to detail, effective time management, strategic thinking, creativity, proficiency in IT software, strong research capabilities, and good teamwork skills.
4. What information do you need from us in order to supply a high quality bid freelance writer? An initial conversation is key. We will want to understand your requirements, whether you require a writer to work remotely or at your office, details of the tender and deadline. If you have a job specification that's great, but not essential. We will run through your options and provide a quote for our freelance consultancy solution or CVs and day rates for potential candidates.
5. I have a large project and require multiple freelance bid writers ready and prepared. Can you help? Yes. We will be able to recruit these roles for you. There may also be a solution which allows us to manage and provide quality assurance across the team.
6. I have a live tender and need a freelance bid writer? Contact us: Hello@thorntonandlowe.com / 01204 238046 or click here.