Write Winning Bids – Training Course Outline

Writing effective bids to tight deadlines takes a lot of skill. If you have to produce bids or sales proposals under pressure, this course is for you. It's packed with insider tips from authors experienced in writing successful bids for major companies. And we show you step-by-step how to create bids that win.

What you will learn on this course

By the end of the course, you will know how to:

• Create a framework for success
• Use the eight principles of good writing to improve your writing style
• Use techniques to make your writing persuasive
• Use techniques to plan and design the structure of your bid
• Collect, evaluate and manage the information gathering process
• Create an Executive Summary that contains your key messages and captures the reader’s interest
• Handle prescriptive bids
• Make the best use of illustrations
• Use a checklist to review the quality or your response and edit and proof read your own and others’ work
• Get the best out of writing tools and templates

What our customers say

“The pay back on the two day course will be immense, a very practical course which was made very relevant by the preparation work of the tutor.”

DA – Southern Electric Contracting

“Very useful to re-learn some basics and learn new techniques for bid writing. Am encouraged to push for adopting better practice during the bid process.”

GH – Siemens Traffic Controls

“Very useful to quantify what makes a bid more successful. Good examples from instructors. I will attempt to put lessons into practice.”

MK – AB Precision

Course Duration

We provide both a one-day intensive course and a more interactive two-day workshop.

One-day intensive

This is only available as a private course. We will tailor the course to suit your requirements by selecting modules from the course contents below or by designing bespoke modules for you.

Two-day workshop

This course is available both as a public or private course and covers all the modules described overleaf. Over the two-day workshop, you learn the techniques of bid writing through group discussion, exercises and working on real examples of bid documents you bring to the workshop.

Both courses are aimed at people with some bid writing experience. If you’re unsure which course is best for you, give us a call on +44 (0)1635 202013 or +44 (0)207 0960749 for more details or email

Follow up session

Get the most from a staff training day and make sure valuable ideas aren't forgotten by booking a follow-up session. Our trainer will visit you again a month to six weeks after your course to give delegates the chance to:

• discuss how they implemented what they learnt
• go over points from the course
• practise their skills by working on their own writing with the trainer’s help

Course Structure

The course will include question-and-answer sessions during which the trainer, an experienced bid writer, will discuss questions previously submitted by delegates. For private courses, some exercises will be based on a sample bid submitted by you.

Please Bring These Items

On public and private courses, delegates are asked to bring with them some bids they have recently worked on, to use as exercises during the course. For one of the bids, please also bring the contents list of the RFP or ITT for which it was written.

By practising on pieces of your own work, you will be able to develop your writing skills in the ways that are most relevant to your own needs.

Confidentiality

Note that confidentiality will not be breached as you will work on your own material and only share content with other members of the group if you wish. You will be able to consult the trainer on questions arising from working on your own bids.

Course Contents

1. A framework for success

• The BASDELL business writing model – an easy to remember formula that covers the main elements to consider when writing bids.

2. Easy ways to improve your writing style

• Common pitfalls in bid writing
• The eight principles of clear writing
• Making your writing persuasive without being too sales-oriented

3. Understanding your bid and your readers

• Understanding the ITT (Invitation to Tender)
• What type of bid is it? Are there a lot of prescriptive questions? Can you choose the structure and layout?
• Analysing your audience and why it is important to your writing style
• What will persuade the audience to buy from you rather than your competitors?

4. Designing your structure

• The benefits of structuring before you start writing
• Three techniques to sequence and structure your material
• How you should construct a compliance matrix and why it can help you
• Presenting adequate information to support your ideas
• Handling pre-defined questions (prescriptive bids) and non-compliance
• Why you don’t always have to follow the structure of the RFP or ITT

5. Developing your solution and strategy

• What are we trying to achieve?
• The four categories of content for a winning bid and how to use them to your best advantage
• How to set your objectives to make sure that you stay on track and keep to the brief
• The importance of using a visual theme to develop your strategy
• Quick and clear messages – what are the critical messages you want to give the customer?
• Planning the writing task

6. Gathering your information

• Finding sources for your data
• Managing the process
• Collecting and evaluating information
• Customising standard or boilerplate text – making it meaningful to the customer
• Customising graphics or turning text into graphics

7. Creating an Executive Summary

• When do you write an Executive Summary and what should it include?
• What structure should you use for an Executive Summary?
• What to include and what to leave out
• Capturing the reader’s interest in the first paragraph

8. Writing your first draft

• How to bring together objective, audience, structure and information
• The importance of the right mindset – how to avoid getting sidetracked
• The four big steps – prepare, draft, relax, polish
• How to write powerful, attention grabbing headings
• How to make your text more readable
• Ensuring you achieve maximum impact
• English – the universal language? Some pointers on British vs American text and making it appropriate for your audience
• Answering pre-defined questions (prescriptive bids)

9. Using illustrations

• Why do we use illustrations?
• When to use illustrations and how to ensure they are relevant
• The importance of getting it right
• Things to check when including illustrations

10. Editing and proof reading your bid

• The importance of editing your own work before passing it on for review. A top-down approach to improving your text
• Things to check when editing your draft
• Removing commonly confused words, ‘poppycock’, poor punctuation and bad grammar
• Some common punctuation errors and how to avoid them
• Why proof reading is critical. Top tips on how to do it and what to look out for

11. Exploiting the tools

• Using Word™ tools such as spelling and grammar checkers
• Metadata – what it is and how to hide it
• Handling version control
• Using templates to create a consistent layout
• Style guides that are available on the Internet

Book Now!

For details of timetabled courses, see the schedule. For prices, see the costs table.

To reserve your places you can either book on-line or call us on +44 (0)1635 202013.