When faced with a substantial tender application, many businesses opt to work with professionals who provide proposal writing consulting services. Adding experience and knowledge of the tender process to your team is an excellent way of giving your application the additional polish it needs to stand out from the crowd.
However, as with any type of outsourcing, aligning yourself with the right team is what will get you the best results. When meeting with a proposal writing consultant, discuss the following questions.
1. What is your process?
Compiling a tender response should be a very structured and orderly procedure, particularly if your consultants are experienced in their field. Ask your consultant to clearly articulate the steps they will be taking to put your proposal together and what input they will require from your business. For the process to run smoothly, it is important that all parties are on the same page.
2. How will we communicate?
In order for your tender proposal to be as strong as possible, it is likely that the proposal writing consulting services team will require your input — after all, you are the expert when it comes to your business’ capabilities and experience. Effective communication is key in developing a positive working relationship between you and the consultant, and so it is important that the method and frequency of communication are well established from the outset.
3. What is your experience in this field?
An experienced proposal writing consultant will understand that, whilst there are key elements that remain the same across all tender applications, each industry has its own idiosyncrasies that must be addressed. Compiling a tender response for a project in the hospitality industry requires specialist knowledge that cannot be gleaned from experience exclusively in the field of construction.
Ask for an outline of successful tenders as well as any questions that you think are pertinent to your industry. Further to this point, inquire as to the company’s privacy policy and how they will keep your information secure from potential competitors.
4. What do you know about our company?
It is expected that a proposal writing consulting services team will have done their homework and know a little about your business — your history, team size and areas of expertise. Whilst you can fill them in on the finer details, not having done this basic research before an introductory meeting can be an indication that the team is disorganised and not able to prioritise their clients.
5. What do you need from us to get started?
Tendering is a deadline-driven process and it’s important that you start work on your application as soon as possible. Once you have made your choice of proposal writing consulting services team, provide them with all the information they need to begin putting together your response. Ask them to check in regularly and update you on the proposal progress and be prepared to provide more resources and answers as is required.