Imagine going into a bank to ask for a loan without any identification, proof of earnings or associated paperwork. What do you think your chances would be of securing that loan?   Have you ever tried to hire a car without showing your driving licence?   How many flights have you been on where you didn’t have to show your boarding pass?   On an individual basis, we are constantly required to prove our credentials, so why do we expect…

Public-sector contracts can provide lucrative business opportunities for SMEs, but at BiD Masters, we understand the bids and tenders process can be daunting for smaller businesses. Many SMEs have limited experience when it comes to bidding for work and it’s hard to know where to start. Here are some tips to get you off the blocks. What to consider before you bid? There are a few important things to bed down before you decide to bid. Firstly, give some thought…

Colour reviews have been a part of every bid and proposal proponent’s career for decades. Back in the day, understanding this obscure lexicon was akin to the secret handshake that established some mystique and gravitas for the little-known profession. But what are the origins of the colours and are they still relevant? At BiD Masters, we think it could all made much clearer. The origin of several of the colours is known. Back in the 1950s, western movies defined the…

BiD Masters has been working in the bids and proposals space for a few decades and we’re pleased to see the progress the profession has made. There are, however, a few areas where tradition lives on. One that we believe is ready for a shift is Colour Reviews. We talk about the origin and purpose of traditional colour reviews here. What we’ve seen though, is that these colours are becoming muddled – much more Jackson Pollock than Botticelli or Michelangelo.…

A contract winning culture comes from the top. Does your future business winning team – more informally known as your bid team – know and understand your perspective on each opportunity from the outset? Or do they find out at the final review, when you bring up things they’ve missed? Or perhaps it’s somewhere between those two extremes. It’s clear the former is the strongest model when setting out to win. At BiD Masters, we know that leaders are key…

At schools in the UK, they are teaching children that its not about winning, it’s about taking part. It’s a phrase echoed by the founder of the Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who said, “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.” Try telling that to the French rugby team who lost the Autumn Nations Cup Final to England in a sudden death…