Who should write your bid proposal (and who shouldn’t)?

You’re excited about the business opportunity, it looks great. But a bid proposal needs creating and it’s nobody’s regular job. 

Quickly turning into a ‘hot potato’ the task gets passed around departments because nobody feels they’re equipped to create it. They may have part of the knowledge but not the writing skills, or the finance insight, or another key aspect of the offer. And they may fear being pulled away from their revenue generating role.

So, whose line, I mean job, is it anyway?

Good question. And one this article discusses. There are pros and cons when it comes to the various people who may write a bid proposal. So, let’s look at each in turn before considering the most effective approach for bid writing.

The subject matter experts (SMEs)

It may seem obvious to ask your knowledgeable SMEs to create your bid proposal. After all, these brilliant people know what they’re talking about and could probably do so all day long. They should certainly be involved in providing content for the bid, but there are several reasons why it’s not a good idea to hand the whole shebang over to them.

Consider the hidden cost of diverting them too much from their main role. SMEs are usually crucial to running your business. If they have to take on other tasks it limits their ability to drive your current business operations forward.

Another issue is that, while SMEs can confidently write a report or other document in their role (often in great technical detail), they may not have the commercial writing skills to craft a compelling bid that’s easy for non-experts to grasp quickly. 

The managing director

Some businesses may feel the “person at the top” is best equipped to write a bid proposal. They understand the business strategy and could often be representing the company in many business-building activities. But, your MD must focus on leading the business. If they have to write every bid proposal, it takes them away from this and could affect the daily performance of other people and departments. 

MDs also rarely have a broad enough picture (or the spare time) to write a bid in isolation, even if they wanted to. They still need to liaise with SMEs and other functions to create the best offer and understand what content to include.

The business development (or commercial) team 

So, you have a business development team, and responding to the bid is all about gaining new business. Seems like the perfect fit, right? 

Wrong.

Many confuse bidding with business development (that myth is a topic for a future article). While both professions are working to get new business in, they require different skillsets. In a nutshell, business development is about engaging with prospective customers and discovering future opportunities that suit your business capabilities. They’re in the business of conversations – and plenty of them. 

If you tie up your business development team by asking them to create a bid proposal, they’re not free to keep having those conversations that uncover further opportunities to respond to.

And while marketers within a business development team may have a greater ability to write, they won’t necessarily have specialist bid writing experience, the technical knowledge, or the broader business aspirations.

The finance team

Given you’ll need to cost your proposal, you may feel bid proposals should be something the finance team should handle. And yes, they’re spot on with numbers, but bids require far more than a quote.

Finance teams lack the technical and commercial knowledge to respond to a bid, not to mention the ability to write compelling proposals that maximise the scoring. We all have our strengths and it’s always best to stick with them.

The committee

From what we’ve said so far, you may feel that putting a group of people together to collectively write the bid is best. 

Bid writing can certainly be a team sport, but you must also be careful of using a ‘committee’ approach. Everyone involved must be there for a reason. So, gathering up your production manager, marketing assistant, and a couple of business development people won’t ensure a high-quality bid proposal. In fact, it could result in a muddled and disjointed outcome that misses the mark entirely.

Also, you’re taking all these people out of their regular revenue generating roles, so the business could suffer in other ways.

The in-house bidding team

Some larger organisations have prioritised the future of their business by investing in an in-house bidding team. That may be one person or a larger group dedicated to bidding. Clearly, this department would take on responsibility for creating the bid proposal.

But an in-house bidding team cannot create a bid proposal in isolation. Yes, they can analyse the RFP and broadly plan the response, but they need specialist knowledge and skills to progress effectively. And bidding teams don’t always have specialist bid writers, so they may outsource this, especially for larger bids.

Specialist bid writers (who can work in-house or in professional bid support companies) typically have many years of experience. They know how to answer the RFP questions to maximise scoring, craft persuasive messaging, and meet stringent wordcounts. What’s more, they can often achieve this in half the time it would take anyone else in the business. As we said, stick to your strengths.

So, who should write your bid proposal?

It’s impossible for one person to create and write a business-winning bid in isolation. It requires too many skills. And it’s unwise to hand it over to someone (or a department) without every capability to hand. At that point, why bother bidding in the first place?

To maximise your chances of winning the business, you must involve skilled bid writers when creating your proposal – whether they’re in-house or outsourced. And yet, they can’t create the bid on their own. You need to draw on your brilliant SMEs, and other departments, in a structured and managed way, so nobody compromises their daily role.

By creating a clearly communicated bidding process and using everyone’s strengths at the right point, you can create a high-quality bid proposal that’s worth the time and resources invested. 

When your business next needs to respond to a bid, have a long hard think about who’s going to write it. We’re more than happy to chat this through with you when you’re ready.