A BiD Masters interview with Charlotte Davies,

Head of Defence Commercial at ADS*

*ADS is the UK trade association advancing leadership in aerospace, defence, security and space, to enable prosperity and clean, secure growth for our nation.

 

Whether you’re a small or large company, effective bidding can be an enabler of business success. But it’s more than communicating a great product and knowing what your prospective customer needs. To be successful at bidding, you must have bid management skills too, whether they’re in-house or outsourced.

 

We caught up with Charlotte Davies, Head of Defence Commercial at ADS. Her career has included commercial roles in several leading private and public sector organisations such as Thales, BAE Systems, and The Cabinet Office. Drawing on her lengthy experience, Charlotte explained why bid management skills are so crucial and where she sees companies getting it wrong.

 

What’s the risk?

 

“You can’t simply hand a bid over to a team of people and say: “You’re the bid manager” to one of them,” said Charlotte. “It’s not fair to your team and doesn’t do your product justice. Yet, I see this happening all the time.”

 

According to Charlotte, businesses must think carefully about whether their appointed bid manager has the right skills to deliver a successful bid. The role is far more than a label and there are widespread risks from assuming these capabilities are commonplace.

 

When you think of bidding risk, you probably reflect on the implications of losing having dedicated endless time and resources to submitting the tender. While entirely valid, you should also think about the impact a loss can have on your company’s reputation across the industry and future opportunities to bid again.

 

There’s internal risk too, according to Charlotte. The risk of grinding your team down with a stressful and unsatisfactory bidding process time and again. And the risk of losing good people because they “dread” having to contribute to yet another chaotic bid.

 

Charlotte reflected on her experience working in bidding teams.

“Whoever stands as the bid manager must have the experience and insight to support the entire bidding team. They must also maintain an objective view by being a little distanced from the day-to-day bid production.

Early in my career I remember working with a skilled in-house bid manager. I felt confident about translating technical information into engaging commercial communication, but when I asked him to review a document I’d created, suspecting there was little to change, I got a surprise.

While nothing was materially different, the way his revisions expressed the information and linked it to other parts of the bid was far more helpful to the customer. My draft hadn’t achieved this and it was the bid manager who highlighted the opportunity to improve our proposal.”

 

Key bid management problems

 

So, what are the practical implications of not having a skilled bid manager in place? Charlotte highlighted several common problems that can develop.

 

#1 Poor choice of bid manager

Someone often gains the role of ‘bid manager’ in addition to their day job. Perhaps they have the character to suit the role, or maybe they assume the behaviour from the outset. Common choices for bid managers include programme managers, commercial leads, and technical leads. But this can present challenges according to Charlotte.

 

“It can be a particular burden for programme managers, because they’re not able to be objective enough,” said Charlotte. “Yes, they’ve got to write the programme offer, but this isn’t the same as getting the bid through the door. The programme manager should be free to think about how they’d deliver the solution. The bid manager should then be responsible for getting the bid in.”

 

Alternative approaches, suggested Charlotte, include bringing in bid specialists exactly when you need them, or carrying out bid management training in-house to give more managers the capability to step into the role when required.

 

#2 Not knowing when to say “no”

“It can be better to bid less often and have a higher win rate, than to bid for everything and stretch your capabilities. But working out when to ‘no bid’ relies on a skilled bid manager. Plus, you may feel under pressure to deliver revenue, so saying no can feel like a brave decision.” said Charlotte.

 

If you’re turning down an opportunity to bid, you must base this decision on accurate information. When an experienced bid manager has the space to objectively consider the potential contract, given your organisational structure, they can achieve this.

 

Without having a skilled bid manager, working away from day-to-day activities, you lack high quality bidding advice that ensures you allocate resources to the strongest opportunities.

 

#3 Focusing on your product to the exclusion of commercials

Many companies focus too heavily on planning and communicating the product when bidding, instead of capabilities required by the customer. It’s a problematic situation that’s all-too common when an unskilled bid manager takes the helm.

 

Charlotte explained: “Understandably, organisations can be very focused on the product and what they’re able to offer. They may also consider how that product meets the customer’s need. But a strong product is not sufficient to win a bid. What organisations often overlook is the commercial technicalities of bid management and bid response.”

 

This situation, said Charlotte, can manifest as ‘commercial blockers’.

 

“A bid can pose mutually exclusive policies, which, if you cannot plan to overcome, result in a blocker. For example, the buyer wants to see five years of accounts but also wants to encourage new businesses. Or they state you must have a specific insurance policy in place with no guarantee of winning the bid.

 

A skilled bid manager can identify which of these requirements are truly necessary and be ready to answer the questions while doing justice to your solution,” said Charlotte.

 

It’s clearly important to understand the commercial specifics of a bid from the outset so you develop your bid on the right footing. This comes from having the bid management capability in place.

 

#4 Being unrealistic about what it takes to bid

It’s easy to end up with a last-minute rush or a document that over-promises and risks a money losing contract because your bid has been inadequately managed.

 

“This happens when you’re not realistic about what’s required to develop and deliver a bid,” added Charlotte. “For example, organisations can be too optimistic about the schedule, especially when the team has day jobs to deliver too. The result can be a sub-optimal bid that suits nobody.”

 

Finding yourself in this situation also has wider implications, according to Charlotte. You can lose the credibility of your approvers, lose trust from your sector, and have fewer opportunities to bid in the future.

 

By prioritising genuine bid management, you prevent this scenario happening. And with a more realistic schedule, everyone involved appreciates what they must do, and by when.

 

#5 Not ensuring a consistent voice

Particularly with large and complex bids, organisations can end up with different authors for various sections of the bid proposal. For example, the technical solution may be written by one author whereas the commercial requirements may be documented by someone else.

 

Charlotte explained that, in this situation, you risk having an inconsistent story about your offer unless a skilled bid manager can allocate time and space to review every document with consistency in mind.

 

“For example, you may communicate different attitudes to risk in various sections. One part of the bid may state you’re prepared to take risk and support the customer while another may suggest you need to discuss the risk you’re prepared to take on. With such inconsistency, what story is the customer supposed to believe?

 

It is possible to handle inconsistencies within a bid, but you must acknowledge them before developing your story consistently. Skilled bid managers know how to create a coherent message with what you’ve got,” said Charlotte.

 

#6 Not benefiting from ‘lessons learnt’

Bidding is a binary activity – you either win or lose. And when you lose it can be painful.

 

“The dreaded email when you learn you’ve lost a bid is painful for everyone who put so much work into it,” said Charlotte. “But you must harden to this scenario and work together as a team to understand why it happen. It’s no good pointing the finger.”

 

With internal politics and commercial pressures, it can be hard to initiate a constructive ‘lessons learnt’ process to analyse your bid scores and the feedback you gather. But this is always best practice, and the ideal person to lead it, said Charlotte, is the bid manager.

 

“A skilled bid manager is the best person to lead a ‘lessons learnt’ exercise when you don’t secure the contract. They can mediate a no-blame conversation to help your team get the most out of it,” she added.

 

How to improve your bid management skills

Few organisations are lucky enough to have a team of employed bid managers, poised to lead the next bid. But without bid management skills available, the risk of harming your win rate is very real.

 

Charlotte wrapped up with some choice advice that could help any size of company.

 

“Be honest about your bidding capabilities and whether you have the time and resources in-house to deliver high quality bid proposals. If you’ve been unsuccessful a few times, consider running bid management training sessions to upskill those who tend to assume the role. Or consider engaging professional help to support all or part of your bidding process.

 

Bidding underpins so much in business, it’s too important to under-resource. Not only is it crucial to gain new contracts, it also helps manage your wider reputation while ensuring you remain an attractive and motivating place to work.”

 

Should you need advice, guidance or support with your bid management, we’d be happy to chat.