This guide on how to answer tender questions will help you to create better tender responses. Previous posts have been combinedwith some new informationto provide a comprehensive resource on answering tender questions.
To win a tender (or get through a PQQ) you need to score high marks. Answer tender questions wellandsubmit a competitive pricethenyou shouldscorehighly. And hopefully win the bid!
Answer Tender Questions Effectively
Once you havequalified the tenderand made a plan, you can start writing. NBmake sure you avoid the most common tendering mistakes.
An earlier post explained best practice forAnswering Tender Questions:
It explains how to approach each response so that it is correct, complete and succinct. So often I see answers where waffle or irrelevant information is used in place of a crisp preciseanswer. Sometimes this is due tocopy and pasting of a past response which is similar (but not identical) to the current question. You must focus your response on the question in hand.
It then looks at using the evaluation criteria.It also looks at the need to showadded value, innovation, howyou stand out from the competition and usingalternative bids(if appropriate). For public sector tenders, you often need to demonstrate social value too. These all help elevate your score from medium to high.
It considers the more subtle aspects of understanding needs and empathy. You need to clearly explain thebenefits i.e. what’s in it for them. This is what sells!
Andconcludes with advice on exhibitinga professional image with an easy to read (easy to mark!) tender response. Then usesupporting evidence to prove that you really can deliver what you say.
Talk in Terms of Them and Explain Benefits
If you follow the approach above, you should get higher scores when youanswer tender questions. The next important elementis the language you use. Nowadays most people write in the first personeg:
- We have ISO 9001
- Our staff are all fully trained
Firstly these statements need a benefit added to make the information worthwhile:
- We have ISO 9001 which means that all work will be carried out to the highest quality
- Our staff are all fully trained and so able to deal withall requirements
However, it reads from the perspective of the writer not the reader. It’s all ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’. It should be written for the reader. Over the years extensiveresearch has been undertakenon what engages people. It’s talking about them that works best. A simple technique is to replace ‘our’ withyour company name. You can also use the second personto talk to them as ‘you’:
- XYZ hasISO 9001 –you can rest assured that all work will be carried out to the highest quality
- AllXYZ staff are all fully trained and so able to deal with all of your requirements
Or the third personto replace ‘you’ with their name:
- XYZ hasISO 9001 –ABCCouncilcan rest assured that all work will be carried out to the highest quality
- XYZ staff are all fully trained and so able to deal with all of ABCCouncil’s requirements
Choose Your Style
For formal high-value tenders (e.g. public sector or corporate) I prefer the third person. This is because you are writing to a larger audience (theProcurement Team) and how the bid will support the corporation. However, using ‘you’ (second person) is very powerful – especially when writing to a small audience with individuals seeing how the bid will help them. It also helps saves word or characters when space is limited / restricted. You can mix them too. Whilst not grammatically correct a tender isn’t an English exam – it’s selling your product / service.
Either way, you move from writing about yourselves to writing about them. Add benefits and it all becomes very engaging / compelling… and scores higher marks. I often give the example of bumping into an acquaintance and all they do is talk about themselves. It soon gets dull. But if they ask about you or talk about you, you then feel engaged. It’s just the same for the reader of a tender.
Using your company name repeatedly can be as boring as using ‘our’; especially if you start each sentence with it. But you do not need to continually show ownership:
- ISO 9001 ensures quality so ABCCouncilcan rest assured that all work will be carried out to the higheststandards
- All staff are all fully trained and so able to deal with all of ABCCouncil’s requirements
It’s not necessarily wrong to use ‘we’, ‘our’ etc. Some businesses want to reflect a softer / gentle image. But do try and reduce their use.
Some tenders require you write anonymously and not use your company name. In these circ*mstances, you have use ‘we’, ‘our’ etc.
Answer The Question – What They Have Asked, in that Order
Most tender questions are multi-faceted. For example:
“Explain your approach to recruitment, selection, vetting, training and development”
It’s a common fault when writing the answer to simply start writing about the subject without first drilling down to what exactly has been asked. This can lead to an unstructured response that might even miss something. I recommend highlighting each element:
“Explain your approach to recruitment, selection, vetting, training and development”
You see this gives you 4 distinct areas to cover:
- Recruitment – what type of people you look for and how you attract them / advertise
- Selection – experience, qualifications, interviews etc.
- Vetting – references, DPS etc.
- Training – induction, ongoing and specific training
- Development – CPD, helping staff progress etc.
Make these 4 subjects headings. This ensures that you will:
- Answer every topic they have asked, it’s so easy to miss something and this acts as a checklist
- Respond in the order they have asked, making it easier for them to mark, resulting in a better score
This approach is even more important when the questions are lists eg:
Explain your approach to:
- Recruitment
- Selection
- Vetting
- Training
- Development
So often I see answers to these types of questions written without structure or headings. Just paragraphs covering the topics randomly. This invariably results in areas being missed. It also makes it harder for the evaluators to find the answers. This means a lower score!
If you want help with creating great tender answers, contact us for tender writing services.
Summary – Focused Tender Responses Get Results
I often feel a bit sorry for the people marking tenders. Many public sector opportunities have multiple lots and so the procurement team could be reading dozens of bids. Many responsesmust be dreadfully dull or hard to read. So it’s our job to make our bid stand out from the crowd. The readers will be moreinterested and engaged and so take more time to read ourtender response. Hopefully seeing the answers they are looking for and so give us bettermarks.
If youanswer tender questions by following the tips above, you should succeed in elevating your bid above the competition. Your tender answers should be:
- Correct, complete, succinct and in the right order
- Written in terms of ‘them’
- Benefit driven
- Supported by evidence
- Differentiated from the competition
Good luck with writing your next tender answers!
Feel free to leave your comments or tips on answering tender questions.
