15 reasons why bids fail – a useful checklist!
  The response doesn't identify and address the key factors on which the decision will be based
  The bid answers all the questions but gives them equal weight
  Slavish obedience to all the rules of the tender process and sequence of questions buries your main selling points
  There's too much in there about you, and not enough about what you will do for the client
  A lot of it is cut and pasted, and you can see the joins
  Because the information is drawn together from several sources, there are often contradictions and inconsistencies
  It's exhaustive – and, as a result, exhausting to read
  Because you're close to your business, you assume a similar understanding of your business on the part of the client
  There's too much jargon, too many technical terms and internal labels that don't always make for clarity
  Mistakes in English grammar, spelling, syntax and style get noticed and undermine your credibility
  Designing too early, so formats are slavishly followed instead of using the valuable time to freely edit plain-text manuscripts
  Spending valuable brainstorm time inventing 'key win themes' instead of ruthlessly asking "can we answer the questions?"
  Busking it (i.e. failure to establish who will write it, who will contribute to it, who will manage it)
  Inadequate resourcing (e.g. expecting people to do their best in between their day jobs)
  Writing the Executive Summary first instead of last (how can you effectively summarise what you haven't yet written?)


  By the end of the course, delegates should have learned how to:
  Brainstorm the crux of each answer at the very beginning of the tender response process
  Convey the essential messages in a document to the reader without any effort on the reader's part
  'Speak' in the reader's language rather than the writer's
  Structure a document with a hierarchy which is in the interests of the reader rather than the writer
  Analyse previously written documents and be able to restructure them to expose key messages, eliminate waffle and ensure reader-friendliness
  Exploit a toolbox of 'tricks' to help guarantee their document gets more attention at the expense of others
  Edit all body text to ensure every sentence is easy to read
  Ensure every question is robustly answered, with exposure of the tricky ones, creating a no-place-to-hide response environment
  Construct an excellent Executive/Management Summary every time

 
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