Business owners across Australia understand the importance of winning government tenders as a way of securing a long-term income stream. The trick is to win the tender in the first place. That means knowing how best to optimise your chances of seeing off the competition, and one very effective strategy is investing in regular tender audits.
What exactly is a tender audit?
A tender audit is a comprehensive review and analysis of a selection of your previous tender submissions to identify your strengths, weaknesses, and pinpoint areas for improvement. Conducted by experienced tender writers, these audits provide valuable information about how to enhance your bids to increase your chances of winning. Audits are a great way to ensure that your responses to government tender questions are as tight as they can be and position you strongly as the ideal choice for that contract you’re so keen to secure for your business.
An objective view
Every tender submission you write will undoubtedly benefit from the objective review of an expert tender writer. They’ll use their critical eye – backed by years of tender writing experience – to identify where you can improve how you present various aspects of your business. In other words, show your business to best advantage. The expert tender writer will polish your responses to ensure that when it comes to describing your value proposition, your solution, your experience, your team and much more, that you do so in the most effective manner. With a professional tender writer’s writing skills and understanding of what a government agency expects to see in a strong response, the standard of your submissions will improve – as will your chances of winning the contract.
How often is ‘regular’?
We recommend you conduct an audit every 12-18 months. It’s a good idea to refresh standard responses once they’ve been used several times. That way, content always sounds spot on and ‘new’.
Another benefit of regular tender audits is that they’re an opportunity for you to make sure you’ve incorporated all important changes in your business and ensure these are reflected appropriately in your responses.
Who conducts the audit?
Ideally, the audit should be conducted by a tender writing professional, someone with years of tender writing and management experience. They’re best placed to assess the quality of your previous submissions because their expertise is in tender writing; it’s how they earn their living. They’re particularly adept at writing government tender responses so can give you the benefit of their valuable advice and many years’ experience in writing submissions for a wide range of government agencies and departments.
To discover more about how a tender audit can transform your success rate, check out this blog.
Compliance
One of the fastest ways to make your tender submission dead in the water is to be non-compliant. In fact, non-compliance is the biggest single reason tender responses are rejected. And after you invested so much time and effort! But all is not lost as the good news is that a comprehensive tender audit will ensure your submissions adhere to all necessary guidelines and standards, dramatically reducing the risk of your tender being disqualified. What’s more, strong evidence of compliance helps to enhance the overall professionalism of your submissions, and that’s a very positive thing.
What will I receive from a tender audit?
You’ll receive clear, concise advice on how to improve your tender content. The professional tender writer will go through your previous submissions and give you valuable feedback on:
- Multiple points for improvement
- Your value proposition – is it crystal clear?
- Focus on the client – how to focus your writing so that it answers the tenderer’s stated needs
- Features and benefits – how to turn a list of features into a whole range of benefits that will resonate with the tenderer
- Grammatical and structural advice – how best to set out your response so that it makes sense, reads well and is error-free
- Advice on graphics – a terrific way to emphasise key points and boost your central messages.
Stand out from the others
It’s all about strategy. Tender audits are a particularly effective way to better understand how you can more effectively position your company to really stand out from the competition. By analysing your past submissions, an expert tender writer will help you clearly identify your unique selling points and the key differentiators to highlight throughout your response, making your submissions more compelling and persuasive.
Read how we helped one of our clients do just that here.
Get a tender audit underway today
If you’re interested in finding out more about our tender audit services, visit Tender Writers and explore their comprehensive range of services. You can also get in touch today or call us on +61 2 8036 5532 or 0448 566 377 and we’ll be happy to help.