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Does tendering feature in your growth plans for 2024?

Bid strategy

If you are looking to grow your business in 2024, tendering for a large contract could take your organisation to the next level.

Winning a new, large contract is a great way to grow your business significantly but it can also cause a business to unravel if the resources and processes aren’t in place before you start delivering the contract.

Make 2024 the year you grow through tender bids with our top tips:

  1. Bid strategy

Before you start applying for any tenders, you need to make sure that any contract opportunities you go for align with your wider business goals. You will no doubt have a business plan, financial forecast or marketing plan ready for 2024, so why not create a bid or contract strategy too?

Your bid strategy should consider the potential growth areas in your business. What are you best at? Do you have a specialism or niche? Where do you have capacity? What are your most profitable services? Do you see demand increasing for one of your services in 2024? Will you be launching new products or services?

Once you have asked yourself these questions, you will have a clearer understanding of the types of contracts you should bid for, and this will shape your strategy.

2. Analyse contract opportunities carefully

As well as considering if a particular tender or contract opportunity aligns with your bid or contract strategy, it is also important to think about how else this will benefit your organisation. For example, if it is a small contract but with a company you have wanted to work with for a while, it could be a good way to get your foot in the door. It is also worth thinking about the time it will take to pull the bid together versus your likelihood of winning the tender. Is there going to be a lot of competition for this contract? Would you be able to meet the deadline comfortably with other work commitments? Are you absolutely positive you can fulfil the requirements of the tender bid if you were to win the contract? Also think of the financial implications. Can you price your products and services competitively to win the tender? Will you need to invest in more staff, machinery or equipment to deliver this contract? Would you still make a profit?

3. Ensure your processes work and scale up as necessary

In order to manage growth effectively and deliver a winning bid, you need to have total confidence in your people, systems and processes. Are they scaleable solutions? Could they cope with the extra work? For example, could your software cope with an influx of new users? Do you need to recruit more staff? It’s important not to have the mindset of dealing with issues as and when they come along. Instead, you should manage any risk involved and plan ahead, so that when you land the contract and growth happens, you are ready.

4. Put together a strong bid team

Quality tender submissions take time and should involve more than one person. Create a tender task force of people who can all bring something to the bidding process. You should also assign a project manager too. As part of our Four Phase Approach, we assign our clients with their own bid manager, who creates a clear timeline of the project which drives the entire process, and engages with the identified key contributors to gather the key information needed to create a winning bid.

5. Bring in the experts

Growing a business and tendering for new bids can feel daunting, which is why it’s reassuring to have a team of experts supporting you through the process. Here at K Low Consulting we work with our clients to help them through the bid process, right from developing a contract strategy to supporting them to deliver the contract when the bid has been won.

So, make 2024 your year for growth and contact us to discuss how tendering for new business can form an integral part of your strategy.

For more information or to discuss how we can work with your organisation to help you win and manage contracts, contact us today on 0330 1331 041 or info@klowconsulting.com.

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Do you have a contract strategy?

Many organisations only apply or bid for tenders when they see one that they feel ‘is just right’ for them, or if they need to find new business fast.

Very rarely do we meet companies, charities or public sector organisations who actually have a contract strategy in place. A contract strategy can be a part of your wider growth or business plans and help provide focus and clarity when it comes to knowing which contracts to go for and where your skills and resources are particularly suited.

When you look at contract opportunities strategically and in line with your wider business plan, you can ‘see the wood for the trees’ and ascertain if a particular contract will fit in with the direction you want to take the business in. Do you actually want to grow your business in this particular area? Will you need to invest money in equipment or staff to deliver this contract? If so, could this investment be better spent elsewhere in the business to win other contracts that are more aligned to where you want to be and what you want to be known for?

Our Four Phase approach


When we work with clients, we work to a Four Phase process:

Phase 1 – Business and contract strategy

Phase 2 – Opportunity analysis

Phase 3 – Tender writing and management

Phase 4 – Implementation and contract analysis

Over the coming weeks and months we will explore the other three phases a bit more closely, but for the purpose of this blog, we want to discuss what is meant by a contract strategy and why they are so vital when it comes to tender success.

What is a contract strategy and why do you need one?


If you are a business with growth aspirations, chances are you have a business plan or growth strategy in place. This could be in the form of financial targets, growing the headcount of your team or expanding into new products or services. You may even have plans to take on new premises and grow geographically, or to acquire or merge with existing businesses to strengthen your position in the markets you operate in.

Having a cohesive contract strategy that sees you only tender for and take on contracts that are aligned to your business and growth strategy makes life so much simpler and allows you to focus on the opportunities that are right for your business at the right time, rather than being attracted by the ‘carrot’ of a big money contract that you can’t deliver effectively or that takes you down a road that you didn’t want the business to go down.

Developing your contract strategy


Finding and developing your strategy is a great exercise to carry out at the start of your tender journey, which is why it is Phase 1 of our approach.

Thanks to our many years of experience in this area, we can help our clients to create the most effective contract strategy for their business. We understand that every organisation is unique, so we offer a bespoke consultation service to form a business and contract strategy. This is not something we simply ‘go away and do’. It is very much a collaborative process that sees us get to know your organisation inside out. We also conduct in-depth research on potential competitors you may be bidding against, the contract commissioners and the local and national agenda.

Getting results


Writing a winning tender bid requires more than just excellent writing skills. A great tender is backed by expert research and an acute understanding of your organisation now and where it wants to go. It also about being realistic and transparent. If there are any potential shortfalls, problems or challenges that may prevent you from delivering a contract, these will be highlighted and solutions worked towards before you even bid for the contract, and the work you have done will be evidenced as part of your bid.

Every bid we write is produced in alignment to best practice methodology developed from insight gained from overseeing – and winning – hundreds of bids. This learning has provided intimate knowledge of the time and complexity of every task required to produce a winning submission from our bid team, and that of our clients’ internal teams and their stakeholders.

A winning tender is much more than just the words on the page, it is the culmination of a team effort – strategic thinking, investigative research, clarity and focus.

If you are clear and confident in your business and contract strategy then you can make informed choices about future tender opportunities that best suit your organisation and will make it thrive and grow further.

Then you are ready for Phase 2 – Opportunity analysis…

If you would like help with developing a business and contract strategy for your organisation, get in touch with Krisja Low on 0330 1331 041 or info@klowconsulting.com.

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Getting ‘tender ready’ in tough times

Every industry is experiencing major changes as we continue to adapt to a new way of life thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic. Unsurprisingly, this has had an impact on the amount of tender opportunities that are currently available.

For example, lots of tender opportunities that were expected to come out in March and April have been delayed until mid-May.

But all is not lost, and there is still a lot you could be doing to get ‘tender ready’ for when the opportunities are eventually published.

Bidding for a tender takes a considerable amount of time. From undertaking research and collecting evidence, the tender process can be long, complex and require a lot of attention. So, the most important thing organisations can do now is to make sure they use this time to prepare for future tenders as much as they can.

Remember, if you are not spending this time doing preparation work, your competition might be!

How to get ‘tender ready’
What you can do now will depend on your industry. To begin with, consider the information and resources that you will need for any upcoming contracts and your probable tender submissions. You can then work through activities and start to collate information that you are very likely to need. These may include:

  • Designing your delivery model and mobilisation plans
  • Meeting any compliance requirements and ensuring related policies are in place
  • Completing research
  • Addressing weaknesses and collating supporting evidence

For example, we are supporting a number of clients that have all successfully passed the selection questionnaire for HealthTrust Europe’s (HTE’s) Total Workforce Solutions 2 Framework. The second stage ITT, has been delayed until mid-late May. By taking the opportunity to perform preparation tasks and the draft ITT questionnaire, we are effectively extending the tender submission window which will lead to better higher quality scoring bids.

Review your previous tenders
Take this time to review your previous bids and refine them. Ask yourself: ‘Where could we have scored better marks?’ Identify any weaknesses in your business or your tender bid and tackle them.

Gather evidence
Collect examples of associated works that you have done, or are doing, that demonstrate best practice. Use this time to consult and engage with those you work with. Ask service users or clients for testimonials and any feedback or other information that may be useful. Think about the evidence you may need to give as they can form the questions you could ask your service users. The answers could also help you to make any improvements to your services, communications or processes. Also look at how you can prove your delivery model with statistics.

Get expert help
We might be biased here, but it can really be the difference between a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ if you employ the services of a professional consultant. Consultants – like us – can help providers with a variety of different processes. For example, we can identify potential holes in the delivery of a contract and can review policies and look for any gaps. Our expert team can anticipate what is needed from a contract and what you need to do to get ‘tender ready’. We identify gaps and weaknesses and can produce a clear plan on what you need to do. We charge on a consultancy basis but can also offer a free advice service.

K Low Consulting is unique in that we don’t just write tenders – we offer a four-stage process to help our clients:

1)      Business & Contract Strategy (Phase 1)

We help you develop a cohesive contract growth strategy aligned to your business and carried through in the opportunities we identify and win.

2)      Opportunity Analysis (Phase 2)

Our opportunity analysis service helps us identify and analyse the right opportunities for you to develop your strategic goals.

3)      Tender Writing & Management (Phase 3)

We are experts in tender writing and management. We have a cohesive tender writing and management process, helping you win bids.

4)      Mobilisation & Implementation (Phase 4)

Winning the bid is only one part of the tender outcome. We work with you to help break down and manage complex contract mobilisation and implementations, delivered against manageable work streams.

If you need help with tendering, get in touch today to see how we can assist you. Contact info@klowconsulting.com or give us a call on 0330 133 1041.