A year is a long time for a business. Changes in market conditions, legislation and even governments can flip your carefully laid-out business plan in a matter of moments, leaving unprepared business owners scrambling to pick up the pieces.
That’s why it’s critical to maintain a robust, adaptable business pipeline that is flexible enough to weather whatever storm may come its way.
With that, here are four crucial tips business owners should keep in mind to ensure their business pipeline is in the best shape possible through the second half of the year.
Plan Ahead
As we go into the second half of the year, it’s very easy to put the thoughts of holidays and annual leave behind us, however, understanding your bid pipeline is just as crucial now as it was earlier in the year.
Commissioners are big fans of releasing tenders with inconvenient submission dates (yes, including Christmas!). Therefore, by planning ahead, preparing responses and undertaking pre-bid communication, you will ensure you have the capacity to complete good-quality submissions without pulling all-nighters.
Take time to understand your buyers
With the commencement of the Procurement Bill in October, public sector procurement in the UK is due to go through one of the biggest changes in years.
As a result, it’ll be even more critical for suppliers to understand the buyer and their needs. With changes such as MEAT to MAT, understanding social value requirements, as well as understanding the balance between price and quality ahead of the tender release, will really support bidders’ responses and chances of success.
Request feedback and learn from it
One thing we see a lot is bidders not requesting feedback (good or bad) and therefore repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
Feedback can be so powerful to a company’s growth, and although some tenders come back with minimal feedback, more feedback can be requested.
Identifying and understanding where points were lost is critical to future bidding success, and even if the tender was won, there is always room for improvement.
Bid in line with your business strategy
As we go into the final half of the financial year, companies will be chasing opportunities to reach and exceed targets, making it really easy to blanket bid – that is bidding for everything quickly, ineffectively and, usually, unsuccessfully.
Preparing your pipeline will allow companies to bid strategically, putting time and effort into key tenders that work in line with the strategy and growth goals, allowing for more time on each opportunity.
Bidding this way usually means higher-scoring tenders, increased success, less stressed teams and a higher return on investment.
Need a hand with your next opportunity? Our Bid Advisory experts can help!