Writing Bids Assertively

Remaining assertive is one of the hardest things a tender consultant has to overcome when writing bids.

Many Junior Bid Writers will tell you that adopting to a more concise, direct and assertive writing style, is not always that easy.

Our Head of Bid Management has stated that “Essay writing at College or University is nothing compared to what’s required in the majority of tender proposals.”

You can find out more about him on our sister website ‘Hudson Succeed.

So, what does assertive actually mean?

It is defined as ‘having or showing a confident or forceful personality’.

Never confuse this for being cocky or too brash. Those who behave assertively always respect the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of other people as well as their own.

Assertiveness concerns being able to express feelings, wishes, wants and desires appropriately and is an important personal and interpersonal skill, especially when managing tender responses/writing bids.

In all your interactions with other people, assertiveness can help you to express yourself in a clear, open and reasonable way.

Ok – so what is assertive writing?

This is pretty much you ‘having or showing a confident or forceful personality’ on paper.

It’s that personality that needs to come across when you’re writing bids.

We all know someone who may get nervous at pitching for a job (hey – we’re only human) but they can actually do the job amazingly well. Remaining assertive when writing bids allows you (the supplier) to showcase your abilities in the best possible light.

You don’t have to be the most confident being on the planet, but with the power of the written word and knowing you can deliver all stated requirements, you sure can sound like it.

Ok – so how do you become assertive when writing a bid?

This is the tricky part. When writing bids, you need to demonstrate your Assertiveness in order to sound confident, which in turn, breeds confidence with the buyer and makes for a way better read and evaluation.

Some tips we’d recommend include:

• Using the words ‘we will’. Steer away from ‘we can try’ or ‘we aim to ensure’ – be more assertive and say you ‘will’ do this as part of your delivery. The buyer never wants a supplier to ‘try’, they want them to ‘do’. This direct and concise way of writing bids is much more respected by buyers.

• Tell them exactly what will happen and who will be responsible for this. Always allocate a responsible party/name with your bid. For example, don’t just say ‘our staff will do X Y and Z’ – give the confidence and clear indication of ownership. You can say ‘Our Contracts Manager, Joe Bloggs will do X Y & Z.’ This indicates to the buyer that you have accountable parties as part of contract deliverables and makes it clearer to how this will be actioned.

• Always remain concise when writing bids. Never try and stretch content out when this isn’t particularly needed. This is why page counts and word counts exist and buyers implement these as part of their procurement procedures to ensure concise approaches are maintained. By using bullet points you can say exactly what you want to say, but in a much more direct way. This makes your content punchier and more assertive.

• It also helps with formatting, so the reader isn’t initially presented with a large paragraph list and makes your content easily digestible to all reader types.

• When using bullet points try and start each line with a power verb. For example:

“Our Contracts Manager, Joe Bloggs, will:

• Undergo
• Implement
• Action
• Mobilise
• Facilitate, etc.”

These words showcase a direct approach and assertiveness in your written word.

Further support

Now these are only a few tips and there are many more ways in which you can sound confident on paper.

What our team have learned through our combined experience of 50-years in bid management is that some clients are that business savvy, that when it comes to writing prose, their experience with operationally-focused activity, doesn’t always allow them to be wordsmiths.

Here at Tender VLE and our overarching Hudson Outsourcing, we maintain a set of dedicated consultant professionals who have mastered their craft into writing bids assertively.

If you require any support in this area, would like us to look over your work, or even do the work for you, don’t hesitate to contact our consultants today!

We’re here to help you…Succeed!