Bid proposal design – What to include…

Now once again, I’ll remind you to always check that the brief allows for a free-flowing style before you start creating the content and designing for this approach.

Just because you have unlimited content in a free-flowing approach doesn’t mean that you should just add content for content’s sake, but there are elements you can include that will really allow you to demonstrate your company in the best possible light. These are the pages within the proposal where you can really show off your creative flair.

Firstly, design a front page

Include your logo, the title of the proposal and the date of submission. This is really where you can show off your brand and grab the buyer’s attention.

Thank you page & contents

We would then always suggest that you include some sort of thank you page. This gives the opportunity to show some of your USPs, as well as putting you in good standing with the buyer. And alongside the thank you content, include the contents of the document. You can include heightened creativity in the first few pages of your proposal, helping you to keep hold of the buyer’s attention and allowing them the opportunity to invest interest in your company.

The bulk of your content

We recommend you keep the design simple and sleek, making it easy to follow for the buyer. Stay away from clutter – don’t be afraid of white space, it gives the content room to breathe. In a free-flowing tender, you aren’t limited to keeping your content to a number of pages or font size, so you don’t have to try and cram too much into a page. Watch my What to consider when approaching Proposal Design video which will give you a few tips on style.

It is important that the buyer finds your document easy to navigate and to assist with this we recommended you always include page numbers that refer back to your content. This way if a buyer wants to refer back to a certain section, they can locate it without having to trawl through the whole document. Again, this will help in their opinion of your company. It’s also worth mentioning that if the buyer’s question has certain headings then you should stick to these, so the buyer knows exactly what you’re answering.

Lastly, include a contact page

Don’t go overboard with the bid proposal design by making the buyer hunt for the relevant information – make it look good but comprehensible. Buyers, as a rule, will have multiple submissions to review, often on top of their daily workload so the easier you can make things for the buyer, the better their opinion will be of you.

Further Support

If you would like to know how we can help you discover new tendering opportunities and succeed in your tendering efforts, do get in touch.