Why a tender preparation course is the key to your success

Before you bid on your first tender, have you ever considered taking a tender preparation course?

When you find a suitable tender for your business, it’s tempting to jump right in. Especially if you’re new to tendering. After all, that tender could open many doors for your business. We understand why you’d be anxious to get a head start.

However, jumping in headfirst could actually cost your company the contract. To write a winning tender, you need to carefully prepare your response. Otherwise, you could end up making mistakes – and the buyer won’t be impressed by that!

A tender preparation course will prepare you for tendering success. So, when you submit your next tender response, you’ll be ready to win.

Keep reading to find out why a tender preparation course is the key to your company’s success!

Why is a tender preparation course the key to tendering success?

Tendering for work takes a lot of time, effort and resources. And some tenders are huge. If you dive in without a plan, it will be easy to get lost.

It’s a common misconception that all you need to write a successful tender is the ability to write. It’s true: without a talent for writing, you won’t get very far with your tendering efforts. However, to really optimise your tender responses, you need to carefully plan each step of the process.

But how do you approach the tendering process if you’ve never tendered for work before?

That’s why a tender preparation course is so important for winning contracts! You’ll gain industry knowledge that, otherwise, would take years of trial and error to develop.

Tender preparation courses are taught by industry experts. You’ll learn about the tendering process from people with real-life, practical experience of tendering for work. That means they know exactly how to understand the buyer’s specifications and what to say to impress them. This is great for your business – and gives you an advantage over your competitors!

What will you learn on a tender preparation course?

Simply put, a tender preparation course will teach you everything you need to know about the tendering process.

If you’re new to tendering, you might not know what that means. So, let’s break it down.

Here’s what you’ll learn on a tender preparation course:

• How to choose the right tenders for your business

There’s no point learning how to win contracts if you don’t know how to find tenders in the first place. That’s why a tender preparation course will show you how to find the right tenders for your business.

Choosing the right tenders is a crucial part of the tendering process. As we’ve already discussed, tendering for work takes a lot of time, effort and resources. If you focus your time and resources on a tender you won’t win, they’ll just be going to waste. And you could miss out on tendering opportunities more suitable for your business!

A tender preparation course will help you pinpoint your best qualities and show you which tenders to bid on.

• Terminology

When you tender for work, you’ll be faced with lots of new tender-related terminology. There’s a lot to understand and it can be difficult to wrap your head around. However, to be successful and write a winning bid, you need to get to grips with all the jargon.

A tender preparation course will teach you about the key terms you’ll encounter as you tender for work. Some of the things you’ll learn about include:

• Pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ)
• Invitation to tender (ITT)
• Requests for information (RFI)
• Requests for proposals (RFP)
• Request for quotations (RFQ)
• Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS).

• How to write a tender 

It goes without saying: to win contracts, you need to know how write a tender.

However, if you’re new to tendering, choosing the right tone, voice and style for a tender response can be difficult. That’s why a tender preparation course will teach you how to write a tender that will impress the buyer.

You’ll learn how to adapt your writing style for each buyer and how to make the most of word counts. If a buyer is asking for 2000 words, a 500-word response won’t cut it! Similarly, going over the word count won’t impress the buyer either. It suggests that you don’t know how to follow instructions – the buyer might question your ability to deliver the contract.

A tender preparation course will also teach you how to carefully read through the buyer’s specifications. That way, you’ll know how to make sure you’re hitting each point in your response.

• Relevant case studies

The buyer will ask you to provide relevant evidence that demonstrates your ability to deliver the contract. They want to see how your past experiences make you the most suitable supplier. It’s not enough to tell them what you’ll do for their company – you need to show them.

That’s why preparation is so vital to your tendering success. You need to prepare your case studies, so you know they’re relevant to that particular contract. If they aren’t relevant, don’t include them in your response. Otherwise, it’s just a waste of your word count!

A tender preparation course will help you sift through your company’s experience and create relevant, impressive case studies.

Get ready to tender with Tender VLE

If you’re looking for a tender preparation course, come join us at Tender VLE.

Tender VLE is the UK’s first virtual learning environment to offer free resources. Our online videos will teach you everything you need to know about tendering, straight from your office.

Our services cater to every level of tendering experience, from seasoned experts to complete beginners. No matter what you want to learn, you’ll find it here!

Our tender preparation courses include:

• Start

Our ‘Start’ package will break the tendering process down to its simplest form. If you want to learn the basics of tendering and starts winning bids, this is the perfect package for you.

• Develop

Coming soon to Tender VLE – our ‘Develop’ package. You might have the basics of tendering covered, but there’s still more to learn. This package will elevate your tendering knowledge to the next step.

• Excel

Our ‘Excel’ package is currently in development, but is designed for experienced Bid Writers and Bid Managers. If you are experienced in bid writing but would like further guidance from tendering experts, this package is for you.

Whichever tender preparation course you choose, our expert instructors will teach you everything you need to know about tendering. So, you can start winning bids!

Get in touch to start your Tender VLE journey today.