Article
One: The tender process by Gaynor Lowndes
Tenders may be either open or selective. An open tender is where anyone can tender for the business. When you see a tender advertised in the paper, this is an open tender. All Government agencies work this way. A selective tender occurs when a client decides which companies will be invited to tender for the business. You may not necessarily have an existing relationship to be invited to tender, you may have made contact at some point during the last year and sent your brochure which has been kept on file.
Incidentally, a selective tender may end up being as big as an open tender. I know of instances where over 100 recruitment companies have been invited to tender in a “selective” tender.
Decision to continue
When you have received and read the tender document you will need to weigh up whether or not you will submit a tender. Tenders take a huge amount of time and effort and unless you work for a recruitment organisation with a department of people devoted to this market, there will be an opportunity cost involved. There is absolutely no point in submitting a sub-standard document so unless you can devote a large proportion of your time to completing the document, don’t start it. I have heard many business owners and managers say that they weren’t successful owing to not being able to compete on a level playing field against the larger agencies. When probed, they started the document 48 hours before it was due because they had been busy doing other stuff. Rarely was any planning involved in the preparation of the document. They are of course correct in saying the playing field is not level as the larger agencies devote a large amount of time to the planning and preparation of such documents which is why they so often win.
The other option of course is to out-source the preparation to another party. My company has been providing those services for some time. However, if you are not prepared to work with the writer and provide the information required in a timely manner, it’s a waste of money.
Either way, you have to devote some time and effort to putting the document together.
The best way to decide whether the time invested is worth it is to prepare a table
based on the questions below. You may have different criteria, however it is imperative you make a reasoned decision.
Can I devote the time to completing the tender?
Y/N
The recruitment spend of the client – is it over 500,000 pa?
Y/N
Does senior management of the organisation support the preferred supplier agreement decision?
Y/N
The extent of competition – do we rank in the top 3? Y/N
Is this client of strategic importance to us? Y/N
Probability of winning – more than 70%? Y/N
Will we have access to senior management in order to identify buying influences?
Y/N
Can we offer a viable staffing solution to this client?
Y/N
If more than 50% are ‘no’ then the opportunity cost of your time in preparing the document may be too high.
Develop your own unique style – it will pay off longer term
The important factor to keep in mind during the writing is your audience. Remember that they are judging you based on this document. Many of whom may have not met you or heard of you.
Incidentally, always seek permission to use a client logo.
Layout tips:
1. Look at the sections and then the whole
2. Is there too much/not enough white space on the pages?
3. How is the grammar?
4. Is there enough variation in layout to keep the audience interested?
5. Is it uniform?
The Cover is very important because it is the first contact the audience will have with you. It is always safe to use their images, however blending in yours as well.
Tendering like recruitment is an art, so if you want to be successful, spend time understanding what is involved and involve experts when you can.
This is an exert from Gaynor’s book The Art of Recruitment. To order your copy visit
www.trtc.com.au. Gaynor Lowndes, the Managing Director of The Recruitment Training Company, has over 18 years recruitment experience and 4 years training experience gained in both Australia and the UK.
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