It seems obvious (at least to me) that if you want to win work when bidding, you need as much insight about the client’s needs as you can get.
I appreciate that in procurement-heavy tenders this may not always be easy, but even when the client is more relaxed, you’d be surprised by how few bidding firms will ask for a scoping call.
From personal experience when involved on the other side of the table, less than a quarter – sometimes much less – of the firms bidding asked to speak to the client about the project. On the most recent tender where I was involved, one of the firms that did call won the mandate. That may be a coincidence, but I don’t think so. The winner identified a key ingredient required by the client that other firms weren’t aware of. How did they know? They asked a question and the client told them.
Turning insight into action: Senior professionals often feel that they are expected to have an answer to everything and if they don’t (and thus are forced to ask questions), the prospective client will consider this a negative mark against them. To avoid asking questions, it’s easy to fall into a simple analysis of the ‘fact pattern’ when bidding, assume it’s the same as a previous bid and thus deliver a cut and paste bid response.
If you want to do one thing on your next bid which will enhance your chances of winning significantly, call your prospective client with a series of open questions. I can guarantee that the insight you gain will make your bid more relevant, more insightful and thus valuable to the recipient. If you don’t believe me, think about the last time you were pitched to and recognise the lesson: no one likes to receive a cookie-cutter response and everyone likes to be listened to. So, the answer? Pick up that phone.