What can a tender management course do for you and your team? 

Are you thinking of upskilling your team with a tender management course, but aren’t sure how to do it?

Upskilling your team is a great way to overcome any weak areas in your team’s existing skillset. It might be tempting to hire new talent to quickly fill any gaps in your workforce. However, taking on new staff members isn’t cheap, and you’ll be using your company’s precious time and resources.

Instead, why don’t you try upskilling your team?

This blog will tell you everything you need to know about upskilling your team with a tender management course.

Is a tender management course right for your company?

If you already tender for work, you might be thinking, ‘what’s the point in taking a tender management course?’

It is possible to tender for work without any external help. But when you do that, you run the risk of making mistakes in your tender responses. And a mistake, no matter how small, can be the difference between a win and a loss.

But if you take a tender management course, you’ll know how to avoid making any mistakes. Upskilling your team will make sure everyone at your company knows how to write a winning bid.

Here are just 5 benefits of taking a tender management course:

1. Learn key terms and definitions

Tender responses often involve lots of jargon and industry-related terms. If you’re new to tendering, the meaning of these words and phrases might be lost on you. But a tender management course can explain these to you, so your team is ready to tender for work.

Some of the industry-specific terms you will learn about include:

• ITT – invitation to tender
• PPQ – prequalification questionnaire
• RFI – request for information
• RFP – request for proposal
• RFQ – request for quotation
• EOI – expression of interest

2. Learn how to find the right tenders for your business

When your company tenders for work, having a talented Bid Writer isn’t enough to win you work. You need to find the right opportunities for your business. If it’s not the right fit, then it doesn’t matter about your writing skills – you still won’t win the bid.

It’s important to make sure that your company is able to deliver the buyer’s contract. If you submit a tender that you have no chance of winning, you’ll be wasting precious time and resources. And if you focus your attention on a long-shot tender, you could miss out on more fitting opportunities for work.

If you’re new to tendering, or just don’t know where to look, try taking a tender management course. After taking a tender management course, your team will know how to find the right tenders for your business.

3. It will improve your writing skills

If a member of your team is writing a tender response, they’re probably a strong and capable writer. But unfortunately, when it comes to bid writing, it takes more than that to get it right.

With bid writing, it’s not just about what you say – it’s how you say it. When writing a tender response, it’s really important to get the tone and style just right. Even if you’re perfect for a contract, an inappropriate writing style could give the buyer doubts about your company.

If you upskill your team with a tender management course, they’ll learn how to write a winning bid. The course will offer expert advice about choosing the right voice, an appropriate style, and how to provide evidence.

4. Learn how to plan a winning tender response

To write a winning bid, you’ll need more than a team of talented Bid Writers.

A tender management course will improve your writing style, but you’ll need more than that to write a winning bid. When it comes to submitting a successful tender response, careful and thorough planning is key.

If your team take a tender management course, they’ll learn how to successfully plan and prepare for a tender submission.

5. Know what to say – and when to stop!

A tender management course will teach your team how to select the appropriate evidence for your tender responses.

The buyer needs to see that your company is right for the contract. You need to submit evidence that shows your past experiences, and that demonstrates exactly what you can do for them.

But it’s important to know when to stop. Your tender response must meet a specific word count, and every word needs to show your company’s value. But the response should only contain information and evidence that is actually relevant to the contract. Your company might have plenty of achievements, but if they’re not relevant to the buyer’s contract, leave it out. If you write about things that aren’t relevant to the buyer, you’re wasting the word count. And every word needs to count!

If you take a tender management course, however, you’ll know exactly how to choose what to include in your response.

How can you use a tender management course to upskill your team? 

So, now you know the benefits of using a tender management course to upskill your team. But how do you actually do it?

• Look at your team’s current skills

Before you do anything, you need to evaluate your team’s existing skills. Look for any obvious gaps or areas that need improvement. That way, you know exactly which areas need to be addressed with a tender management course. And it will help you choose the right course for your team.

The best way to evaluate your team is to conduct a skills gap analysis. This usually consists of employee interviews, performance reviews and assessments.

• Speak to each team member on a one-to-one basis

It’s also important to address your team members individually. Whether an employee is struggling with a certain skill, or they have particular career goals in mind.

You should create individual strategies for growth and development. A great way to do this is to introduce Personal Development Plans (PDPs) to your workforce. Then each team member can track their own learning.

You might find that different employees need to improve in different areas. Evaluating your employees on an individual basis will help you choose the right tender management course for each team member.

• Support the tender management course with additional resources

We already know that taking a tender management course is a great way to upskill your team.

But learning isn’t a one-time thing! To write winning tender responses, your team will need to update their skills on a regular basis. Especially if different team members are at different skill levels.

Make sure your team take part in regular learning, using additional resources to help them.