How do you maximize your chances of winning a tender?

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One tender is a procedure by which a potential buyer asks various suppliers to make a quantified commercial proposal in response to the detailed formulation (specifications) of his need for a product, service or service. How do you maximize your chances of winning them?

Many companies collaborate with Akimbo to boost the performance of their sales team, on topics of guidance, outsourcing Or of Coaching. AoS are among our favorite topics to talk about.

Why does a buyer call for tenders?

There are several reasons that can push a buyer to start an AO.

The buyer is calling for tenders for an economic reason

He can in fact do this for an economic reason, especially when the amount of a deal exceeds a certain volume and he has no choice but to study several solutions via a call for tenders.

The buyer is looking for the most appropriate solution

The buyer may also be looking for innovation and therefore, to find the most appropriate solution, he can go through a call for tenders. Imagine that he is then in the same process as an individual who would have several quotes from contractors to do work in his house. The focus for you as a seller? Play your advisory role to the fullest while evaluating the probability that the buyer will complete the project.

The buyer (s) is disappointed with the offer made by a competitor

Finally, a buyer can ask you via a call for tenders when your competitor, whom he had chosen before, proved not to be up to his expectations. So, the objective for you will be to identify your biggest problems using this solution in order to show how yours is more relevant.

Should you always position yourself on a call for tenders?

In order to best assess the relevance of positioning yourself on a call for tenders, it is essential to assess the return on investment of your resources to respond to it.

You have to ask yourself several questions

Indeed, responding to a call for tenders is very energy-consuming and you will probably have to mobilize other people in your company. As a result, you have to ask yourself some questions: should you go? Do you have the resources to win it or even the right solution to offer? Are your teams motivated to support you in the project? What is your role in the tender process: are you the leader, the outsider or the hare?

And try to get the answers

To best answer these questions and not waste time unnecessarily, you can assess the situation through the prism of the buyer's risks if the project were to fail on their side. Each risk must be quantified in euros and may be linked to a competitive delay, to the non-achievement of its own objectives or to pressure exerted on it by the professions that will be concerned by the purchase of one solution rather than another. To succeed in making the right decision and quantifying all these risks in a realistic way, it will be necessary to get the buyer to speak as much as possible.

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The different stages of the call for tenders

Beware of the pitfalls at the very beginning

Here, we are at the very beginning of the various stages of a tender. It is therefore necessary to have these 2 points of attention in mind:

● ⚠️ Warning | The perfect trap

Sometimes the buyer who asks you will come to you with very clear objectives and precise specifications. Just because he shows knowledge of the market and your solution does not mean that you should forget his advisory role and abandon questioning. You will risk missing out on key elements and leaving your competitors ahead of you.

● ⚠️ Warning | Fake pipe: “spray and pray”

By definition, a call for tenders represents a very high-volume opportunity for your business. We couldn't blame you for being too optimistic and wanting to include it in your forecast. However, you will only win an average of 1/3 of your tenders. You should therefore see the possibility of winning it as a bonus only. Be an influencer!

Gather as much information as possible from the start of the call for tenders

As a seller, your goal is to intervene as early as possible before the call for tenders, and, in particular, even before the specifications are finalized. You must therefore legitimize your presence. How do you go about it? By occupying the field continuously by organizing webinars or visiting your showroom, for example. Also, do not hesitate to go see the professions involved in buying the solution to show them that you want to understand their needs in order to be able to move forward better together throughout the call for tenders.

You will also need to develop your reputation with storytelling that includes your valuable references. All this will allow you to start co-building the project with all the stakeholders in the tender while covering the power base on the buyer side.

Don't lose track of the tender too early

However, beware of hammock syndrome! You must remain constant in your approach to occupying the field. Get information all the time rather than being very present at the beginning and gradually relaxing your efforts before you realize that it is too late. If the customer makes it difficult, do not hesitate to go into their comfort zone at the beginning in order to create a relationship of trust that will allow you to bring them to your field later.

Multi-anchoring: what is it?

Now that you have collected as much information as possible and that you have been able to determine the relevance of your participation in a call for tenders, it is time to focus on the professions concerned by the purchase of the solution.

It is essential for you to identify all the stakeholders on the buyer side and make yourself known to them by going to meet them. Start with operational staff and end users: they will allow you to detail field needs. They need to be convinced because they can become your sponsors: if you manage to win their support, this could considerably influence the outcome of the tender.

Also think about pyramid matching: there can sometimes be sensitivities that need to be respected in companies. Some people prefer to talk from manager to manager or from director to director. If necessary, do not hesitate to involve your managers, they can be of invaluable help.

The decision matrix: why do we do it?

It is the essential tool in your response to a call for tenders! The decision matrix will allow you to visualize the different stakeholders in AO by taking into account their decision-making power. Completed correctly, it will help you prioritize your actions according to your objective. Who is your champion, fox, or leader?

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The aim is therefore to fill in as many boxes as possible as you communicate with the parties involved in the call for tenders. Here, it was pre-filled by Vincent Miry, to whom we owe all these best practices on tenders. He considers that very often, you will tend to focus on the buyer while very generally, his influence and decision-making power are very weak. Conversely — and everything depends, of course, on the structure — the CEO will have to be at the heart of your concerns since he will have the final decision on which no one can go back. Business functions, on the other hand, will be the main users of the solution. Even if the final decision is not theirs, they can largely influence it. So it is very important to convince them.

The other parties involved in the tender

🔍 Focus | The consultant

He is a specialist and is the client's right-hand man. He will do everything he can to lower the prices. You have to be careful about it because it often gives a lot of information, and is very nice in general. However, he can also play a double game and his influence is very high. It can put you in trouble.

To interact with him:

● Always lock the reading of the offer;

● Agree on common KPIs (the budget per user for example);

● Do not make concessions;

● Make him talk, steal his bluff.

🔍 Focus | The IT partner

It can be a software editor or a constructor to take with you on the project. Its objective is to be with the leader: you must therefore seduce him to co-construct the answer and get the first impression of a partnership. Once seduced, you have to engage him as much as possible and make the customer understand that it is you that he is working with.

Our latest tendering tips

✅ Good habits when receiving and handing out the AO

● Set up the project team;

● Do the technical brief: anticipate the rush, look for customer communication agreements and recommendations;

● Avoid delay, it can be eliminating;

● Anticipate connection tests on bidding sites;

● Do not forget any document: K-bis, URSSAF declaration, CSR etc.;

● Define the upstream price positioning strategy as well as the room for maneuver;

● Anticipate the weaknesses of its offer;

● Dealer as much as possible with the client rather than with the consultants; recourse is possible but gives few results.

❌ See that you are answering next to the AO at 48 hours

● Be disruptive: warn the buyer that we are going to respond but completely at the same time, make him doubt his CdC;

● Maintain a dominant position;

● Find bottlenecks to save time;

● Reduce the scope of response: offer support on a subject on which you can respond in 48 hours;

● The worst is not answering!

📘 Read to find out more: the buyer's bible.

The Purchasing Chessboard: 64 buying techniques to lower prices.

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