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You’re reading Tips for writing tenders, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Knowing how to prepare a convincing RFT or an RFP is a fundamental for any business before they develop a tender strategy to seek work. A request for tender (RFT) or request for proposal (RFP) must be professionally prepared documents that consist in different measures of technical and marketing content. The documents must be written in a highly professional manner that is convincing, easy to understand and complies with the tender request.
Businesses require many different skill-sets to win jobs however to write and present a successful tender needs the right tone, style, and language. Here are nine tips to remember when writing a tender.
- Be clear
Be clear with your thoughts and the points you are making. Precise, clear, simple, and to the point answers are always appreciated by the reader. Avoid using technical terms because using overly complicated language can lose the reader. Hence, applying the KISS strategy—Keep It Simple Stupid—with language and technical terms is always recommended.
- Write for the audience
Write for your audience. For example, when a doctor speaks with another doctor, they converse in technical language expecting the other to understand the complex terminology but this is a dangerous assumption when tender writing. When you are writing a document it will not necessarily be read by a technical person, that will fully understand what you are writing—the final read may be done by a person with a commercial background who might not understand the technical terms your using. Always avoid overly complex words and explain the meaning of every technical term you use.
- Do not be passive!
Do not be passive! It is important to understand that the passive voice is less engaging and convincing than the active voice. The document should engage the writer and identify the reader. Use active voice where you mention yourself as ‘I’, and the reader as ‘you’.
- Beware of overusing acronyms!
Acronyms should be used only where the reader is familiar with the reference. Avoid using short forms in your document, this confuses the reader and . If you use an acronym in the document ensure you explain the term in full when you first use it, for example “request for tender (RFT)”.
- Show motivation in your sentences!
Use passion, emotion, and motivation to enhance your proposal. While most people write straightforward and formal content, it helps to use some emotion and to emphasise the organisation’s culture—it can help you achieve a better outcome.
- Don’t use ‘if’, ‘might’, ‘may’!
‘Ifs’, ‘mays’, ‘mights’, and ‘buts’ are a sign of a lack of confidence or lack of capability. If you are using such phrases in the tender, you will look less than competent. The person who reads it, will get the impression that you are not confident on the project criteria. Instead, try using words like ‘will, ‘can’, ‘when’—this is the language of confidence.
- Structure appropriately!
The entire document should be structured properly. The document should be clear to the reader. The document must have chapters, sections, subsections, and paragraphs that fit together logically and create a cohesive narrative. Paragraphs should be written clearly and follow a consistent structure.
- Do not capitalise words unnecessarily!
Do not use excessive capitalisation. There is a tendency to copy legal documents and to capitalise “Important Terms” to identify them as contractual items, this is bad grammar, unnecessary and looks amateurish. A common noun is not capitalised—for instance, the contract, the client—only proper nouns should be capitalised, for instance the name of a report or document, The Supply Contract, etc.
- Headings help the readers to follow the document
Headings are a great help for the reader to understand what the content is about. Every section of the document should have a heading that summarises its intent and is easy to read and understand.
Final note:
If you are looking closely at selecting an agency to help you with your proposals there are very few communication consultancies that are offering such an impressive range of e-tendering services and content development. Should you wish to achieve a better success rate Madrigal Communications stands out from its competitors by having a quality service that gives you exceptional value for money and return on investment.
You’ve read Tips for writing tenders, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.