If you're an owner of a small business, you find you have a lot of tasks on your plate.

From the completion of jobs to admin and managerial commitments, many business owners find that they are short on time and often simply aren't in the right 'headspace' to sit down and formulate a well-written, succinct, and persuasive proposal when responding to an opportunity that has been put out for tender.

Fortunately, the outsourced bid writing market is blossoming, and there are many experienced professional bid writers available and looking for work with companies like yours.

If you’re new to hiring bid writing specialists, you may feel overwhelmed by the choice of professionals available. Here’s how to sift through the proposals and find a writer who matches the style and culture of your business.

Why Hire A Professional Bid Writer?

Technical Knowledge:

Prequalification Questionnaire (PQQ) documents must be filled in when responding to contracts put out for tender, but they can be difficult to navigate if you are not experienced in writing your own bids.

The specifications are often long and complex, may be daunting if you aren’t used to them, and can require a lot of time and effort that many busy business owners simply don’t have.

However, specialist bid writers are experienced in writing to a brief, and can produce a professional and polished application in a fraction of the time.

Experience:

Bid writers will already have years of experience under their belts, meaning that they can complete the PQQ documentation more quickly and efficiently than an inexperienced writer. They will have completed hundreds – maybe even thousands - of bids before, so will know what the client is likely to be looking for, and how to meet the requirements of the brief.

They will also know exactly what is required of each question, meaning that you are more likely to be successful in winning the bid.

Ultimately, this should place your business in a better position to win the tender!

Rigorous Process:

If you were to write your bids in-house, what would happen if your writer went off sick, quit, or had to focus on other, more pressing matters? Would you still be able to meet the application closing date?

Professional bid writers will have a rigorous process in place, and will usually operate in a team with other experienced writers. This means that no matter what happens, you have peace of mind knowing that your tender will be completed in an efficient and reliable manner.

Having the process planned out in advance helps to ensure good pacing and continuity, and that time can be allocated for quality checks and deadlines for each section.

This will keep the writing process to a schedule and ensure that there is no rush to complete sections further down the line.

Writing To A Brief:

Writing to a brief using an appropriate tone and structure is a skill in itself. Your brief will need to cover the unique selling points of your business, while also meeting the requirements of the specification.

If your business is lacking in certain areas, the brief may also need to gloss over these points.

Using a professional writer means that they will have experience in accentuating the positive qualities of your organisation, while also covering your tracks in areas where your business might struggle to meet the criteria.

More Successful Outcomes:

Hiring a professional writer gives you access to experience and writing skills that you might not otherwise have. This increases your chance of success when writing bids for new contracts, and will give you increased insight to be able to build your own skills.

Choosing The Right Bid Writer For Your Business

There are lots of different companies and writers out there that specialise in bid writing. Look for companies and writers that have experience in writing for your trade; this ensures they will know your industry inside out, and what your clients are looking for in an application.

Don’t be tempted to go for the cheapest option - writers who pitch their prices low may be less experienced, and/or have fewer skills than a professional who does it as their primary source of income.

Choosing A Service

Bid writing companies often have several different services that they offer. Choose a service based on the requirements of your company, and what will suit your long-term vision.

Training: If you would like to train one of your in-house writers to write bids on behalf of your company, this service is a good option. A bid writing company will take on one of your employees, and train them to write bids according to precise specifications.

Your writer will receive support to meet their goals, and you get a qualified bid writer at the end of it.

Review: If you - or writers within your company - are capable of producing your own bid proposals, you may choose to write your bids in-house and then submit them for review by a professional bid writer. This is usually cheaper than getting a bid written from scratch.

The bid writer will draw attention to anything that requires re-writing, and you will get feedback so that you can improve your bid writing for future applications.

Partial Completion: You can also choose to write certain parts of the application yourself, and simply pass on the bits that you find more difficult or don’t have time for. The writer will review your application and let you know if anything needs changing.

Full Service: This includes the whole package: planning, writing, management, review, and feedback.

This is the best way to maximise your chances of winning the opportunity being bid on, and outsourcing the whole process to a professional will also give you peace of mind that the job is in the best possible hands!