Client Centricity: The #1 Reason People Win Tenders with Karina Ames
Tenders are won by the team that understands the client the best. Not just what they wrote in the RFT, but what sits underneath it. The pressures they are under. The risks they are trying to avoid. The internal dynamics they are navigating. The outcomes they are quietly hoping for, even if they never say them out loud.
After 25 years of tendering, I can tell you this with confidence. Tendering is an exercise in empathy - a strategy built from a detailed client understanding underpinning how you intend to win.
I recently had a conversation with Karina Ames, someone who started as a client and is now Business Development Specialist & Manager at Tender Plus. We talked about what client-centric tendering really means - what separates the submissions that feel generic from the ones that feel like they were written for them, and only them. The thread running through everything we discussed was simple.
Put the client first. Every time.
Client centricity is not a buzzword
Think about any relationship that works. The ones where you feel seen, understood and supported. It is rarely about grand gestures. It is about someone paying attention. Someone noticing what matters to you, and responding to it.
Client centricity in tendering works the same way.
It’s an exercise in empathy. The discipline of stepping into the client’s shoes and asking, what is their day actually like? What decisions are they being forced to make? What are they being measured on? What keeps them up at night? And what would make them feel confident they are making the right call?
Clients are not just looking for a supplier. They are looking for a partner who can align with their goals and reduce their risk. If your submission does not help them feel that, you will struggle to stand out.
Listening is queen
It is still surprising how many people underestimate the power of a simple conversation.
Karina shared an example where a cold call led to a meaningful client engagement. Not because it was slick or salesy, but because it created space for a real exchange. People will often tell you what matters to them if you ask respectfully.
Direct, open questions can reveal motivations and priorities that never make it into the formal returnable schedules. You learn what the client is trying to protect. You learn what they are trying to change. You learn what success looks like for them beyond the words on the page.
That information does not just help the client. It helps you. It allows you to tailor a solution that is genuinely valuable, not just compliant.
Influence starts before the tender drops
The best tender strategies often begin long before the tender is released.
When you build relationships early and engage clients in meaningful conversations, you can help shape the way they think about the problem. Sometimes, you can even influence the way the tender is structured. Not in a dishonest way. In a practical way. By helping the client clarify what they actually need, what will work, and what will not.
This is not reserved for seasoned professionals with big networks. Anyone can do it by being curious, prepared and genuinely helpful.
If you can talk the client through their challenges and offer insights that make their job easier, you are already building trust. And trust is a serious advantage when the tender finally lands.
Incumbents do not win by default
If you are the incumbent, you might assume you have the upper hand.
Sometimes you do. But being close to the client also means they have seen your flaws up close. They know where the friction has been. They remember the moments you dropped the ball, even if they never raised it formally.
The biggest risks for incumbents are complacency and/or arrogance.
The better approach is humility. Acknowledge what could have been better. Show what you have learned. Demonstrate growth. Make it clear that keeping you is the lower-risk option, and that you are committed to improving the relationship.
Tendering is never just what is written down
Tendering is not a clean, neutral process where the best answer always wins.
There are biases, internal politics, risk orientations, past experiences and unspoken preferences sitting underneath the formal documents. Winning teams are the ones who can read those unseen elements and respond to them without losing compliance.
That often means asking questions that feel uncomfortable. Questions that feel bold. Questions that reveal what is really going on.
Because once you understand what is happening beneath the surface, you can write a submission that speaks to the real decision-making process, not just the published criteria.
Karina and I left our conversation with a shared sense of adventure, because that is what tendering can be when you do it well. Challenging, yes. But also full of opportunity to innovate, connect and create solutions that genuinely serve the client.
It all comes back to people.
Listen properly. Ask better questions. Build relationships early. Write with empathy and clarity. Show humility, especially if you are the incumbent. And never forget that the client is not just evaluating your offer. They are evaluating how safe it feels to choose you.
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[00:00:48] Deb: I've been bidding God 25 years. That's a bit scary. The number one reason that I see people win tenders is because they know their clients. They know [00:01:00] exactly what their clients want, and they put themselves second. At its core, tendering is all about. The client, client. In a competitive environment, you have to showcase what it is that only you can do for that client and that this is something where you have to differentiate to win.
[00:01:23] The first thing that I just wanted to chat about with you was your thoughts on client centricity in tendering and what that really means to tender in a client centric way.
[00:01:33] Karina: I was your client at one point.
[00:01:34] Deb: You were
[00:01:34] Karina: and for training, and the reason I selected you was that we, we can work well together and we were setting something up and it was a.
[00:01:41] Something where we had to work together and be philosophically aligned as well. So I think the thing people forget is that tenders don't go out into the, either. There are, there is a person at the other end evaluating that tender or a panel of people. And so it's not an automatic process of tick, yes, you've covered that question, tick, et cetera.
[00:01:59] There are nuances [00:02:00] in buying behaviours that come into a tender, and that's the most important thing to remember from the very beginning,
[00:02:05] Deb: not summer grand idea that you've
[00:02:06] Karina: dreamed up but haven't tested with the client. So it's all about that. Either group or individual decision maker and then what they want.
[00:02:14] Deb: Exactly right. I always say that tendering is an exercise in empathy. Um. How would you respond to to that idea?
[00:02:21] Karina: Completely, because you have to get in the client's head, like it's not just about reading what they've put in the tender document or even looking at their LinkedIn. It's understanding their day to day, what drives them as people.
[00:02:32] Are they ambitious? Are they risk averse? What drives their buying behaviour? So really you have to walk in the client's shoes, and that's easier for some people than others.
[00:02:40] Deb: It is. It is. But I think empathy can be process oriented if it needs to be.
[00:02:45] Karina: Yes.
[00:02:46] Deb: Yeah. It's interesting you say, you said it's putting your feet in, in the shoes of your client, but it's looking at those multiple dimensions of the organisation.
[00:02:57] Karina: Yeah.
[00:02:57] Deb: And each individual [00:03:00] within the organisation that's going to control or influence the outcome. And one of the things that I, I noticed and I, I think. What differentiated sort of the approach that I started to bring into tendering was I don't just look at the tender itself. I look at. Everything that surrounds it, I look at its context and that expands all the way out to its, its policy oriented context.
[00:03:25] I remember I was doing a a, a bid for Royal Flying Doctor Service. They wanted to do a mobile dental facility. We won, we won the mobile dental facility and, and they had a, they had a big philanthropic, um, support base there that was bringing half of the funding. But it was like, well, what are we aligning to this?
[00:03:43] Is this just about getting dentistry out into the regions? And they said, no, it's a larger. Policy dynamic of approaching chronic illness and particularly approaching chronic illness in indigenous communities and dental and [00:04:00] oral hygiene is a huge component of that. And I just, I always reflect back to that, that there was always this policy parameter around things.
[00:04:08] So when you look at pursuing a bid, how high do you go? How low do you go? Do you go all the way to policy? What do you look at in terms of the organisation first, and then what do you look at in terms of the individuals within it?
[00:04:24] Karina: Like you say, you need to know all of that. So I look at the whole ecosystem, particularly for a major deal.
[00:04:28] So we're not talking about a day-to-day bid that they just wanna look, cover letter or something to tell you what they can. So tell them what you can do. Um, you look at the whole ecosystem. So do you look at policy? You look at, um, emerging trends in the market. You look at what new technology is coming to market, if that's relevant, and then you look at all the organisation and then all the people that will influence the decision.
[00:04:48] And that's where when you have a tender, often there'll be a project team, there'll be a director level team, there'll be a C-suite exec team, and all of those people will have
[00:04:57] Deb: some saying
[00:04:58] Karina: yes, that I have had tenders where. [00:05:00] The tender has been lost because we only had one of those levels covered. So we might have the project team covered.
[00:05:05] Deb: Yep.
[00:05:05] Karina: Or we had everyone all the way up to the minister. There was one in one state in Australia where the minister actually overturned a win decision.
[00:05:14] Deb: Wow. 'cause you really didn't know what that. Person was thinking
[00:05:18] Karina: no. And they were extremely risk averse and cost conscious at the time.
[00:05:22] Deb: Yes.
[00:05:22] Karina: And it didn't matter what the project he wanted, they, they overturned that.
[00:05:26] So you've gotta cast a very wide net when it comes to understanding a major deal. And that's why it's really good to get someone with domain knowledge of that market who can advise on all of the, the different nuances.
[00:05:37] Deb: Yeah. It is interesting that you say major deal. I think it applies. To anything, no matter the size.
[00:05:42] So, you know, we're working with not-for-profits who just want $10,000 to do something for the community all the way through to the multi-billion dollar tenders. And what I've found is in developing client-centric strategy, yeah. Um. It. It doesn't matter how big the bid is, it doesn't matter if it's minor, [00:06:00] medium, major because it's important to that client.
[00:06:03] It's their baby. It's, it's something they want to achieve.
[00:06:06] Karina: The reason I say major deal, I think this really came to the fore a lot in the collaborative contracts. So I was in Melbourne when aligning, became really big in Australia and worked on some of the early and water alliances there. I call it like a space race of tendering because it, it upped the sophistication level and client analysis bidding.
[00:06:24] And so I guess I think about that when I think about client centricity because we were trying to work out what clients have for breakfast at that point, because of collaborative contracting. You're not just getting them to evaluate. You're saying, can we work with 'em? Sign?
[00:06:34] Deb: Do we want to work with you?
[00:06:36] Karina: Yeah. Can. Create space for you. Can we use your expertise with us? Yeah. So it's all of that.
[00:06:41] Deb: Yeah. And, and that's, that's reemerging at the moment in the Australian market. Yeah. Again, how do you get to a point where you know your client that well?
[00:06:50] Karina: The easiest way, which most people are not comfortable with at all is talking to them.
[00:06:54] Deb: Oh my goodness.
[00:06:55] Karina: I have to go talk for a person. And this is, I think it's something the younger generation really struggles [00:07:00] with as well. Like I can't just text them, I can't WhatsApp them. Yeah. Um, I remember there was one organisation I was working for that we just, we didn't have a presence with, with a particular client on one of their panels anymore because no one had reached out.
[00:07:12] And so I helped. I just cold called. I said no
[00:07:14] Deb: one knew anybody. Yeah.
[00:07:16] Karina: Well, they didn't know and they didn't want to reach out. They, we knew who we needed to speak with. Yeah. And so I just did a call call and said, can we have a coffee? Helped, um, drive getting back on the panel.
[00:07:25] Deb: Yeah.
[00:07:25] Karina: But it's something that a particularly technical specialists are not comfortable with.
[00:07:28] And I had someone in in Singapore once say to me, I can't call that person. I don't know their level of ex, I don't have their level of expertise in the subject matter. I said, it doesn't matter. You're there to listen. You're not there to educate.
[00:07:39] Deb: That's it. That's it. You're there to listen. You are not there.
[00:07:43] To educate you ask for the chance to hear from them. You ask for the chance to listen to them. And the simplest tool that I have ever taught anyone is to use open questions. Don't tell them what you have. Ask them what [00:08:00] they want, ask them what they need. Just say, how can we help? And the open question allows people the space to.
[00:08:10] Allow you to listen.
[00:08:12] Karina: It does, and it will tell you things that aren't ever an intended document about the, the hidden things They're looking for the hidden nuances as well.
[00:08:19] Deb: Yeah.
[00:08:19] Karina: The, the questions I love asking clients alongside subject matter experts are what, how do you define value? And what does that mean to you?
[00:08:26] And are you looking for creativity or innovation and what does that look like?
[00:08:30] Deb: Absolutely. And there's this assumption that every client wants innovation. Yeah. Oh, the word innovation is in the tender, but you have to define innovation. Yeah. Are they looking for disruptive innovation that blows everything out of the water, or are they really just looking for some form of incremental change?
[00:08:46] Just a tweak here and there, you know, disruptive innovation. Incremental innovation or actually they don't want anything new. They just want you to manage what they already have better.
[00:08:57] Karina: Yeah. They might wanna reduce cost and they think [00:09:00] innovation's a going to do that, but they don't actually wanna take risks.
[00:09:02] That's rules. And innovation.
[00:09:03] Deb: Innovation and risk aversion.
[00:09:05] Karina: Yeah.
[00:09:06] Deb: You know,
[00:09:06] Karina: and value is a really interesting one because I, I have had a different answer from every single client I've ever asked this question of, and some have said, um, value to me is not suing each other. Always value is you identifying areas where we can save costs, because you don't take our word at face value, you interrogate the solution.
[00:09:22] Deb: Love it.
[00:09:23] Karina: So really good question to ask your client
[00:09:24] Deb: value. That's a really interesting one. Value to us is not stewing each other. And immediately when I hear that, I think, okay, well how does that impact my solution for this client? And the other thing I think to myself in the DNC world is people talk about sort of a no surprises or a non adversarial approach.
[00:09:43] But then it's, if a client is saying, I don't wanna ever see us suing each other, what do they really mean by that? And so, therefore, what does it mean to get to a point where you have such a good relationship that you're never gonna sue each other? And you define that. You can't just say, we are not gonna sue you.
[00:09:59] Trust us. You,
[00:09:59] Karina: [00:10:00] you need to develop that trust and open communication. And the it's, it comes back to the way you're working with the client,
[00:10:05] Deb: and then it influences everything you write in your tender. Do you find? I don't know. I, I do. When they, when you are listening to clients, it's often the throwaway line that gives you the deepest insight.
[00:10:17] Karina: Tangents are amazing. I let a team, we started with a template, but I'd often ignore that template. It did have open questions, but if someone came up with a tangent, we'd go there because that tells me more about what they're looking for, what drives their decisions as an individual as well. So I'd love to hear a client's tangent and, and what really.
[00:10:33] Kept them up and were their priorities
[00:10:35] Deb: and then explore that. Yeah, that's an interesting one. That's kind of from the, the marketing bend of the multifaceted skillset that is tendering is the, you know, what keeps the client up at night, what are their pain points? And you said, you know, people are reluctant to actually make that phone call.
[00:10:48] It's funny 'cause every time I've had those sorts of conversations, I've actually found that people are really happy to share.
[00:10:54] Karina: Really are, it helps them. They are the ones, you know, deciding which supplier to, uh, work [00:11:00] with for a time or maybe a few years. And if they get to have a chat with you beforehand and say, this is actually what I'm really after, that helps them as well.
[00:11:06] Deb: And I guess for the, for the new players out there, we should say this is all happening. Before the iron curtain of probity comes down, so this is all pre-bid. This is what we call in, in the pursuit phase.
[00:11:18] Karina: It is the pursuit phase. So it's an op. You've identified an opportunity, you want to go after it. They can talk openly because there is no probity in place from a tender process, and so they can.
[00:11:27] Yeah, have an open chat.
[00:11:28] Deb: It's something that often clients say when we are, you know, having this, well, you know, do you actually know the client? They're government. They won't wanna talk to me. And it's like, do you know that? Well, they will, even if we get a meeting with them, they won't answer our questions.
[00:11:42] Do you know that? Have you tried? Yes. Have you asked? And I think it's really, really important if you don't ask the answers no. So even after that. Shoot phase and you're in the middle of the tender. I often hear from people, oh, we can't ask that question. We can't ask that clarification. [00:12:00] It might give something away, or they might think, we haven't read the documents.
[00:12:03] It's like, read the documents first. But what do you think of not asking the question that you probably need to ask in clarification questions?
[00:12:10] Karina: It's really a risk. So I know there are some companies that are reluctant to do this because their competitors will see the question and then they may get an inkling as to what the offer will be.
[00:12:20] You're all tendering for the same thing. It can't be that different to what they're doing as well. So, I mean, ideal scenario you've asked before probably kicks in.
[00:12:27] Deb: Yep.
[00:12:27] Karina: Sometimes you can have an offline conversation where you're not getting into anything that would be detrimental to the bidding process.
[00:12:34] So you can do that. If you know someone or you know someone that's worked for the client, you might be able to, you know, test some waters there.
[00:12:40] Deb: Yeah.
[00:12:41] Karina: But if it's significant to your understanding of the scope and the contract that you're gonna create through the tender, it is a thistle to us.
[00:12:46] Deb: Just ask.
[00:12:47] And what's the worst that can happen? The client says no.
[00:12:50] Karina: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.
[00:12:52] Deb: I'm not giving you that information.
[00:12:53] Karina: Yeah,
[00:12:54] Deb: but that's not what I found happens.
[00:12:56] Karina: No, they're usually pretty generous with their knowledge because again, it's, it's helps [00:13:00] them to help us like Help us to help you is what a tender we process.
[00:13:03] Deb: Absolutely.
[00:13:04] Karina: Yeah.
[00:13:04] Deb: Another thing I wanted to touch on, and I think it's probably higher level client-centric strategy is. Using your engagement with clients to actually influence the shape the tender takes before it comes out.
[00:13:16] Karina: Amazing. When you don't actually need a tendering professional as much, you're not overlying on the tender.
[00:13:21] That's the perfect scenario.
[00:13:22] Deb: Mm.
[00:13:22] Karina: So I remember there was a campaign I worked on for three years for a pursuit before it came out, and it involved a lot of client engagement. There was some executive level events bringing in international experts, I think, from Israel to meet this, this client.
[00:13:36] Deb: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:36] Karina: And some of it was video link as well, but.
[00:13:39] Really, I think that tender was ultimately successful because of that early engagement, and it was a five stage, very gruelling, tender process, interviews, et cetera. It was an Australian first, um, technology for this tender as well. But yeah, we did influence what went into that tender because we presented some, uh.
[00:13:55] World leading solutions. So that found its way into the scope.
[00:13:58] Deb: And some would argue, oh, well, [00:14:00] you know, you are, you are giving it away and you're allowing others to pursue. It's like, well, not if they don't have the technology that we're actually offering. And I think that is, that is really high level, getting to a point where you know your clients so well, that you actually help influence and shape the, uh, the, the bid document.
[00:14:17] One of the things sort of in terms of client centricity, I always say it's actually the hardest place to win from is when you're incumbent. And that's 'cause the client knows you so well and you know the risks associated with that contract so well. I find clients sometimes actually sink themselves because they wallow in that risk.
[00:14:37] So there's, knowing the client. And then sometimes there's, knowing the client so well, you actually do yourself detriment. Yeah. Where's the line?
[00:14:47] Karina: It's an interesting one, that one, because I've seen companies get incredibly arrogant because they were, they're like, we know the client and we also know what, what's good for the client.
[00:14:55] We know what, we know what you need. You don't even know what you need. I know what you need.
[00:14:58] Deb: Oh, I've heard that said [00:15:00] so many times. Other client doesn't really know what they want.
[00:15:02] Karina: You're competing with a company that is, is wooing your client. And I've talked about proposals being like almost like a romantic ex exercise.
[00:15:09] You're giving in a proposal to work with you and when you come along and say, Hey, you, you would be so lucky to have me because I'm amazing and I have all this talent and I can do all these things for you, and you make it all about you that doesn't resonate. Same if you are flooding them with details that you think are important, but they don't care about.
[00:15:27] So yeah, again, it's really important to continue wooing and continue treating them, uh, respectfully and creating space for them in the working relationship. Absolutely.
[00:15:37] Deb: And if you know that there are issues with what you have delivered somewhere along the line. Then address the elephant in the room. Show that you have learnt that lesson.
[00:15:49] Show that you know over time together you've managed to get to where exactly the client wants and then show them it would be a risk to change horses at this time, because [00:16:00] guess what? We know this now we've learn this. Anyone coming in now, they're gonna have to catch up and they're gonna make all the mistakes all over again.
[00:16:09] So if you do know as an incumbent that there are certain things that your client just doesn't like about their their past with you, don't shy away from it. Don't go, oh, no, no, no. We can't talk about Don't talk about that. We can't talk about that. It's like, no, honestly, put it on the front page. Yes. Tell them what you've learned.
[00:16:27] Be brave, be bold.
[00:16:28] Karina: Lessons learned are so valuable and I have worked for a company that there was an entrenched opponent because we had stepped a job up and they just ignored that. I said, can we please send someone an exec to go and talk to this client? Ignore that, and still put in 10 tenders to this one department in government loss them all.
[00:16:45] But yeah, lessons learned, acknowledging your mistakes and what you're gonna do differently is, is. A great way to say, show the client that you're listening to them.
[00:16:51] Deb: You talked about arrogance in tendering. I talk about humility in it. Here I am, and here I'm humbling, humbling myself and humbling [00:17:00] my organisation to ask you please to listen to what we have to offer.
[00:17:03] It's not. Hello. We are the greatest, you know, come and come and choose us
[00:17:08] Karina: praying for 20,000 years. And we bring a broad range of services and we're a one stop shop. Like all of that has been heard before.
[00:17:15] Deb: Yeah. And there's a subjectivity to tendering. You know, it's like people ask us about our win rate and everything else.
[00:17:21] It say, well, I don't talk about win rates. I talk about. Putting clients in the best possible position to win, but the only way to be able to be put yourself in the best possible position to win is to be able to see the subjective and to see what might influence the result of the tender. That is unwritten.
[00:17:40] That is unstated. You can picture it, you know, the iceberg, the tip of the iceberg, but the stated requirements of a bid sitting sort of above the water. You can see that. And then the bias and the perception and the risk orientation and the politics and the dynamic of individuals within an [00:18:00] organisation and the financial.
[00:18:02] Capacity and all of that sitting underneath, that's where you win the bid.
[00:18:07] Karina: Definitely. And you, again, you find most of that out before the tender hits.
[00:18:10] Deb: That's it.
[00:18:11] Karina: You can even ask, like, I've had a lot of clients say, we lost that tender on price. You know, our price was too high, we lost it on price. But you can actually ask the client for their budget.
[00:18:19] Before, before pro
[00:18:21] Deb: money. People hate talking about money.
[00:18:23] Karina: Money. Talking to someone in the first place and then asking about money are both really uncomfortable for most people.
[00:18:29] Deb: Push through the discomfort,
[00:18:30] Karina: push through it. It can make such a difference.
[00:18:32] Deb: Well, what client centricity is really about is at its core, those people, those clients, understanding them, listening to them.
[00:18:40] Then building something really specific to Chase that win off the back of that understanding. Thanks for the chat. Maybe next one, we'll we'll have a rose and we'll we'll talk a bit more.
[00:18:49] Karina: Sounds great.
[00:18:50] Deb: Thanks.
[00:18:50] Karina: Thanks.
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