Easy wins in editing
by Roshan Sahukar, Tender Specialist (Sydney)
Easy wins in editing
Editing is a crucial part of preparing a bid submission and while you will routinely edit your response at each of the bronze, silver and gold gate, the final edit and proofread is usually squeezed into the final 24 hours before the upload deadline, leaving little time to do it well. But even when the clock is ticking there are a handful of things you can do to polish your document and make it shine. Here are the easy wins in editing that can elevate your tender response and boost your chances of winning the bid.
Start with the big picture
Before you dive into sentence construction and spelling, you should make sure the document’s structure is working hard to showcase the content you’re presenting. In other words, are you writing to win? Ideally your response will follow a general framework that covers your understanding of the topic, the key features of your solution and the benefit to the customer. This is a guide not a rule. Use your editor’s instinct when considering the flow and pacing of the narrative, to determine if the structure is sound. The order of paragraphs can make all the difference to the logical flow of a document, so don’t be afraid to switch them around so the story makes sense and sells your solution.
Set yourself up for success
Establish a style guide for your response from the outset. Preferably one that reflects, as much as possible, both the RFP documentation and your company’s house style. This can include a glossary of abbreviations that is often included in the RFP docs. Similarly, if you identify, early on, a system for section references, whether captions sit above or below a table or figure and your agreed rules for a bulleted list you can edit within those parameters quickly and easily. A solid style guide enables you to eliminate the uncertainty that comes with not having had all those conversations up front. While you’re at it, set your language to English (Australian) to sort the organization from the organisation and capture other quirks of the English language. Top tip: Try to use the same base style guide for all your bids so you know your house style. This will save you time as you won’t need to refer back to a style document constantly.
Learn from your mistakes
If you’ve proofread enough proposals you can quickly assemble a mental list of regular errors that crop up in your returnable documents. Things like double spaces, double full-stops, space full-stop, “the the” and while (not ye olde whilst) are the low-hanging fruit that will quickly diminish your document if left unchecked. You can extend this to build out a list of “problem words” that always seem up for debate: things like benchmark not bench mark or coordinate not co-ordinate, plus overused buzzwords or empty phrases that don’t actually mean anything. Best thing about this is you can whip through a document with a find-and-replace and remove these in five minutes flat, minimising inconsistencies that can dilute the impact of your tender response. Top tip: Record your list or regular errors and problem words in your style guide as a checklist so you can speed through it before submission.
Take me to your reader
Whether you’re writing or editing it’s important to keep the end user top of mind. In the case of competitive bidding, it’s the evaluator you should be thinking about. This is the person you’re trying to convince that your company should be the first choice when it’s time to select the winning tender. When preparing a tender response, I like to imagine the evaluator is a disgruntled bloke with a comb-over. I imagine he is required to wade through many, many responses and he’s not particularly enthusiastic about the task at hand. Therefore, I will do everything in my power to make it as easy as possible for him to clearly understand my solution and choose my response as the winner. I certainly don’t want to annoy him further with poorly constructed sentences, or a proposal that takes too long to get to the point (see: Don’t bury the lead, below). Also, having a single consistent reader in mind (comb-over or not) will assist you in ensuring you are writing in a consistent tone across all of your returnable documents. Top tip: To smooth the way for bid success, conjure up your own personal evaluator and write and edit with that person in mind.
Don’t bury the lead
This is a journalist’s pet hate where a story takes forever to get to the point. If something is interesting, important to your solution or helps you stand out from the crowd you should be shouting that thing from the rooftops. Don’t bury the fun stuff three paragraphs down under an unnecessary and, possibly quite dull, preamble. State it up front and give the guy with the combover something to smile about.
Don’t waste a moment before your next submission. Use that time to execute a solid editing job that captures structure, tone and the finer details and allow your tender response shine.
Need some help? The Tender Plus team offers tender writing, editing and consulting services Australia wide to help take your tenders to the next level. Get in touch to learn more about how we can assist you to pursue and win competitive business.