Love me Tender: celebrating 90 years of Elvis

Elvis Presley as told to Roshan Sahukar, Tender Specialist (Sydney) 

This year marks 90 years since the birth of rock ’n’ roll icon Elvis Presley. Turns out, The King had a lot to say about tenders.

Hound Dog

Tender writers are like a dog with a bone: but you won’t catch them “cryin’ all the time”. They’re here to get the job done, so they’ll round up your subject matter experts and shepherd them towards a solution before you can say, “Memphis, Tennessee”.

Jailhouse Rock

Tender Plus has worked on all kinds of tenders, including builds bigger than Graceland, vital infrastructure projects and of course, correctional facilities – so I couldn’t leave this one out.

Suspicious Minds

Trust is a big factor between a consultant and their clients, especially with subject matter experts who are new to the world of bidding. Tender consultants build trust with your subject matter experts to formulate the best response for the tender and win work for your business. Trust the process. After all, “We can’t build our dreams on suspicious minds”

All Shook Up

If they’ve told you once, they’ve told you a thousand times. Bids are messy. And at some point, with stress levels peaking, you might be All Shook Up: “my hands are shaking, my knees are weak”. Tendering can be a rollercoaster ride, but Tender Plus, they got you.

Return to Sender

This one is about getting it wrong before you get it right and the importance of a constructive review process. Helpful and considered feedback on a draft submission that’s not hitting the mark in terms of strategy or compliance is a crucial part of the tendering process. As long as your feedback is respectful, you should never be afraid to Return to Sender. Your submission will be all the better for it.

Don’t be Cruel

This brings me to my next point. At Tender Plus we’re all about kindness and nowhere is this more important than in the high-stress world of bidding. When delivering feedback on a response or reviewing a returnable, we’ll always do so with kindness and sensitivity. In this way they set the tone for a positive and productive working relationship within the bid team to get the job done.

Always On My Mind

Just like Vegas, bids have a way of getting under your skin – whether you’re a contributor or a tender consultant – and sometimes you might can feel like you’re not thinking about anything else. Don’t get to the end of the bid and realise, with regret, you haven’t checked in with your team members as often as you could have: “Little things I should have said and done, I just never took the time.” It’s everyone’s responsibility to look after each other to ensure the team is doing okay mentally throughout the duration of the bid.

Blue Suede Shoes

“Well, it’s one for the money, two for the show” and, like collectors bidding for my rhinestone jumpsuit at a memorabilia auction, price is obviously front of mind for the client during a tender. Often it does come down to price, but really it’s about value for the client. If you can’t beat your competitors on price you need a solid strategy to show the client that what you can provide will give them the best value in the long term.

A Little Less Conversation

As I say in this one, “Don’t procrastinate” and nothing is truer when the countdown toward submission day is on. Articulating the solution is key, of course, but the sooner your team can stop talking about a solution and start writing a tender response that really sells its benefits to the client, the sooner you’ll be heading for “A little less conversation, a little more action”.

It’s Now or Never

If there’s one non negotiable for a compliant tender, it’s the bid submission date, and there’s no way you can miss it. Tender consultants have this date etched in their minds. They can help you get it done: It’s now or never.

Love Me Tender

The Tender Plus team reckon this tune is a love letter to the humble tender if they ever heard one. All that’s missing is a comma and it becomes a plaintive plea to your latest project: Love me, tender.

If you’re in the mood for tendering, check out my Love Me Tender playlist by Tender Plus.

Thankyou. Thankyouverymuch.