In this issue
Personalisation is Key to CV Success
In “Personalisation is Key to CV Success”, Martin Smith reminds us that providing a relevant and relatable submission is crucial whether you’re seeking a potential employer or a potential client.
Martin is the Managing Director of Bid Solutions and has been connecting winners since 2004.
Turn Every Page
Pippa Birch’s advice is to “Turn Every Page” to ensure you don’t fall into any procurement traps or miss hidden information that may impact your score.
Pippa owns the award-winning Pipster Solutions Ltd. She is well known in the highways sector, is APMP Professional certified and mentors other bid professionals.
Just Wanna Have Fun
Dr Nigel Hudson’s article “Just Wanna Have Fun” highlights the importance of actively measuring and incorporating fun into your working life at personal, team and corporate levels.
Affectionately known as ‘The Bid Doctor’, Nigel has a doctorate in workplace learning and is BQ’s resident professional development expert.
Have Confidence in Yourself and Others Will Too
Charlotte Rees provides tips in “Have Confidence in Yourself and Others Will Too” on bolstering self-confidence and the best use of your bidding skillset.
Charlotte has over 10 years’ bidding experience. She founded the Wellbeing and Inclusion in Bids and Proposals (WIBAP) community, targeting gender inequality within the profession.
Ban Writing
“Ban Writing” is Sarah Hinchcliffe’s advice for achieving the best bidding results. Her article explains the rationale behind this approach – and no, she hasn’t lost the plot!
Sarah labels herself ‘Storyteller, Organiser, Timekeeper’, sharing her sales and bidding expertise through consulting, writing, speaking and mentoring.
The Power of Lessons Shared
In “The Power of Lessons Shared”, Jon Williams explains the importance of reviewing both wins and losses (within teams and with customers) to identify trends and improve future submissions.
Jon is an award-winning leader who has supported bid professionals in over 35 countries.
Think My Thoughts
Chris Whyatt’s “Think My Thoughts” explains the importance delving deep into customer needs and developing strong customer relationships.
Chris is the co-founder of the UK APMP and has worked on major growth initiatives, sales and channel growth, sales turnarounds, must win deals, and sales and bid process improvement.
Bidding Tech Secrets
Javier Escartin’s article “Bidding Tech Secrets” lifts the curtain on his top three tips (plus a bonus tip!) for using tech to save time and improve bidding processes.
Javier is a freelance Proposal Manager and the founder of DeepRFP.com, a business making our work easier with artificial intelligence.
Pick the Right Reviewers and Act on Their Suggestions
“Pick the Right Reviewers and Act on Their Suggestions” is Tony Birch’s quick win advice. He explains why reviewers need clear instructions and should understand their role is to improve, not approve.
Tony is the founder/Chairman of Shipley Limited (UK), served on APMP’s main board and is an APMP Fellow.
Continuous Learning and Improvement: The Secret Recipe for Winning Bids
“Continuous Learning: The Secret Recipe for Winning Bids” by Rita Mascia delivers insights into the value of improving your skills – and yourself – to create better solutions and win more bids.
Rita has 24 years’ experience in business development, capture, bid management, bid writing, and contract negotiations.
Top Tips for Winning Bids
Tricia Blatherwick’s “Top Tips for Winning Bids” takes a novel approach. What would the client’s press release say after you’ve won? Drafting it yourself provides motivation.
Tricia is Chief Commercial Officer at AutogenAI. She has worked for some of the UK’s largest IT and Outsourcing companies for over 30 years.
The Art of Doing Less, Better
Darrell Woodward explains the concept of ‘rigorous laziness’ in “The Art of Doing Less, Better”. He encourages a fight for more humane – rather than human – productivity.
Darrell is an award-winning consultant helping organisations unleash the full power of proposal automation to win more business faster.
Top Tips for Managing a Bid
Kate Cummins details five easily-implemented strategies for bid success in “Top Tips for Managing a Bid”. These useful ideas are suitable for every opportunity.
Kate is a highly experienced Bid Consultant with a proven track record of success in the ICT, Software, Telecoms and Fintech sectors.
Don’t tell your SMEs to ‘Read the Question’.
In “Don’t Tell Your SMEs to Read the Question”, Peter Lobl suggests a better approach to ensuring SMEs understand each question and answer all of the component parts.
Peter is a director of Sixfold International, an APMP accredited professional and an APMG approved trainer for Foundation and Practitioner level certification.
Persuasive Presentations: Defying “Death by PowerPoint”
Ceri Mescall provides her pro tip in “Persuasive Presentations: Defying “Death by Powerpoint””. She provides specific steps you can follow to drive accountability and minimise re-work.
Ceri is a Work Winning Consultant based in Canada. She is a thought leader, holds all four APMP certifications and is an APMP Fellow.
30-Minute Planning Power!
In “30-Minute Planning Power!”, Lorraine Baird provides tips to help you combat SME procrastination and improve the quality of the information they provide.
Lorraine’s career in sales and bidding spans over 20 years. She holds APMP Professional certification and recently attained the new APMP Capture Practitioner certification.
The Signposted Path to Winning Hearts and Minds
In “The Signposted Path to Winning Hearts and Minds”, Isabella Stevenson shows you how to maximise opportunities to craft a journey to bid success.
Isabella has over 14 years’ bidding experience encompassing collaboration with technical teams to build win themes, install best practice and develop creative thinking.
(Re)capture That Content
Kathryn Potter outlines an easy way to recapture content for re-use with the aim of creating a simple bid plan that avoids desktop lunches and ensures leaving work on time.
Kathryn has extensive bid writing experience and sees relevant, up-to-date content as the cornerstone of proposal development.
Better Customer Focus in Four Letters
Nigel Dennis provides a systematic approach to developing compelling, relevant and impactful responses in “Better Customer Focus in Four Letters”.
Nigel has over three decades of proposal consulting experience. He started the APMP Australia New Zealand Chapter, runs Australia’s largest specialist bid consultancy and has trained thousands of bid professionals.
Leverage These Three Simple Strategies to Boost Your Bid Success
Chris Kälin’s article “Leverage These Three Simple Strategies to Boost Your Bid Success” may give you the key to unlocking improvements in win rates.
Chris is a global authority on bid and proposal management. He co-founded the German-speaking APMP chapter, is APMP Professional certified and is an APMP Approved Trainer.
Sell the Sizzle, Not Just the Steak
In her article “Sell the Sizzle, Not Just the Steak”, Larissa Cornelius highlights the value proposition statement as a key ingredient in crafting winning bids, proposals and pitches.
Larissa has over 20 years’ industry experience, training thousands of people and collaborating with over 260 companies on strategic bid work.
Be More Interesting than Eastenders
Mike Reader’s article “Be More Interesting Than Eastenders” will help you keep an evaluator focused on your proposal – not the goings-on in Albert Square.
Mike is a leading UK work winning professional, heading a specialist team at Mace who work across all continents pursuing mega built environment and infrastructure projects.
Joining the Dots
In “Joining the Dots”, Jeremy Brim provides suggestions to help you navigate through the marketing funnel, with stops at Capture and Key Account Management along the way.
Jeremy (CP APMP) leads Growth Ignition – a transformation, consulting, training and enabling tech firm in the work winning space.
Just answer the question….
Dr Karen Croshaw helps you identify characters in your organisation who may struggle to “Just Answer the Question…” and offers a clear matrix to improve their efforts.
Karen’s 25 year bidding/consulting career spans a range of public and private sector bids. She also has strong Middle East bid/project delivery experience.
