As with any profession, being an excellent bid writer is about more than just having the right job title.
After all, winning contracts is binary – there are no prizes for coming second. It is, therefore, imperative you hire the right person first time to increase significantly your chances of winning.
Of course, good bid writers need to have…..well, highly developed writing skills. However, of equal importance are a range of softer qualities, such as:
- Excellent interpersonal skills – an ability to connect with different types of people quickly, given the writer will work with a wide range of clients (including technical experts) and personalities.
- Adapting their approach – clients are different, and have their own processes and preferences. The writer will, therefore, need to fit in with their ways of working to create an integrated team.
- Planning time effectively and being flexible – bids have deadlines; clients have deadlines; they also have day jobs and cannot always be available when the writer might like. A good bid writer needs to take this into account and plan accordingly. That will include peaks in activity – sometimes, some very high peaks at the end of bid processes.
- Absorbing large volumes of information quickly, including on unfamiliar topics – procurement documentation often runs into hundreds of pages, but the writer might only have a day (or maximum two!) to read, and understand the material. They, therefore, need to digest it quickly, and conduct research, where necessary, to ensure they understand fully what they are writing about.
- Being thick-skinned – this can be a difficult one to test (and sometimes writers have to learn the hard way!). However, clients sometimes only have time to focus on the bid response towards the end of the process (understandable when they have a day job!). They may change their mind about their solution or identify a better example to demonstrate their experience. An excellent writer will put aside the hours of work they may already have expended, and re-connect with the task quickly to produce a fresh response.
Given we at Kittle directly employ our writers, we are able to test for these skills during recruitment and provide ongoing training and mentoring. We, therefore, provide clients with strong, experienced and adaptable writers who really take the headache out of bidding. Whether you choose to hire a company like ours or an agency that uses freelancers, always ask how they do so too. It will provide a far better customer experience.