Imagine you wanted a car to use for a year or two (maybe three or four) and your budget was £1000. Your only stated requirements were that it had to be a runner, in a roadworthy condition.
One private seller offers you their car for £1000, unseen. They offer no other information at all. No idea of the make, colour, engine size, mileage, or condition.
Another seller sends you photographs of their car priced at £1100. It’s a reliable marque with a full-service history and low mileage. It’s really clean with leather seats and a good quality stereo. Plus, the seller is a reputable dealer.
I’m pretty sure you’d have a chat with the second seller to try and reach an agreement. Maybe you’d even scrape together the extra money from somewhere.
It’s a similar scenario when you’re tendering for contracts.
How often have you participated in price-only tenders where no other information is required? I bet that it’s not often.
Many ‘price only’ tenders also request a methodology, CVs for your key people, a programme, case studies of previous work, or other information.
Don’t simply throw in a few generic documents and hope that they will do the trick. You and/or your team have spent time, money, and effort crunching the numbers. So why not seize the opportunity to differentiate your business from the competition?
Provide supporting information that you’ve written specifically for the customer, or at least for their industry sector.
Help them to understand that doing business with you offers greater benefits and fewer risks than going with any of your competitors.
Over-delivering at such an early stage in your relationship can make a big difference.
Plus it will reassure your team that their efforts are valued.
And, even if a price is all the customer has asked for, wrap it up in a well-presented document that introduces your business. Include a few pen portraits of your team and a couple of concise, well-chosen case studies that showcase your successful delivery of similar work.
The worst that can happen is they ignore it. But it could just make the difference between a waste of time and a rewarding journey.
Invest in creating a bank of standard, regularly updated CVs and detailed case studies. This will save you time later and may well make the difference between gaining a new client and wasting your time and money.
Let us help you. Call us now for a chat.
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