But, it must be practised!
There’s an old saying “Business is what, if you don’t have, you go out of”.
It is an apt saying for a small businessman who recently contacted me for assistance in winning a government tender. Bill (not his real name) largely relied on being a sub-contractor to two bigger businesses – but both unexpectedly took that away, expanding their operations into Bill’s field.
Another old saying is “the most dangerous number in business in ONE”, as in one market, or one product. In Bills case it was two. And it had been a very cost relationship for a long time. Bill had no need to market or sell, just be a good operator in his field. But in the end that was not enough.
He did know there were a good, on-going contracts around through government, but Bill had never worried about them. He never had to. Now he did, but tendering to acquire such contracts was a skill he had yet to acquire.
Jim had a similar lack, but was in different position. Young and ambitious, with a growing business, he set his sights on winning a major government contract as a flagship for his business. But like Bill, had had never crafted a tender. The road ahead was very foggy.
Both had a common aim, but with a common lack of experience in tendering. They both seek to transform their business.
What they were after, why would tendering solve their problem?
Government tenders can be important to a small business. A government contract can provide a solid base to your business, stability of income, and help stimulate growth. This is even more so with contracts that run for a couple of years, with the option for an extension.
Are you in that position – vulnerable if you lose a couple of key markets? Or are you planning on a new direction, and want to establish a solid base for growth?
Submitting tenders for new business opportunities is ‘no brainer’ when it comes to small business growth.
As I posted in my last blog, Are you Missing Out on Lucrative Contracts, “businesses are losing out on lucrative projects as they are not submitting for work through government tenders.
In particular it is SMEs that are not recognising the ongoing opportunities for business projects, and these opportunities span across all industries and sectors.”
My message in that post was that having great technical skills is not enough to win such contracts. Nor is discounting. Price is but one factor, and rarely the most important. You need to be able to draft persuasive and compelling responses that demonstrate you are the only logical choice for the contract.
And that means learning a new skill, just as Bill and Jim are doing.
When you master that skill, you remove a key barrier to the growth of your business. You now have options for the road ahead. The fog stars to clear.
But there is more to it than just learning the skill. Remember, tendering is one of those skills in which you have to keep improving, because the competition is also looking to continually get better, and times are getting tougher, despite the opportunities.
It’s a mistake to leave it until you have a tender opportunity in front of you. Tender turnaround times are becoming increasingly truncated. You can have as little as 10 working days to complete a response, and usually no more than three to four weeks.
My “TenderWins – The Tender Winning Formula” online course, which I am running initially as a Pilot Course to fine tune delivery, is what you need.
Imagine having pushed the ‘Submit button’ and being quietly confident about your response, and not having to have spent late, stressful night putting your tender together.
Like a good football team, learn the winning moves, and keep practicing them so they become second nature. Practice makes perfect.
Bill and Jim are preparing to be in a winning position.
Take the Next Step
How many more times do you want to submit a tender without getting the results you want, or need? How much more time do you want to spend over trying to figure this out, when the Tender Winning Formula can give you the answers.
My experience, my results, with past clients have shown that you can win key contracts. “TenderWins – The Tender Winning Formula” can help you do that.
If you are tired of wasting more time and not winning those tenders or getting the results you want, then contact me right now – go to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and type “I’m interested” into the subject line, and I’ll contact you.
Adam Gordon
© Copyright 2019 Adam Gordon
Here’s what to do about it!
An interesting article online from DynamicBusiness suggested “Businesses are losing out on lucrative projects as they are not submitting for work through government tenders.
In particular, it is SMEs that are not recognising the ongoing opportunities for business projects, and these opportunities span across all industries and sectors.”
The article went on to say:
“There is a broad range of work available from maintenance, marketing, to building and consultancy – and everything in between” says Darren Frearson, the founder of Australian Anti-Corruption Certification Register (the country’s first national register of businesses that have certified to be corruption free).
According to Darren, smaller businesses are assuming that they will be unsuccessful due to their size. There is potentially a feeling that they cannot compete with larger scale businesses when in reality there is no minimum requirement for company size.
It can be a great income stream for SMEs, without any lead generation required.
There is a significant amount of untouched opportunity throughout all tiers of government including federal, state and local.
With most advertisements available to view and respond to online, there is no excuse for small businesses not to find the projects relevant to them.”
Now this may not be for you, but as the article suggests, it can be a lucrative market across a broad range of activities. There is almost certainly an opportunity for you.
Do you tender for government work?
• If you do, are you successful? If not, what is impeding you?
• If you don’t seek good government contracts – what holds you back?
Is the road block concern that you can’t compete against the big boys? You can you know – a number of times I’ve worked with small local businesses where the incumbent contract holder has been a large national company, and we’ve managed to take it off them.
It can be done!
Or is the problem that while you have great technical skills, after all, that is how you built your business, but you haven’t had the opportunity to learn how to submit compelling, persuasive tender responses? And yes, it can be stressful, and hard work.
Tendering is one of those skills in which you have to keep improving, because the competition is also looking to continually get better, and times are getting tougher, despite the opportunities.
It’s a mistake to leave it until you have a tender opportunity in front of you. Tender turnaround times are becoming increasingly truncated. You can have as little as 10 working days to complete a response, and usually no more than three to four weeks.
I’ve now been writing government tenders for years for my business, plus helping many clients write them, as well as undertaking numerous one-on-one coaching sessions, running webinars on tendering, and conducting Tendering Essentials workshops for many years.
What I have learnt is the importance of preparation and planning, how to avoid a ME – ME response, how to use a Value Proposition, how to write persuasively, why presentation is important, the role of review, and more.
Because you must write to reassure and persuade, bid preparation, tender response, call it what you will, is more than just compliance. Your ability to write effective tenders and proposals is an essential business skill. Despite this, and probably because most businesses, like yours, are built on the technical skills of their owners, it is uncommon.
It has bothered me for a long time that there are so many business owners like you missing out on sales opportunities or are not able to seize those opportunities simply because they don’t have the skills to write effective tenders in response to requests for tender, and frequently resort to discounting to win the job.
Yet price can be worth as little as 10% in the overall assessment criteria. So you may not be winning the contract, even through you may be the cheapest. You may been undercutting your own prices to get your foot in the door.
If you had understood all the other factors they consider you could have painted yourself in the best possible light.
And that is just why I developed my “TenderWins – The Tender Winning Formula” online course, which I am running initially as a Pilot Course to fine tune delivery.
Imagine having pushed the ‘Submit button’ and being quietly confident about your response, and not having to have spent late, stressful night putting your tender together.
If you are interested in:
• Learning how to prepare for, analyse and persuasively respond to tender requirements
• Developing the skills to submit well presented, compliant and compelling responses
• Winning more tenders, without stress or feeling under pressure
my Pilot Course is for you.
Turn pain into pleasure! If you don’t take up this opportunity, what is life going to look like when it comes to that next tender opportunity? Will it look any different?
Take the Next Step
How many more times do you want to submit a tender without getting the results you want, or need? How much more time do you want to spend over trying to figure this out, when the Tender Winning Formula can give you the answers.
My experience, my results, with past clients have shown that you can win key contracts. “TenderWins – The Tender Winning Formula” can help you do that.
If you are tired of wasting more time and not winning those tenders or getting the results you want, then contact me right now – go to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and type “I’m interested” into the subject line, and I’ll contact you.
Adam Gordon
© Copyright 2019 Adam Gordon
3 Steps to clear the road to your goals
Is one of the goals of your business to make money? I don’t necessarily mean to make enough to be filthy rich, but enough to be comfortable in your lifestyle, enough not to have to worry about money when you retire. Retirement looms for all of us.
From another perspective, suppose you wanted to set up a new operation, launch a new product or enter a new market. What would success look like, what do you hope to achieve, and by when.
Both the first example, making sufficient money, and the second, succeeding in a new operation are goals.
I’m sure you have such goals in your business!
What is holding you back, constraining you from achieving that goal? Are there impediments, roadblocks, restraining your progress?
3 Action Steps to Remove the Impediments
Step 1 – The Critical Success Factors
To achieve goals, there are always a number of Critical Success Factors, things that MUST happen for you to achieve that goal. In effect, if you were able to successfully control these factors, remove the impediment, then your goal would be achieved.
You must clearly articulate your goal. If you are not clear about what you want to achieve and you don't know what is necessary to achieve it, then obviously it's going to be very difficult to get there
Those Critical Success Factors then need to be pinned down. They are not likely to be many, perhaps five or six for any one goal.
Clients sometimes struggle with this when we’re doing business planning, but it is very important and well worth thinking through.
Once you have established these you are looking for the roadblocks, the main impediments to your success.
Get out a piece of paper, do a mind map if you like, and set up a series of columns with each of those Critical Success Factors at the top of each column.
Under each factor, brainstorm and list all the obstacles, road blocks, barriers and impediments that are preventing that Critical Success Factor working properly for you.
The main impediment will be in that list. There are a number of ways to determine which it is. You could use:
- Straight voting;
- Weighting using the 80/20 rule – which few factors cause most of the problems;
- Multivoting – use your team, they know what is going on in your business, to help you decide, give each member say 5 votes and get them to allocate the votes to those factors causing the biggest constraint.
- Urgency/Impact matrix – draw up a three by three matrix with Urgency on the vertical axis and Impact on the horizontal. You are looking for the factors that have high urgency and high impact.
Now you know the principal impediment to clear for your Critical Success Factors to work.
Step 2 – Remove the Impediment
Next you need to determine the root cause of that impediment. Use the “5 Whys”; keep digging down to the root cause of the problem by asking “Why is it so” for each answer generated for that impediment. Do this five times. When you know it, then you can fix it, properly.
But of course, that is not the end of the story. Now is not the time to allow complacency or inertia to step in.
Step 3 - Rinse and repeat.
Return to the second most critical impediment, and determine its root cause. Remove it.
Rinse and repeat until the road to your goal is clear, and the travelling smooth and comfortable.
Having Difficulty Identifying and Enabling your Critical Success Factors?
When clients find themselves in this situation, finding it difficult to achieve their goals, it often comes down to a lack of clarity of what is happening in their business, and not being able to identify their Critical Success Factors. If they could, they would have removed them, and achieved their goals.
You need to know what is happening in your business, and that means more than acting on PHOGY thinking. The road to success is paved with good information, so you can see where you have been, and where you are going, and not be fog-bound.
For more than 30 years I’ve been helping small business owners use the right tactics to plug the profit leaks in their business and restoring their cash flows by assisting them determine their Critical Success Factors, and free them up so their goals are achieved.
If you would like to discuss with me how you might do that, book a Strategy Consult here. There is no cost.
© Copyright 2019 Adam Gordon, Profits Leak Detective
So why don’t I have any money?”
A recent article in SmartCompany bought to mind a comment from a client some years ago. She was in a woeful mood, and said “I don’t understand what my accounts are telling me, and that makes me feel I don’t have control of my business!”.
Now she is certainly right, if you don’t understand what your accounts are telling you, the picture they are painting, then you certainly don’t have control of your business.
I have looked at this issue in “Avoid these 5 Mistakes in Small Business”, and “Do you have full control of your Cash Flow?”, plus a newsletter (PLD 63 Do you know what is happening in your business? - let me know if you would like a copy)
It is an issue that comes up repeatedly in the small and medium business world, and particularly if times are becoming tough, as they could be. A plaintive cry from small business owners I’ve heard so often over the years is “The accountant says we are profitable. So why don’t I have any money?”
And that is why I thought you might find Daniel Smith’s article in SmartCompany useful.
Take it Away, Daniel
Don’t know the difference between cashflow and income?
A financial guide for aspiring entrepreneurs
Being an entrepreneur is no walk in the park.
While we often hear the success stories of so-and-so who quit their job, started a business and managed to turn a profit in just a few months, these stories tend to omit the not-so-glamorous parts of entrepreneurial life.
In fact, it’s common for entrepreneurs to face total overwhelm within their first few months, or even years in business, due to numerous factors, such as:
- Not enough time and money available;
- Lack of proper planning;
- Having to take on additional roles in the business (such as sales, bookkeeping, marketing and systems administration without prior knowledge);
- Little understanding of how to use financial resources; and
- Stress and worry about not making a profit.
Simply put, the entrepreneurial journey can be full of trepidation, with constant worry, stress and fear nagging at the back of our minds.
Luckily, there are plenty of solutions to help navigate the throes of entrepreneurship, one of which is understanding how to use and leverage financial statements.
There are three types of financial statements you need to know: your cashflow statement, income statement and balance sheet.
When used correctly, these statements can serve as benchmarks and guideposts, helping you make better business decisions, assist with tax planning and forecast for the future.
1. Cashflow statement
Your cashflow statement shows you how much money goes in and out of your business within a certain timeframe.
A key point to mention is incoming cash is not recorded when the sale is made, but rather when payments are actually received. In the same way, outgoing cash is not recorded until bills have actually been paid.
Cashflow statements provide a crucial window into the understanding of how money flows in and out of your business. What’s important to understand, is even if you are hitting sales targets and have high-value assets, if your cashflow is stifled or you are waiting on receipt of multiple payments, this could significantly impact your businesses ability to operate.
With the knowledge of how much cash you have available at any given period of time, you will know:
• When the appropriate times are to spend;
• How much you have available to pay for necessary products or services; and
• When to source additional financial resources if needed.
It may even guide you to make changes into the structure of your business to assist with better cashflowcashflow.
2. Income statement
Also referred to as a profit-and-loss statement, an income statement displays your income less your expenses for a specific time-period, showing whether you’ve operated at a profit or loss during that time.
This statement can be incredibly eye-opening for business owners. For example, often new entrepreneurs make the mistake of thinking high revenue or sales equates to financial success, without taking into account how much they’re spending. This is why some entrepreneurs find themselves in hot water, despite a heightened focus on sales.
On the other side, perhaps you’ve put attention on how to cut costs and in doing so your sales have taken a back seat.
In this way, your income statement is a trusted business partner, advising you on areas to improve. It holds important insights that will allow you to make better decisions, such as:
• Where to spend your money for the greatest return;
• How much you can spend while still making a profit; and
• Where to focus your energy and resources during the following month.
This might mean focusing next month’s resources on sales, reducing unnecessary costs, or perhaps a combination of the two.
3. Balance sheet
Your balance sheet shows your assets in conjunction with your liabilities, giving you an overall financial snapshot of your business equity within a specific time period.
If your assets exceed liabilities, your equity will be in the positive (this is what you want). If the latter occurs, your balance sheet equity will be in the negative.
Balance sheets are very helpful in understanding the financial overview of your company over time. By comparing your balance sheets month to month, and year to year, you will get a solid idea as to whether your company is:
• Experiencing satisfactory growth;
• Increasing in value over time; or
• Seeing a decrease in liabilities.
Plus, it will help you forecast months and years to come.
Using the profit information from your income statement, you can also create a strategic plan for how to pay off liabilities, and invest in assets if and when appropriate.
Proper planning is crucial for any new entrepreneur’s success. Regular reviews of how financial resources flow through your company will help you plan for growth. Of course, nothing is certain, but armed with this basic knowledge, you have a foundation from which a strategic plan can drive your new business forward.
You May have a Profit Leak!
Very often, when clients find themselves in this situation, supposedly profitable, but no money, and approach me for coaching, eight times out of ten this comes down to a profit leak. Profit leaks are a problem, because you don’t know they are there. If you did, you would have done something about them.
For more than 30 years I’ve been helping small business owners use the right tactics to plug the profit leaks in their business and restoring their cash flows by assisting find their profit leaks, and plug them.
If you would like to discuss with me how you might do that, book a Strategy Consult here. There is no cost.
Copyright 2019 Adam Gordon, The Profits Leak Detective - Except for all those bits by Daniel Smith
Why Shouldn’t it be You?
Three good reasons why people ask for assistance in putting together a compelling tender response I identified in my last blog. They were:
People who would like to crack the government market, but don’t know how to do so.
People who continually tender for these contracts, but don’t win many.
People who can’t afford to lose a government contract which underpins their business.
In Part One I discussed two clients who fell into the third category.
But what about businesses, and are you one, who fall into either of the first two categories?
In this blog I’d like to introduce a client who falls into the second category.
I have a client, let’s call him Simon (not his real name). Simon bought a local business a few years ago. He steadily improved it, provides a good service and developed a good name; it’s his future.
But there was one bottleneck that held him back from growing much bigger, to a better life at another level. And that was a Government contract. Government were the biggest buyers in his state, and not just in Simon’s field, but in so many requirements for products and services. In each jurisdiction in Australian, the state or territory government is the largest single source of contracts.
Government contracts can be very lucrative. Their contract would provide him continuity of work for 2 – 3 years, certainty of cashflow, reduce his business risk, and build his business to the next level.
The problem was that the contract he would love to win was held by a major interstate competitor, and had been held by them for many years.
Simon had put his toe in the government tendering water a few times, responding to Requests For Tender (RFTs), and never found the process easy. It was always much harder than he thought, with significantly more work, late nights, and stress involved.
He was doing all hard work, but not winning the contract. He felt he was going nowhere, having wasted so much time and effort, and with nothing to show for it.
Maybe you have been this position as well? It is not easy for you. Yet you know that winning contracts like these can give you ongoing, regular work. All you need is the skills to draft a compelling and persuasive response, skills you haven’t had the opportunity to develop.
What happens when THAT Request for Tender crosses your desk?
What are you going to do with it? You know it is going to be a hassle, it is going to be stressful, bureaucratic red tape. And you know the chances are you are not going to win!
There’s an old definition of insanity – “Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result!”
You don’t have to do the same thing over and over again! You can change your skill set, and lift your chances. Constant learning and improvement are the key to success.
I have been writing tenders and proposals since the mid-1970s. As International Marketing Manager at Hawker de Havilland Australia Pty. Ltd. in the mid-to-late1970s I was tasked with bidding and negotiating aerospace contracts with US and British aerospace companies, including winning a major sub-contract that ultimately ran for twenty years.
The problem I had was that, while I had mentoring from those who had been before me, there was no structured training or framework on which to build my responses.
I was always stressed out. I understand the pain you go through when completing major tenders.
But I learnt – I had to, my job depended on it. And I have used what I learnt to help others.
I’ve now been writing government tenders for years since then for my business, plus helping many clients write them, as well as undertaken numerous one-on-one coaching sessions, running webinars on tendering, and conducting Tendering Essentials workshops for many years.
That there are so many business owners like you missing out on sales opportunities, or not able to seize those opportunities simply because they don’t have the skills to write effective tenders in response to requests for tender has bothered me for a long time. Many frequently resort to discounting to win the job.
Yet price can be worth as little as 10% in the overall assessment criteria. So, you may not be winning the contract, even though you may be the cheapest. You may have been undercutting your own prices to get your foot in the door.
If you had understood all the other factors they consider you could have painted yourself in the best possible light.
With my help, Simon won his tender.
Simon worked with me one-one-one – that is great, it can be expensive. As an SME, I’m sure your budget it always tight, and I’m seeking to address that. I wanted to create a product that could reach many more people.
There is a Solution
Last year I was again able help a number of people win tenders but I’m looking to continue to create more results on a larger scale. I’ve been working on a course, “TenderWins – The Tender Winning Formula” to help you to develop the skills to submit compelling and persuasive tender responses.
As a small to medium business, this course will give you the skills to:
- Take out the stress of developing a response to a government tender
- Have a solid game plan for winning that tender
- Give you a road map to repeat your success
You can win more – and here is no reason why you shouldn’t do so. Follow the formula I teach, and turn frustration, stress and time into celebration and profits, as clients have. I brought them through the exact steps and skills that I’m going to be teaching.
You’ll have the opportunity to learn the importance of preparation and planning, how to avoid a ME – ME response, how to use a Value Proposition, how to write persuasively, why presentation is important, the role of review, and more.
You will also have the opportunity to learn how to write to reassure and persuade. Bid preparation, tender response, call it what you will, is more than just compliance. Your ability to write effective tenders and proposals is an essential business skill. Despite this, and probably because most businesses, like yours, are built on the technical skills of their owners, it is uncommon.
You will develop the skills to submit well presented, compliant and compelling responses so that you win more tenders, without stress or feeling under pressure. You will learn how to prepare for, analyse and persuasively respond to tender requirements.
It is not just the 5 P structure of Preparation, Planning, Prevention, Pricing, and Presentation.
We learning by doing, not theory. You will work on a practical Case Study, not a theoretical example designed on the basis of “one size fits all!”
Turn pain into pleasure! If you don’t take up this opportunity, what is life going to look like when it comes to that next tender opportunity? Any different?
How many more times do you want to submit a tender without getting the results you want, or need? How much more time do you want to spend over trying to figure this out, when the Tender Winning Formula can give you the answers.
If you are tired of wasting more time and not winning those tenders or getting the results you want, then This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and type “I’m interested” into the subject line, and I’ll contact you to have a chat. No obligations.
And if you would like to understand more on my approach to tendering go to www.catalysnt.com.au. You might like to download my freebie – “How to Overcome the 10 Most Common Mistakes in Tendering”.
© Copyright 2019 Adam Gordon
Here's a Question
Twice in the last twelve months I have been asked to assist clients write a tender proposal for a requirement that, ostensibly, wasn’t particularly different from the contract they held – except for a couple of factors.
Why?
Firstly – why not “particularly different”? Both companies had been delivering on their particular contract for twenty years. Now nobody gets a twenty-year contract! Twenty years in the one contract meant the business had repeatedly won whenever the contract was retendered.
They hadn’t asked for assistance before, to the best of my knowledge. And certainly not from me.
So what was different?
There were two factors.
The first is why people ask for assistance in putting together a compelling tender response. There are three good reasons, and they are:
- People who would like to crack the government market, but don’t know how to do so.
- People who continually tender for these contracts, but don’t win many.
- People who can’t afford to lose a government contract which underpins their business.
On both occasions my clients obviously fell into the third category.
But then there is the second reason - Tendering is one of those things in which businesses have to keep improving, because the competition is also looking to continually get better, and times are getting tougher, despite the opportunities.
And government processes change. What worked once, or twice or more, won’t necessarily when both the client’s requirements and assessment processes change.
Businesses shouldn’t leave preparation until they have a tender opportunity in front of them. Tender turnaround times are becoming increasingly truncated. Firms can have as little as 10 days to complete a response, and usually no more than three to four.
You cannot afford to start your response late! Most tender responses need three rounds of drafting and editing before they are of a high enough quality to be truly competitive, even if the business has good tendering systems in place.
Both clients recognized this, and contacted me well before the Request For Tender was released. They were experienced, and well-knew what drafting a winning response entailed.
One of the challenging issues, and a frustrating issue for me, is that people in the first two categories, perhaps because of their inexperience, tend to leave their response, and getting help, until the last minute.
And that makes developing a compelling, persuasive response all the more difficult.
So let’s move onto why these clients believed it was so important to get assistance on a contract where logic and history would suggest they should be the market leader?
Do Government Contracts have a place in your business strategy?
Consider this - Public tender volumes in Australia grew 12% last year and 2019 will be another year of opportunity. And there are good reasons for small and medium businesses to be interested in government contracts, such as:
- Stability/continuity of work. While many government contracts are for one-off supply, many others are for regular supply over a 2 – 3 year period;
- Assured payment - although payment may take up to 30 days, it is still assured.
- Less risk - Government contracts spread commercial risk
- Added Value - Reliable clients add value to your business
Why take the risk, and lose an important foundation stone to their business? I find it interesting that my clients are the ones looking ahead. They recognized all of these factors.
These factors are similarly important, or should be, to those in the other two categories; those unable to win, and the wannabe’s.
Businesses in these categories need to be looking ahead, but I find them much less likely to step up and prepare themselves.
While the concept of tendering may seem daunting at first, it can be easily tackled by having a plan of ‘attack'. When becoming involved in a tendering process, it is important to understand your business' suitability for the project; whether your business' current situation will allow for you to tender, as well as your ability to manage the contract if you are successful in winning the tender. By understanding these points and ensuring you can demonstrate that you are able to meet the criteria and offer a competitive bid, you will increase your chances of success.
Remember, constant learning and improvement are the key to success. Successful government contracts can reposition your business in the in the eyes of your commercial marketplace.
Do you have a growth strategy that includes government contracts?
I’ve written further on this subject in “It’s too late by the time the tender comes out!”
And “Are Government Contracts the Opportunity you have been Missing?”
So many of you told me when I researched this issue for my online course that being in this situation has led them to winning few contracts, while causing them great stress and unnecessary demands on their time.
Yet when I asked if they were interested in a solution, I was told “Now is not the right time.”
The right time is evidently when a tender of interest is called, one that really matches their capability, but of course, not being prepared means the same old, same old cycle occurs. It’s too late to improve!
There is a Solution
Do you want to continue down that path – the recurring problem of a last-minute rush to get your response finished, and in on time, with all its inevitable stress and strain, and probable mistakes?
Have you ever been in the situation where you have won a tender, and your first thought is “What did I miss?” I know I used to.
Picture the potential; you are prepared and ready, you have all the requisite building blocks that could be required for the tenders of interest. You have the tools to develop a striking value proposition for each request, and you have practised writing a compliant, compelling and persuasive response.
You know how to put together a stand out presentation, one that will not have the Assessor’s eyes glazing over.
And when you submit, you have full confidence in your response, both in terms of your proposed program, and your price! What a relief!
Is that important to you? And why?
Would you like to have a chat at some stage, either by phone or online to discuss your issues and experience? I’d be interested in finding out more about both, and whether my solution might suit you.
Send me and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.and we’ll fix a time to see whether we have a fit. No obligations.
And if you would like to understand more on my approach to tendering go to www.catalysnt.com.au. You might like to download my freebie – “How to Overcome the 10 Most Common Mistakes in Tendering”.
© Copyright 2019 Adam Gordon
And why you should do so
Prepare for take-off! Last week we looked at what makes you different from your competition in the eyes of your ideal customer, why it is so important to small businesses and one approach to determining your difference.
As Mark Peskett said, the challenge is to avoid being a ‘me too’ business. Sustainable competitive advantage is the force that enables a business to have greater focus, more sales, better profit margins, and higher customer and staff retention than competitors. Mark outlined five steps to determine your competitive advantage.
I’ve also addressed this challenge in some detail below, identifying your Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA), . Try it. I think you will find it helps clarify your thinking and get you closer to that winning edge.
Develop your SCA - a powerful competitive tool for you
One of the problems that most small businesses face in developing a sustainable future is inconsistent decision making. You may know where you want to go but if the decisions you make in an area such as marketing are not consistent with those you make in operations, or in finance or human resources, then your business will be pulled in different directions.
And pulling in different directions will ultimately degrade the performance of your business. It will be seen in:
• Friction between the different areas of your business;
• Lack of teamwork;
• Frustrated employees; and
• Wasted energy and effort.
Defining the Sustainable Competitive Advantage
The basis for consistent decision making across your business is provided through a clearly defined Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA).
An SCA is more than a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) although it can be similar in some circumstances. Your USP should lead your ideal customer to believe your offering is the only logical choice for them.
Your SCA is about your competitive strategy. It is the basis for your overall competitive business strategy which guides and focuses your decision making so that that all your functional strategies are consistent with a clear and concise overall competitive strategy. The impact of all decisions being aligned with your competitive strategy is far greater than the sum of the individual decisions you might make when they are not aligned to a competitive advantage.
The SCA is defined as “that special capability identified by the business that will enable it to attain a sustainable winning position in the market with respect to its major competitors.”
The ultimate test of any new policy or plan you develop is whether it is consistent with the SCA you have defined for your business. If it is not, then it should be reconsidered.
Of course, the underlying assumption behind this is that you are interested in your business being competitive and improving your profitability, but you wouldn’t be reading this blog if you weren’t.
- There are a number of important things about the definition given above:
It is a business capability which can be further developed and used as a focus for much decision making about your overall business development. - It must enable your business to achieve a sustainable winning position in the market. This means that it must have at least a medium term and preferably a long-term competitive impact.
- Major competitors are used as a reference. This means you must evaluate the relative strengths, weaknesses and competitive positions of each of your major competitors.
- It must have an impact on the behaviour of individuals within your business.
In short, your business’s SCA statement should:
• Capture the essence of your business’s competitive strength;
• Be simple and clear;
• Be pervasive in its influence on individual behaviour.
As an example, a client developed the following SCA for their business: “We will win by the speed and effectiveness of our response to customer’s requirements.”
Very easy to say, but it required significant improvements across all functional areas of the company’s operations. For example:
- They had to identify and be in the right market niche, one that matched their ability to deliver;
- Their marketing and sales processes had to ensure they properly understood and recorded what their customers were trying to achieve;
- They had to have the right products or services to meet those requirements and ensure that whatever training and support was required was provided.
- Their internal processes had to ensure all aspects of the requirement were accurately transmitted through the business.
- Their internal processes had no operate smoothly with no delays or bottlenecks.
- Their people had to have the right product and service training, and be committed to customer service.
They would lose their competitive advantage if they couldn’t deliver an effective response quickly, or if they delivered a speedy but ineffective response.
How to identify your SCA
The first thing to do is to identify and evaluate your Critical Success Factors, i.e. those things that must be done well to ensure the future success of your business.
To help brainstorm possible Critical Success Factors ask yourself, or your team questions such as:
- What are we good at now?
- What do we have to be good at to succeed in this industry?
- Why do our customers/clients buy our products and services?
- What product and service characteristics must we provide to meet our customer’s expectations?
- Have we developed any unique resources, processes or capabilities not readily available to our competitors?
- What culture must we develop to gain a competitive advantage?
The response to questions such as these can be evaluated and ranked in a number of different ways, but I find the following matrix works well. It evaluates the Factors from both a customer and competitor perspective.
Those Factors which end up in the top right quadrant are key; i.e. they are perceived as being valuable from a customer’s perspective and have the ability to differentiate your business’s offering from those of your competitors. These should then be further evaluated for their potential tangible impact of individual’s behaviour in the business.
The source of your SCA will lie in those Critical Success Factors which are ‘high’ in all three criteria. Further evaluation and analysis may be required before you can tie your SCA down to a single statement.
It is important to recognise that the Sustainable Competitive Advantage should only contain one principal thought or factor, and that should be stated as briefly and concisely as possible.
Now to use the SCA
As mentioned above your functional strategies should be consistent with and support your SCA. So let’s look at developing your marketing strategy and policies in these terms.
Your marketing strategy is not only about identifying the right market segments to increase sales and profits; it is also about putting your business in a sustainable winning position against your major competitors. The alternative is to be reacting to competitors marketing initiatives rather than have them react to yours.
As such the marketing should at least support your SCA but may even provide the basis for it.
The issues you need to determine are:
- At what must Marketing be especially capable to sustain your competitive advantage over the next few years?
- What will be the most difficult – the particular challenge?
- What will be the most important aspects to change from now?
- What will be your Marketing performance measures?
I suggest a framework to analyse the answers, rather than just brainstorm ideas. The framework you use will be based on your definition of marketing, and in earlier newsletters I have discussed some alternative approaches, and a range of marketing KPIs.
For the moment I suggest using the traditional 4Ps approach. Key marketing issues you need to evaluate for your business could include:
- How you monitor customer’s needs and expectations
- Product/service strategy – e.g. differentiated (many features, many options, packaging, length of warranty, exceptional service) or low cost (few features, few options, plain packaging, minimal warranty, basic service)
- Distribution strategy – how do you get your products and services in front of your customers
- Pricing strategy – e.g. cost plus, matching competitors, penetration, perceived value, discounts, credit terms,
- Promotion strategy – e.g. targeted, broad, advertising media, PR, personal selling, web, sales letters/emails
- Information systems – e.g. what marketing information do you have, how do you use it?
- Quality
- ...........
- ............
Now you need to assess these issues on the basis of their ‘Opportunity for Improvement’ and ‘Ability to support/create SCA’. I can feel a matrix coming on.
Issues falling in the right-hand squares will tell you what your key marketing policies should be, with those in the top right corner being the most important aspects to change from now.
And then….
You need to follow this through each functional area of the business. And yes, it will take some effort. BUT, having worked with many businesses on this methodology, the SCA is a powerful competitive tool for you.
You will be making consistent decisions across your business to give you a sustainable competitive advantage.
Do you know your Point of Difference?
When clients approach me for coaching, so often they are not getting the clients they need, the right clients, or the sales they need at the margins they need. Eight times out of ten this comes down to not knowing what is working, and how to develop compelling offers for their customers.
For more than 30 years I’ve been helping small business owners use the right tactics to plug the profit leaks in their business and restoring their cash flows by assisting them understand how to develop a Sustainable Competitive Advantage for their ideal clients, and to determine the offer to bring them on board, or win that vital tender.
If you would like to discuss with me how you might do that, book a Strategy Consult here. There is no cost.
© Copyright 2018 Adam Gordon, The Profits Leak Detective
In the Eyes of Your Ideal Customer
Here’s another take on a topic that is fascinating, challenging, and important to you as a business owner.
The challenge is, well, challenging. It is so easy to say, but much harder to realistically and effectively define. The concept has been given a number of different names:
- Sustainable Competitive Advantage
- Unique Sales Proposition
- Value Proposition
But they all amount to the same thing, what makes you different from your competition in the eyes of your ideal customer.
And please don’t make it the lowest price. That’s a sure way to commoditisation hell!
One of the problems that most small businesses face in developing a sustainable future is inconsistent decision making. You may know where you want to go but if the decisions you make in an area such as marketing are not consistent with those you make in operations, or in finance or human resources then your business will be pulled in different directions.
And pulling in different directions will ultimately degrade the performance of your business. The basis for consistent decision making across your business is provided through a clearly defined Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA).
Writing in Smart Company, Mark Peskett has given a useful perspective, which I’ll follow with some of my musings.
Take it away Mark
Five steps to get a Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Today’s business environment is very competitive. It’s now a lot easier and cheaper to start a business, particularly with technology enabling business to be conducted online and internationally to win customers in foreign markets.
The explosion of online retailing is an example of this, and all this competition and activity makes it difficult to stand out from the crowd.
The challenge is to resist being another ‘me too’ business. The way to avoid this is by developing a sustainable competitive advantage that differentiates you from your competitors.
Sustainable competitive advantage is the key to business success. It is the force that enables a business to have greater focus, more sales, better profit margins, and higher customer and staff retention than competitors.
It is the major driver of long-term business value and is what purchasers will place the most value on when looking to acquire a business. Without a sustainable competitive advantage, you risk being another ‘me too’ business that muddles along achieving less than satisfactory results.
At its most basic level, there are three key types of sustainable competitive advantage.
1. Cost advantage: the business competes on price.
2. Value advantage: the business provides a differentiated offering that is perceived to be of superior value.
3. Focus advantage: the business focuses on a specific market niche, with a tailored offering designed specifically for that segment of the market.
Most small businesses don’t have the market share and buying power to effectively compete on price and are not big enough to be all things to all customers in a market.
Therefore, to successfully compete, small businesses need to develop a sustainable competitive advantage that is based on providing superior value to a specific niche.
There is another advantage that is often referred to and that is first mover advantage. First mover advantage is where the first entrant in a new market obtains an advantage over other competitors that enter the market later.
However, while being a first mover may provide an initial advantage, in my opinion, it is not sustainable unless it’s supported by one of the three types of advantages listed above.
Google and Facebook are good examples of this. Neither of these companies were the first movers, yet both now dominate their respective markets.
The Five Steps
- Understand the market and its segments. Look for those niches that aren’t well serviced by competitors and can be profitably targeted and sold to.
- Develop an understanding of what customers really want and establish a value proposition that grabs their attention.
- Work out the key things that you need to do really well to support and deliver the value proposition. For example, service levels, quality, branding, pricing, et cetera.
- Understand what your strengths and core competencies are and how you can use these in innovative ways to provide value to your chosen market.
- Design your business model to support and deliver the value proposition.
At the end of this process, you will have a very clearly defined statement of:
• Who you will be selling to (customers and market segments);
• Why they will buy from you and not your competitors (the value proposition); and
• The key things you need to excel at to be able to consistently deliver your value proposition.
Once you’ve found your sustainable competitive advantage, you should use it in many ways, to the business’ benefit.
Using your sustainable competitive advantage in your sales and marketing makes it easier for your customers to understand why they should part with their dollars and give them to you rather than your competitors.
This, in turn, makes it easier for your staff to sell your products or services and know their promises will be delivered.
They know the whole business is focused on making sure the sustainable competitive advantage is protected and capitalised upon.
Your sustainable competitive advantage can guide your decision-making and provide you with direction and a sharp focus.
If a new opportunity for the business doesn’t support your sustainable competitive advantage, then you should question whether to pursue that opportunity.
Is short-term growth that might erode your sustainable competitive advantage, more important than building a long-term position of strength and stability?
This longer-term view and effective use of a sustainable competitive advantage can support a higher return on capital invested in the business, even in the face of stiff competition.
This position builds value in a business and can add a premium to the sale price. That’s an advantage every business owner wants.
Thanks Mark.
Some of My Musings on this subject:
Does your message get your Prospect’s Attention?
How to Overcome the Bureaucratic Burden of Tender Compliance
Do you want, or need, to Grow your Business?
How to Get Your Business back on the Growth Path
Next week I’ll look in more detail at my process to develop your Sustainable Competitive Advantage.
Do you know your Point of Difference?
When clients approach me for coaching, so often they are not getting the clients they need, the right clients, or the sales they need at the margins they need. Eight times out of ten this comes down to not knowing what is working, and how to develop compelling offers for their customers.
For more than 30 years I’ve been helping small business owners use the right tactics to plug the profit leaks in their business and restoring their cash flows by assisting them understand how to develop a Sustainable Competitive Advantage for their ideal clients, and to determine the offer to bring them on board, or win that vital tender.
If you would like to discuss with me how you might do that, book a Strategy Consult here. There is no cost.
© Copyright 2018 Adam Gordon, The Profits Leak Detective, except for the contribution by Mark Peskett
Is that why you don’t have more success?
I well remember that comment from my days in the aerospace industry (we called it the aircraft industry then). What our people were saying/implying was that if you didn’t know the tender/request for quotation/proposal was coming out, you didn’t have time to prepare yourself for a persuasive response, to have your estimating people do their homework, and to make sure you had all potential issues covered.
And if you didn’t know it was coming out, then it was unlikely you had developed a good relationship with the key people in the buyer’s organization.
Government, and businesses for that matter, use tenders to help obtain competitive tenders that can be evaluated objectively to select a suitable supplier.
The tender documents will (or should) contain all the relevant information about the proposed contract, rules, conditions, etc. for you which will enable you to price the work as accurately as possible, taking into account all the special peculiarities which every project possesses.
The offer that best meets all of the requirements outlined in the request, and provides value for money, should win the contract.
Preparing tenders can help you to win big orders, and provide on-going work over a number of years, but it can also be time-consuming, cost money and tie up valuable resources. If you don't get the contract, the money and time spent is usually lost, so you need to carefully weigh up whether or not a tender is worth bidding for.
You also need to consider how important the customer is to your business. Is this a good potential client or one you don't want to offend by not tendering? Try to understand things from the client's point of view.
So, line up your ducks if you want to hit them. Submitting a compliant, persuasive tender on time, without the attendant stress and pressure requires that you are prepared and ready for the fray.
Here are 6 good reasons why you need to be prepared and ready
- Tender documents are not always clear in practice. It is one of the reasons I always recommend reviewing the documentation thoroughly and meeting the key person to clarify any questions you might have. This is one of the common mistakes in tendering I discuss in my “How to Overcome the 10 Most Common Mistakes in Tendering”.
- Poor quality tender documents are a source of inaccurate estimates, claims and disputes on contracts. But of course, you have to have time to identify the issues.
- The more important the potential contract is to you, the more you need to be prepared. Who is going to be involved, in what role; do you have to start getting your quotes for material, supplies, sub-contractors; who is going to write it, and bring the response together; identify the competition and carry out a SWOT analysis on them; who will identify the client’s “hot buttons” and develop a Value Proposition around which you can build your response.
- The volume of information provided is often too extensive to allow tenderers to process and estimate a price and program for the works in a short time, usually two – three weeks. And that is the problem, lack of time, rushing, not having time to edit and review, leads to mistakes which could cause you to lose the tender, or cost you money if you win it.
- The core principle in Government tendering and procurement is achieving value for money. This does not just refer to offering the lowest price or best offer. Value for money can also be assessed by looking at factors including:
o The relative risk of the proposal
o Fitness for purpose
o The performance history of the supplier
o All direct and indirect financial costs and benefits over the life of the procurement
o The flexibility of the proposal to adapt to possible change
o The anticipated price that could be obtained, or cost incurred, at the time of disposal.
How will you demonstrate this in the time available?
- The Assessors often have difficulty reading five or six lengthy and poorly presented tender documents. So, imagine the time required to read through 20 or 500 documents?
You may have the best solution, but you don’t want them to skip through your response because it is boring, difficult to read, and doesn’t stand out.
So many of you told me when I researched this issue that being in this situation has led them to winning few contracts, while causing them great stress and unnecessary demands on their time.
Yet when I asked if they were interested in a solution, I was told “Now is not the right time.”
The right time is evidently when a tender of interest is called, one that really matches their capability, but of course, not being prepared means the same old, same old cycle occurs. It’s too late to improve!
There is a Solution
Do you want to continue down that path – the recurring problem of a last minute rush to get your response finished, and in on time, with all its inevitable stress and strain, and probable mistakes?
Have you ever been in the situation where you have won a tender, and your first thought is “What did I miss?” I know I used to.
Picture the potential; you are prepared and ready, you have all the requisite building blocks that could be required for the tenders of interest. You have the tools to develop a unique value proposition for each request, and you have practised writing a compliant, compelling and persuasive response.
You know how to put together a stand out presentation, one that will not have the Assessor’s eyes glazing over.
And when you submit, you have full confidence in your response, both in terms of your proposed program, and your price! What a relief!
Is that important to you? And why?
Would you like to have a chat at some stage, either by phone or online to discuss your issues and experience? I’d be interested in finding out more about both, and whether my solution might suit you.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we’ll fix a time. No obligations.
And if you would like to understand more on my approach to tendering go to www.catalysnt.com.au. You might like to download my freebie – “How to Overcome the 10 Most Common Mistakes in Tendering”.
© Copyright 2018 Adam Gordon
Why sell to government?
Small businesses, and even medium businesses at times, often dismiss the opportunity to sell to governments. They may have any number of reasons for this:
• Government contracts are for the “big boys”
• The process seems too bureaucratic, too much paperwork, too tedious, too complex
• “I don’t know how to go about it!”
• They may not have even thought about it
But that is no reason not to give some real consideration to this opportunity.
What is the Opportunity?
Imagine a customer that has a big budget and buys almost every conceivable product or service year after year. They buy during good times, and they even buy during recessions. Sounds like a great client, doesn’t it? Well, government agencies do just that.
And many contracts run across a number of years. That makes them an ideal customer for many small and growing businesses.
The Australian Government is a large potential market for businesses of all sizes. From advertising and cleaning services to engineering and office equipment, and from training and project management to research and recruitment, Australian Government organisations purchase a wide variety of goods and services from the private sector.
Over the last nine years, the total value of Australian Federal Government Procurement has ranged from $32,962 billion to $59,447 billion. It is not a steady increase but varies according to budget and program requirements.
The number of contracts ranges from 64, 092 to 85,870 each year - that’s a lot of business!
Many small businesses supply goods and services to the Australian Government. The Australian Government encourages small businesses to compete for Government work and is committed to sourcing at least 10 per cent of procurement by value from small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Note: The Government’s target for SME participation by contract value is 10%. SME participation for previous years was 24% in 2015-16 28% in 2014-15, 34% in 2013-14, 32% in 2012-13.
If you would like to see more on this, such as the breakdown between goods and services, go to Statistics on Commonwealth Purchasing Contracts.
And it is not just Federal Government; State and Local Governments are also major players in the market place, spending large sums of money every year for a wide range of products and services.
The NSW Government alone spends $12.7 billion annually procuring goods and services. At the other end of the scale the NT Government is the major buyer in the Northern Territory, procuring over $800 million in goods and services each year. NT Research found that whilst the tender process for goods and services under $50,000 represented just 2% of the total value of tenders awarded, they comprised 47% of the total volume of tenders.
Why governments’ buy is another question; an issue I explored recently in “Are you Selling …. Or Solving?”
How do I find out about the Opportunities?
Information on tender opportunities is available online through both government and commercial sites.
AusTender provides centralised publication of Australian Government business opportunities, annual procurement plans and contracts awarded.
State and territory tender websites provide information about procurement opportunities for businesses. Tender sites usually include upcoming, current and closed business opportunities, details of awarded contracts, as well as the ability to register to receive email notifications of new relevant business opportunities.
The AusTender site also provides a link to tenders for states and territories government tenders websites which save you time if you are looking for opportunities at state level across Australia. Select your state or territory for specific information.
The commercial sites are subscription but save you the time and effort of researching opportunities.
- Australian TendersAustralian Tenders is an Australia-wide, locally-owned and operated service, providing information on current tenders by Federal and state governments.
- TenderLink provides search capabilities for current tenders, RFQs, RFPs & EOIs by category.
- TenderSearch is a specialist service that searches and notifies you of tenders, quotes, expressions and registrations of interest from Australia and around the world - including tenders and opportunities.
- Projectory provides intelligence on major projects throughout Australia.
Similar sites will exist in New Zealand, USA and UK etc.
What are the problems that may confront me?
Many find completing government tenders a bureaucratic burden. I’ve heard all the complaints over the years:
• It’s too complex,
• It’s too bureaucratic,
• Everything takes too long,
• It’s biased,
• Tender forms are repetitive,
• Small businesses can’t win, big business has an unfair advantage,
• The requirements aren’t always clear, it’s confusing
• It’s too demanding, it’s too costly
On and on and on.
Although governments have made a serious effort to work with small businesses, the process can still be cumbersome. Often you have to pore over long documents to ensure that your company can meet the government’s requirements.
As a business owner, you must balance these benefits against the challenges of working with the government. Only you can determine if this is the right opportunity for your company.
How to turn Problems into Opportunity
When you do your research into the opportunities you may be confused by the range of choices. The only way to deal with this is to specialise and focus your efforts. Start with one level of government (federal, state, or local) and then expand as your abilities improve. Don’t try to do too much at once or you will be overwhelmed.
Identify your impediments – Are you tender ready? I explored this, including a checklist, in “Are you TenderWins Ready?”
Cultivate sound professional working relationships with potential Government users of your goods and services so that they are aware of the capabilities of your business. For example, many government organisations with Standing Offers may invite their suppliers to provide information about their goods and services for distribution to other government organisations or they may conduct supplier expos.
The AusTender website provides are some basic tips on marketing to and doing business with Australian Government organisations to help get you started:
- Try to identify the organisations likely to need your goods or services, and within those organisations, identify the specific areas that are most likely to make purchasing decisions
- Develop your relationships by meeting with the relevant officials, and provide useful information. Information could include your corporate profile, track record, testimonials, website address, pricing schedules and contact details (but don’t flood organisations with advertising material or constant phone calls - cold-calling is not an efficient marketing method)
- Make sure organisation buyers know what sets you apart from your competitors
- Maintain contact with organisations to ensure you are aware of future prospects
- Be aware of any regulatory requirements, conditions, pre-qualifications, licenses etc that you might need to supply to the organisation
- Consider whether you can partner with other businesses that sell to government organisations
- Build a reputation for providing value for money - bid competitively and wherever possible add extra value within the scope of the requirement. An innovative solution is often welcomed.
Register with the Industry Capability Network. This is an independently managed non-profit national organisation that introduces local buyers and sellers for the development of effective supply chains using Australian and New Zealand companies. Registering with Industry Capability Network can introduce your products and services to buyers seeking competitive and capable local suppliers. There are links on the site for each state office, and I recommend your register with your state office.
Have testimonials ready, both on your website, and a database of testimonials and references you can draw on to support any submission you may make.
You may pick up some tips in preparing your response in “How to Improve your Tendering or Quoting”. And do avoid blowing your chances when you do submit!
What is your experience?
I’d be interested in your experience, and the challenges and fears you face when tendering to Governments. What have you found, what are you looking for to help you, and what have you learnt? This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
I’m working on a new online course to help people transform their success rate in tendering, while reducing the time and stress involved, and would like to build your experience into the design of the modules.
If you would like to discuss your experience with me, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
And if you would like to understand more on my approach to tendering go to www.catalysnt.com.au. You might like to download my freebie – “How to Overcome the 19 Most Common Mistakes in Tendering”.
© Copyright 2018 Adam Gordon, The Profits Leak Detective