Guest Blog by Andrea Collier, Bid Formatting Guru at Checkpoint
Bid formatting is not just a bit of admin that can be left to chance. Under-estimating it can jeopardise the success of a bid, not just because of the poor presentation of the submission, but also meeting the delivery deadline in the first place.
Following a couple of simple rules and using a professional formatting team will guarantee the quality of a submission and not add more pressure to the already stressful final delivery phase of a bid.
Using an experienced formatter eliminates the stress of making documents compliant with corporate style
Rule 1 – Don’t change the template
The formatting team should be involved at an early stage, creating and testing the bid template. Once agreed by the bid management team – this should not change. The writing and editing teams can then be trained how to use the template correctly and effectively, ensuring that when the formatting team get involved again in the later stages of the bid process, the documents are in much better shape.
The unnecessary overhead and frustration created by changing the bid template every couple of weeks during the writing phase of a bid can and should be avoided.
Rule 2 – Use the right resources for the right job
Often, the highly specialised consultants tasked with writing bid content are not overly familiar or comfortable with using MS Word – they use it because they have to. Some of those I have come across, I’m sure would hand write the submission if it were possible! But, they are there to provide their unique insights and experience, not to make the documents look great and compliant with corporate style – that’s our job.
The last thing you want is the consultant that is costing upward of £100 an hour, spending half an hour trying to get their table to look right, when a formatter could sort it out in minutes for a fraction of the cost. You need your writers focusing on the content – that is what you are paying them for.
Actually, in my experience it is really easy working with writers that have little Word experience – they are grateful for any tips that you give them and are amazed at how their content looks once it has been formatted. More problematic are the writers that are pretty proficient with Word – they have their own ways of working and an opinion! Of course, by adhering to Rule 1 – once the management team has decided on the template – nobody is allowed to have an opinion!
Author: Andrea Collier, Bid Production Consultant with over 14 years of experience, specialising in Bid Formatting & Coordination.
For more information about how Andrea can support your next bid visit http://www.checkpoint-online.co.uk/
