Winning tenders is not about filling in templates or repeating polished marketing statements. It’s about clearly demonstrating that you understand the customer’s problem, that your solution directly addresses it, and that you can prove you will deliver the outcome they care about.
Weak tender responses are usually generic, internally focused, and full of unsubstantiated claims. Strong responses are clear, structured, customer-focused, and credible.
The most common mistake in tender writing is starting with your company, your services, or your technology. That’s not what evaluators are looking for.
They went to market because they have a problem. Your first job is to show that you understand it.
If you start by talking about yourself, you’re trying to sell your company instead of solving their problem.
Every significant response in your tender should clearly answer four questions, in this order:
Demonstrate a clear understanding of the customer’s issues, constraints, and objectives.
This reassures the evaluator that you “get it”.
Describe your approach in direct relation to the customer’s needs.
Avoid generic solution descriptions that could apply to any customer.
Explicitly link your solution to outcomes the customer values.
Examples include:
Never assume the benefit is obvious. Spell it out.
Claims without proof weaken credibility. Evaluators are trained to look for evidence.
Back up your statements with:
Proof builds trust.
Using this structure consistently delivers three major benefits:
Evaluators can immediately spot content copied from a master document and lightly edited.
Strong tender responses are tailored by:
Generic language signals low effort and low relevance.
Winning tenders reinforce a small number of consistent messages throughout the document. These are your "win themes"! The clear reasons why this customer should choose you over every other bidder.
Strong win themes are:
Avoid vague claims like “We are best in class”, “industry leading”, or “innovative” unless you clearly explain what that means in practice.
Value propositions should always link directly to customer outcomes, not internal capabilities.
It is important to remember: large tender submissions are usually assessed by multiple evaluators. Even if a question has been addressed elsewhere, it should be answered again in full, using fresh wording rather than copy and paste. Each evaluator should be able to clearly understand your offering within their allocated section, without needing to search for it elsewhere in the response.
Whenever you make a claim, ask yourself: