📌 Key Takeaways:
- Tendering is a reading exercise. A successful tendering strategy relies on interpretation, not prose.
- Misreading costs profit. A misunderstood tendering strategy leads to scope creep and loss.
- A strong reader wins. Reading skills are more valuable than writing skills in tendering strategy.
- Slow down to speed up. Rushing breaks a tendering strategy.
- Interpretation protects margins. Proper reading ensures a profitable tendering strategy.
Introduction
Tenders don’t get lost because of price. Or capability. Or certifications.
Most tenders are lost because teams didn’t read the document properly — or didn’t understand what they read.
It sounds simple, but here’s the truth: Tendering is NOT a writing exercise. It’s a deep-reading and accurate-interpretation exercise. Yet, a solid tendering strategy is often sacrificed on the altar of speed. Most teams rush straight into writing, copy-pasting past submissions, and crafting the solution far too early.
Whether you are in Sales, Marketing, Project Management (PM), or a Bid Manager, the pressure to “get the bid out” is immense. But when you assume requirements instead of understanding them, you fail before you even begin. In this article, we will outline a tendering strategy that prioritizes reading comprehension over creative writing. This approach protects your margins, improves your win rate, and ensures that when you do win, you actually profit.
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The Myth of the “Great Writer” in Tendering Strategy
There is a persistent myth in the industry that you win tenders because of beautiful copywriting. Marketing teams often pour hours into crafting the perfect narrative, while Sales focuses on the pricing deck. While these elements matter, they are useless if the foundation of your tendering strategy is flawed.
The foundation of your tendering strategy is compliance.
If you misunderstand the scope, no amount of clever writing will save you. If you miss a mandatory requirement hidden in a footnote, you are non-compliant. If you misinterpret the evaluation criteria, you lose points on the things that actually matter.
A successful tendering strategy requires a mindset shift. You must stop acting like a copywriter and start acting like an investigator. Your goal isn’t to write a nice story; it is to decode the puzzle the client has set for you. When you shift your focus to interpretation first, your response aligns naturally with the client’s needs.
[IMAGE: Checklist with a magnifying glass over a document] [ALT TEXT: RFP reading skills checklist for tendering strategy]
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The High Cost of Misinterpretation
Here’s the part of tendering strategy that most teams overlook: Misreading a tender doesn’t just cost you the win — it can cost you even more when you actually win it.
When a misunderstood tender becomes a contract, the real issues begin. For Project Managers, this is a nightmare. You inherit a project with:
- Scope you never priced for.
- Deliverables no one planned resourcing for.
- KPIs buried in the fine print.
- Change requests rejected because “it was clearly stated in the tender.”
- Blown budgets.
- Profit turning into loss.
[VIDEO: Short explainer video on “The Danger of Ambiguous Contracts”] [ALT TEXT: avoiding scope creep with a better tendering strategy]
According to Project Management Institute (PMI) research, unclear requirements are a leading cause of project failure globally. This confirms that the work done during the tendering strategy phase sets the trajectory for the entire project lifecycle.
If you interpret the tender correctly, your delivery aligns naturally. If you don’t, you damage client trust before the project even starts. A robust tendering strategy is not just about winning business; it is about winning profitable business.
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Common Reading Mistakes in Your Tendering Strategy
To improve your tendering strategy, you must first identify where things go wrong. Here are the most common reading and comprehension errors that derail submissions:
- Missing the “Mandatory” Flags: Requirements hidden in footnotes or appendices that are marked as mandatory but easily glossed over.
- Misinterpreting Evaluation Criteria: Focusing your response on the wrong criteria (e.g., 10% for technical when 50% is for price).
- Overlooking Exclusions: Failing to see what is not included in the scope, leading to pricing errors.
- Ignoring Addendums: Missing the last-minute updates that change the rules of the game.
- Answering the Wrong Question: Answering the question you think they asked, not the question they actually asked.
- Scattered Requirements: Requirements scattered across sections (design criteria, ADC, etc.) by the owner/engineer in a rush, making them easy to overlook.
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7 Steps to a Winning Tendering Strategy
How do we fix this? We restructure the tendering strategy to prioritize the “Read-First” approach. Here is how you slow down to speed up.
Step 1: The First Pass (Scanning)
Don’t start writing. Don’t start pricing. Start scanning. Read the entire document from cover to cover without stopping to take notes. Get a feel for the document’s structure, the tone, and the complexity. This is the first step in any viable tendering strategy.
Step 2: The Matrix Check
Extract the Evaluation Criteria into a spreadsheet. Assign a weighting to each section. This becomes the “Truth” for your tendering strategy. If “Safety” is worth 40% of the score, your writing strategy must reflect that, regardless of what you think is most important.
Step 3: Cross-Referencing Sections
Requirements are rarely in one place. Cross-reference the Design Criteria against the Architectural Drawings and the Scope of Work. Does the client want a “Gold” finish but priced it at “Silver”? Identify these conflicts immediately. This prevents a flawed tendering strategy.
Step 4: The “Go/No-Go” Decision
Based on your reading, decide: Should you even bid? A mature tendering strategy requires the discipline to walk away from tenders that are poorly written, ambiguous, or priced for failure.
Step 5: The Interpretation Meeting
Gather Sales, Marketing, PM, and Technical Leads. Review the findings from Step 2 and 3. Ensure everyone understands the same interpretation of the document. This is the single most important meeting in the tendering strategy process.
Step 6: Writing the Compliance Matrix
Only now do you write. But you don’t write prose yet; you write responses to the specific compliance questions. Use the client’s language back to them.
Step 7: The Final Sanity Check
Before submission, have someone who didn’t write the tender read the document. They are more likely to spot inconsistencies and errors that the original team has become blind to, ensuring your tendering strategy is sound.
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Why a “Strong Reader” Beats a “Strong Writer” in Tendering Strategy
In the world of high-stakes procurement, tendering strategy is often confused with proposal writing. However, a strong writer can lose a bid if they didn’t understand the requirement. A strong reader, conversely, can write a plain-English response and win because they hit every single criteria accurately.
For Sales and Marketing professionals, this is crucial. Your persuasive copy matters, but only if it is directed at the right target. For Project Managers, this is your lifeline. Your tendering strategy defines your future reality.
💡 The biggest lesson: Before you rush to write, pause to read.
If you interpret the tender correctly, your response aligns naturally. You don’t have to force fit your solution; you are the solution the client described. This alignment is what wins tenders. It is what ensures profitable delivery.
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Conclusion
Tendering is won by those who slow down… before they speed up.
Your next bid is an opportunity to test this tendering strategy. Put the brakes on the rush to write. Give your team the time to read, interpret, and understand. You will find that when you truly know what the client wants, saying “yes” becomes much easier—and much more profitable.
A strong tendering strategy is the difference between a profitable project and a loss-making nightmare.
📱 Originally inspired by this LinkedIn post that resonated with thousands of Bid Managers and Sales professionals.
For further insights into project governance, explore Harvard Business Review’s guide to procurement.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most important skill in tendering strategy?
The most important skill is reading comprehension. A winning tendering strategy relies on accurately interpreting requirements rather than just writing good copy.
How do I read an RFP effectively?
Read the RFP in three passes: a quick scan for structure, a detailed extraction of evaluation criteria, and a cross-reference check between technical specs and scope requirements.
Why do companies fail at tendering?
Companies often fail because they rush to write without fully understanding the document. This leads to non-compliance, missing mandates, or bidding on unprofitable work due to poor tendering strategy.
How do I improve my tendering strategy?
Improve your tendering strategy by implementing a “Read-First” approach. Create a Compliance Matrix immediately, hold interpretation meetings with all stakeholders, and validate the Go/No-Go decision before writing.
What happens if I misunderstand a tender requirement?
If you misunderstand a requirement and win the bid, you face significant financial risks including scope creep, blown budgets, and potential loss on the contract, as you are legally bound to deliver what was promised, not what you thought was promised.
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