Case Study:
25% Increased Win Rate for NHS Framework Business, £75m+ in SalesLosing Bids is a Pain
For 15 years, our client, who wishes to remain anonymous, had managed and written all his NHS Framework bids himself. For the purpose of this case study, we will call him Peter. When a bid would come in, the panic was on, as it would “land in my lap, and my team then had to stop everything to help me put together the response”, he said.
When a friend, who worked for a large corporation, showed Peter one of their bids, he saw that the standard of bids was much higher than his own. He knew then that the business had to go down that route.
Peter’s bids were sizeable – ranging from £500k-£15m, and he felt gutted if he lost even one. Where they were failing, was down to a lack of understanding in how to win public sector bids. He remarked:
“We needed to move away from bids being written by our sales guys talking about the company, and our tech guys talking about product features. We needed a different angle, to ‘up the ante’ and bring in a higher level of professionalism.
Although we were achieving a 70-75% win rate, we were starting to lose bids, and this was because we were misunderstanding how to answer the questions.”
Turning it Around
A colleague recommended Rick to him, saying he was the best bid professional he’d met.
When Peter first started working with Lahara, he sat down with Rick and they discussed Peter’s business, and the competitive environment he was in.
In his determination to shift his business to another level, Peter had wanted to:
“… find someone with a strong character to give us an honest opinion of where our business was, and where it needed to go, and how it was going to get there. Not someone who would just say all the “right things” and tidy up what we already have.”
Through numerous discussions, Rick and Peter looked at their existing bid process from the ground up. They put in place strategies to address the competitive situation Peter was in, supported by best practice bid processes and checklists. Together they began responding to Invitations to Tenders, and started winning more business.
Effective Strategy = Success
Over time, responding to bids has become an intrinsic part of Peter’s sales process, and this new approach is now firmly embedded in their business structure. It has brought the whole team together, transforming them into being part of an
effective bid writing team.
Bid strategy and writing have become a cog in the wheel of their business function, and an integrated part of their sales and product development.
As a result of having an effective bid solution, they now have the capacity to deliver. They have achieved wins to the value of £75m+ over the past two years.
Their win rate has increased from around 70% to 93%.