An executive seeking a job promotion came to Catherine recently for mentoring advice. Among the many things she was apprehensive about was that she had to give an impromptu fifteen minute speech on a topic that would be presented to her just before the interview. Wow! This was a nerve-wracking requirement. How do you prepare for an impromptu speech? By its very nature it has to be off the cuff. Not so. You can make things easier for yourself if you follow these easy steps. Some of these principles come from a “Power Messaging for Demonstrations” course that I run. Read the rest of this entry »

GENERAL

Recently we were asked to help a large organisation with their tender response to a government agency, which prompted me to reflect on some of my previous tender experience gained as a logistics officer in the army, various sales management positions and as CEO of a civil engineering company.

Responding to tenders in itself is neither a fascinating nor particularly difficult exercise, but winning new business brings personal and corporate rewards and recognition.

Tenders are like job applications. The purpose of a covering letter and resume is different to you and your prospective employer. Often an astute employer will use the resume and covering letter as a first filter to reject multiple applicants who don’t fill the initial criteria. Similarly, the tender offeror, will reject tenders that don’t give them the information they need, in a form they can readily understand.

When you are responding to a job application, you need to cover all of the points in the selection criteria and mandatory experience, otherwise your resume will need interpretation by the employer. This is the case with tenders. It’s no good submitting a tender that doesn’t comply with the requirements of the lender document in an easily understandable form.

Why do Organisations go Out to Tender?

There can be any number of reasons for this. Some of them are:

• Statutory requirements for government departments and agencies. Where contracts are to be let over a certain dollar amount, there is a legislative requirement for them to go to public tender.

• The tender contract and extension period has finished.

• Dissatisfaction with the current supplier and a desire to research the market place for a better deal, or to force the incumbent contractor to “sharpen the pencil”.

• To find out what is available in the market place. This can be done through a registration of interest, in which the responses are used to formulate a requirement. Often called “specification by tender”.

• Desire to outsource functions. Many organisations are returning to their core businesses, to concentrate on that area which returns them the greatest profits. For instance a major retailer outsourced its in-house printing function, including personnel. Governments and the private sector are outsourcing their major non-core functions to either concentrate on their sources of revenue, or cut the costs of doing business.

• The proliferation of cost-cutting specialists. These firms examine their clients’ costs to find areas where savings can be made, and are rewarded on the basis of the amount they save. It’s really annoying, but a fact of life, if you are the incumbent supplier, doing what you think is a good job, only to find that you have to re-tender for the goods or services you provide. It also gives your opposition a chance to get a foot in the door. The moral here is to keep close to your client and regularly review the operation to ensure there are no issues left unaddressed. Read the rest of this entry »