Many times in working with bid teams, I come across the same issues over and again. One of the most common and easiest to fix is communication within the team.

As we all know, bids are conducted in a highly pressurised environment. Timescales are usually tight, contributors have a million other things to do and orchestrating input from lots of specialist partners means that the end solution sometimes doesn't come together until late in the process. Adding internal bid team meetings to this is just an added pressure, right?

Wrong!

Communication through the bid period is vital to a successful submission. It allows the 'story' of the solution to develop and gives the internal team the opportunity to solve problems laterally rather than in isolation. By understanding how a solution has developed - the ideas that were considered, discarded or enhanced along the way - the lead bid writer can clearly identify the differentiators and communicate your team's expertise and understanding. At interview, a team that has communicated well throughout the bid process will stand out from a disparate group of individuals thrust together to "give good face" in front of the client's team.

Programme regular review meetings into your bid period and, if that's not possible, make sure your lead writer speaks to all of your contributors regularly. Not just to chase input but to develop a detailed understanding of how their contribution has evolved and where those key selling points lie.

With that, I'm off for a chat…

What can I say? It's been busy, so blogging has had to give way to working. Happy days!

You find me in recovery having had a run of bid documents to complete, with the last two being back-to-back. Usually, bidding is rather like childbirth - stick with me on this one - you forget very quickly just how hard it is so by the time the next one comes along, you're really looking forward to it. Or is that just me?

Anyway, having had a long run of tenders to work on and last week finding myself on the business end of a 36-hour straight shift to get anywhere close to the deadline, I was reminded of how lucky I am. This week I'm chilling out for a couple of days before getting back to some straightforward copywriting. But what are my contractor bid team colleagues up to? Yes, that's right, they're back to their 'day jobs' - usually trying to meet difficult deadlines and juggle lots of demands - or getting stuck into the next bid. So, what's my point?

I remember all too well what it's like to be in their shoes and I know how counterproductive it is to be operating relentlessly under pressure. When I set up c3 and was able, at last, to manage my own time, it was like a light being switched on. I could approach every new bid with total commitment and suddenly found that I actually *wanted* to write bespoke text - the urge to find something similar to cut-and-carve simply disappeared. I moved from treating bids like an exam paper with answers to be completed, to thinking of them as a story complete with characters, settings and scenarios. No-one was interested in reading chunks of text that disjointedly answered specific questions but once I was able to tie them together into an overarching 'story', I found that my proof-readers actually engaged with the bid - they started commenting on the proposals and asking questions about the job, I had hit on one of the key factors that makes a bid successful.

This wouldn't have happened - and even now, wouldn't happen in my work - if I hadn't given myself time to re-charge between bids. That vital rest-time allows me to stretch my writing brain in other directions and is invaluable in restoring enthusiasm and creativity. Without it, I know that I would carry the fatigue or frustrations of one bid into the next, along with any mistakes or misjudgments.

So, this week, my plea to construction companies is to take a look at their bidding staff and ask, "Would they benefit from a break?". Maybe a month working on a live site or getting customer satisfaction surveys up to date, getting out there to meet prospects or doing some market research? Let them re-charge their batteries - I promise your bids will improve as a result.