DEV Community: Bid_solution

The Art of Interviewing your Next Employer: Five Questions to Ask | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 05:56:30 +0000

Coming of age in your career means acknowledging you bring immense value to the table. Professional maturity means understanding you’re choosing a company as much as they’re choosing you. You are stepping into the driver’s seat of your career.

This realisation is critical. We work in high-stakes, high-pressure environments and the wrong job – no structure, no support, unsustainable workloads – can quickly lead to burnout. Due diligence is required during the interview process. Asking the right questions is vital. My top five are:

1. Who is currently managing your proposals?
If the answer is vague or “we all pitch in,” brace yourself. You may be stepping into a job with little structure, where you’ll be building everything from the ground up. If that excites you, great! But make sure you’re being compensated fairly and that your title reflects not just managing proposals, but establishing a proposal department. This isn’t just a job; it’s a leadership role, and it should be treated (and paid) as such.

2. Will those people continue managing proposals?
Just because others are handling proposals now doesn’t mean they’ll continue once you’re on board. It’s one thing to join a team with shared responsibilities. It’s another to think you’ll have support, only to find yourself running everything solo. If you don’t ask upfront, you lose all your negotiating power once you’re in the role.

3. What happens when the proposal manager is on vacation?
The answer to this determines if you’ll ever be able to take a real break. A vague “we make it work” isn’t good enough. A company that values you will have a plan, ensuring you can take time off without your inbox exploding. If there’s no backup plan, be ready for burnout.

4. How does your company decide what to bid on?
A structured bid/no-bid process separates strategic companies from chaotic ones. Without clear decision-making, you’ll be stuck in last-minute bids, impossible deadlines, and wasted effort. Knowing how opportunities are qualified tells you if the company is strategic or just throwing spaghetti at the wall.

5. What does growth look like for this role?
Proposal management is demanding. Maybe you love it and want to do it forever. Maybe you don’t. The best companies create paths for growth, so you don’t have to leave just to advance. Before you invest your time and talent, make sure there’s a future for you there.

Read full blog at: https://tinyurl.com/34h4bhnj

Keeping Quality High and Burnout Levels Low | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 08:37:23 +0000

As a profession we have spent years proving we’re specialists in winning work and that we bring the expertise our organisations need in order to win more. We’ve made incredible progress, even in the small wins where we craft a win strategy that didn’t exist, or we’re asked to be involved because they need our help. It’s fantastic to see our roles become so critical.

But at what cost?

With long hours and stakeholders who expect “above and beyond”, it’s no wonder that in a recent APMP survey, 82% of respondents said they felt overworked and burnt out.

It’s also not a surprise that with hybrid working, the lines between work and home have continued to blur. In the UK, 91% of UK adults reported that they experienced high or extreme levels of pressure or stress in the past year*. Many of us have become accustomed to working overtime to produce outstanding proposals and pitches.

There are unfortunately downfalls of being incredibly passionate about the work we do – we don’t realise when we’re burnt out! We forget to give ourselves down-time to fully switch off as we’re excited to deliver excellence and continue proving ourselves.

In 2025, it’s time we prioritise well-being and mental health within our industry more than ever before. Without finding better balance we’ll lose outstanding current and future talent.

Read full blog at: https://tinyurl.com/3b5nvbbj

The Language Of Love | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 07:00:14 +0000

In the bid profession, language matters. As bid professionals, especially those who focus on writing, this is particularly true; taking the time to craft client-focussed submissions that have the right tone of voice, messaging and proposition.

However, thinking beyond any formal submission writing, how does language within the sector act as a marker for its maturity level? How do we know if we are moving from adolescence to adulthood?

One indicator could be the growing recognition of the profession when asked by someone what you do for a living. It used to go along the lines of:

Person x: ‘What do you do for a living?’

Me: ‘I am a Bid Manager.’

Person x: ‘Sorry, a ‘Big’ Manager?’

Me: ‘Yes, let’s just go with that…’ [end of conversation].

When I tell people what I do for a living now, most of them respond with something like ‘Ah, yes, business development…’ This in itself shows the profession is reaching a certain maturity level, highlighting bids are much more than a standalone writing activity. They are, in fact, a crucial part of a lifecycle that helps to cement long-standing client relationships.

Beyond the greater understanding of what a bid professional does, I believe there are two further indicators of development into adulthood within the bidding community itself. Firstly, the development of ‘colloquial’ bid language, which mainly comes with humour, affection and love for the industry attached to it (e.g., watching out for a ‘seagull reviewer’ swooping in too late in the bid process). The light-heartedness of such terms helps to emphasise familiarity and comradeship within the sector, showcasing that processes are evolving and, in turn, challenges will also arise.

Read full blog at: https://tinyurl.com/yueumjwv

There’s No ‘I’ in TEAM | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 06:16:46 +0000

There’s been lots of pondering over lots of cups of coffee about what a grown-up version of our profession would look like and how I’d describe it. I first thought it would be a single person then realised it was more like a team, because no single person can embody all that our profession is or does.

The problem is (as in any team) some players seem more important than others to the spectators (people in our organisations and client organisations who look at our teams and interact with them). In some ways those players are stronger than others now because they’re given more attention. In a grown-up version of our profession, I’d like to see balance across the team with each player treated with respect and their role in the team fully understood. With this, I believe our teams would be more successful. The onus is on the star players to promote the supporting players and make sure the spectators understand that without the whole team, we don’t win. I’d also like to see more organisations build their teams out, either by hiring a ‘whole’ person for a role or providing someone else in the organisation with extra skills, allowing them to fill a gap.

I tried to find a sport I could use as an analogy but realised there isn’t one. Whether it’s a tennis pro or a football team, it takes more than one person to score the winning points. There are support teams, including coaches, physios, tacticians, reserve benches – many, many moving parts. The best players, the ones we look up to and respect in any sport, acknowledge that without their team they wouldn’t be where they are today.

Let’s see more acknowledgement of the team as a whole. Let’s see the parts of the team (knowledge managers, proposal support and coordinators) that don’t seem important to outsiders being fought for and supported with training and skills development. They are integral to success!

Read full blog: https://tinyurl.com/2s4m6jfk

The Role of AI in the Maturing Profession of Bidding | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 05:39:05 +0000

As bidding professionals, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment. 2025 has already brought a surge in AI startups and tools, each claiming to revolutionise our industry. Promises of “one-click” winning proposals and automated tender responses dominate the discourse. But before we embrace these advancements, we should pause to consider whether we risk slipping back into our “childhood” ways – making impulsive decisions based on untested claims.

At Bid Performance we have experimented with various AI tools, from secure chatbots to bespoke industry-specific solutions. Their potential is undeniable, but their true value lies in their proper application.

AI: A New Team Member, Not a Magic Wand

Imagine hiring a new Bid Writer and expecting them to craft a winning proposal with no onboarding, no context, and no strategy. The result, at best, would be generic and compliant. AI operates in much the same way. It can process data, identify patterns, and generate content, but only when directed by knowledgeable professionals who provide context, clarity, and strategic insight.

Failing to provide these foundations reduces AI to an underutilised – and potentially harmful – tool, stalling the very progress it promises to accelerate.

Building on Strong Foundations

The success of AI in bidding is directly proportional to the strength of the foundations it supports. Strategic direction, skilled subject matter experts (SMEs), and robust processes remain the cornerstones of high-quality submissions. These are lessons we learned in the “adolescent” phase of our profession – lessons that must not be forgotten as we transition into this era of advanced technology.

AI can enhance our capabilities by accelerating routine tasks, providing insights and saving time. However, AI is not a substitute for strategic thinking or human expertise. It strengthens our processes but it cannot independently create winning bids.

Avoiding Childhood Tendencies

The allure of technology can sometimes lead to over-reliance or unrealistic expectations. As professionals, we must resist the temptation to adopt AI based solely on its promises. Instead, we should approach its implementation with the reasoned judgment of an experienced bid professional.

This means:

Evaluating AI tools critically, focusing on their applicability to our unique needs
Incorporating AI in a way that complements – not replaces – human talent
Setting clear expectations for how AI fits into the bidding lifecycle

Read full blog: https://tinyurl.com/4fvj9k2j

The Adult in the Room: How the Proposal Profession Leads While Others Lag Behind | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 07:20:24 +0000

With proposals influencing over a third of company revenue*, our profession has far outgrown the “administration” and “support” labels. We’re thought leaders, change agents, storytellers. Yet, other teams – leadership, sales, even client procurement – struggle to keep pace with how our profession has evolved. It’s time these stakeholders recognise how far the proposal profession has come and the critical impact we have across organisations.

How the proposal profession has matured

Despite growing pains, we’ve found our voice and honed our identity by building a global community. We have industry bodies, certifications and training, shared terminology, and established in-person and virtual networks. We take ownership of our continuous development, honing our technical and interpersonal skills. We celebrate our successes and see setbacks as learning opportunities.

We operate with an abundance mindset, sharing insights with our peers through magazines, books, blogs, webinars, whitepapers, podcasts, surveys, and reports. Within our own organisations, we act as stewards of institutional knowledge – trusted content curators as well as creators.

We’re aware of and addressing issues such as:

• Burnout: Raising awareness and offering practical support through articles, surveys, reports, and mental health affinity groups
• Barriers to entry: Expanding access through apprenticeships and collaboration with colleges
• Career longevity: Promoting growth though coaching and mentoring schemes
• Conflict: Managing challenging situations with emotional intelligence, persuasion, and versatile communication

How other teams can catch up

For proposal teams to thrive – and for organisations to win more – leadership, sales, and even client procurement must evolve with us.

Leadership should rebrand the proposal function to reflect its impact by incorporating terms like “growth,” “winning,” and “revenue” into our titles. Competitive salaries, bonus incentives, and leadership pathways – on par with sales and marketing – are essential to attracting and retaining top talent. Flexibility must be the norm, not the exception. AI investments should enhance quality and alleviate workload pressures, not simply increase volume or reduce headcount. Protecting technical SMEs’ time while holding them accountable through bidding-related KPIs would improve collaboration. And it’s time we’re measured on more than just win rate.

Sales needs to move beyond last-minute handoffs. We need pipeline visibility and true collaboration on capture – for new business and retention efforts. A seat at the table for go/no-go decisions, backed by real data, enables smarter choices. And post-bid, working together to implement lessons learned should be standard practice.

Client procurement must do better. Realistic RFP timelines, avoiding holiday-adjacent deadlines, and making bidder briefings useful should be the baseline. And when decisions are made, meaningful win/loss feedback should be non-negotiable.

How much more could we all achieve if every team treated proposals as a strategic function, not an afterthought?

for full blog: https://tinyurl.com/yc6vz9wm

Pushing Beyond the Status Quo | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 07:15:17 +0000

Despite the noise about AI, things in our profession feel materially the same as when I started in bidding 25 years ago, especially for bid team members.

I think we need to take a broader view and look back up the funnel to examine the earlier stages of the bid growth process. I conduct 24 maturity benchmarking sessions with client boards annually and survey UK businesses with the Department for Business and Trade and others to assess our maturity in growing our organisations.

Some large organisations with bid teams and budgets excel, but on average the picture isn’t good, especially for organisations with less than 1,000 people.

Our recent survey of 500 UK companies (with 67% of those being SMEs), 25% reported having a win rate of 0-20%, with 56% having a win rate below 40%. This engaged audience noted they don’t capture deals ahead of tender, qualify tenders or have a bid process.

Unsurprisingly, high performers with win rates of over 60% do more capture upstream, qualify opportunities robustly, and have a recognised and well-sponsored bid process. Only 10% of high performers are SMEs.

B2B/B2G companies typically make 80% of their margin from 20% of their clients. They have a next batch of rising or falling stars, but then a very long tail of smaller clients barely breaking even or losing money. B2B/B2G businesses expend significant energy pursuing unattainable contracts and often risk losing money even if they win them.

We’ve found that companies make the majority of their profits from clients who engage early, are collaborative, have a higher propensity to direct awards or negotiate work, and where our staff enjoy working with them. Conversely, they lose money on smaller clients who surprise them with cold tenders (including where we haven’t influenced the specification), are litigious, and our staff don’t enjoy working with them.

As capture, bid and proposal professionals, we’re best connected to the business and most attuned to its performance. The new procurement act and its associated policy statement offer an opportunity to use internal and external market research data to assess our maturity and drive performance.

In a rapidly automated world, the second half of this decade should focus on demonstrating our value as strategic advisers and how we can guide our organisations to growth. Perhaps in adulthood winning work becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, enabled by good market research and optimised client and opportunity selection.

With Adulthood Comes Responsibility | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 05:56:10 +0000

I remember my youth clearly, the sense of carefree possibility and invincibility. The actions I took felt without consequence as I thought they had no bearing on the future.

Fast forward to adulthood and now most decisions are based on an internal discussion on the impact on myself, my family and my career and the influence of my actions on others.

Bidding too has grown up. We face much better recognition of the skills and influence we bring to our employers. As a result we need to mature accordingly. For me this means that to be considered a serious professional, I need to accept increased responsibility by embracing ownership and accountability for the full sales cycle; the pursuit.

A New Mindset – From Proposals to Pursuits

My career has been marked by a constant tension: the external assumption that I simply create aesthetically pleasing documents, and my own internal fear that this may indeed be correct! Early on, this combination sometimes left me feeling like an insecure teenager navigating the complexities of the adult world.

To counter this external and internal perception, I have come to the conclusion that to succeed in this profession, my role and those of my counterparts should be far more strategic.

The bidding professional then should embrace an all-encompassing approach that begins with strategy and flows into business development, capture planning, data analysis and onwards throughout the entire sales cycle. Throughout this holistic role we need to take ownership and accountability. The buck stops with us.

Embracing Accountability

This is a brave new world of myriad complexity that includes the managing of difficult internal and external stakeholders, pipeline analysis, commercial awareness and giving and receiving challenging feedback amongst much more. I embrace the impact this has on myself and the organisation.

The results behind such a holistic approach to pursuits are clear both personally and in the success of the organisation in increased win rates, career advancement, greater respect from colleagues and clients, and a sense of accomplishment.

Conclusion

The analogy behind a coming of age from childhood to adulthood and proposals to pursuits is apt. Adulthood in bidding requires a shift from single reactive tasks to a mindset of ownership and accountability across the organisation.

I encourage all bid and proposal professionals to embrace the challenges of responsibility and reap the rewards of professional maturity. This can be done by fighting your case to have a seat at the table. You deserve a strategic role in shaping the entire sales cycle and driving success both personally and for your employer.

This is Why We’re Back in Our Teens | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 05:36:32 +0000

I believe two key markers define an industry’s maturity: the existence of widespread standardised best practices and global scale collaboration and knowledge sharing across verticals.

If we reflect on the state of bidding and proposals, the best practices are there and already well-known by most. That doesn’t mean they’re always applied consistently, but the foundation is there. I think the professional associations in our space have done a great job making that happen.

For the knowledge-sharing factor, though, the associations were always limited because of the very nature of the membership and sponsorship business – an issue across many industries, not just ours. Publications helped, and some (like this one) played a major role in pushing our profession forward.

However, the real shift came with professional social media and the rise of independent proposal content creators. Peers are sharing insights on an unprecedented scale. The collaboration and knowledge sharing across industries is now stronger than ever. Even procurement is hearing us more! Today, I consider that second maturity factor accomplished.

If this were pre-2022, I’d confidently say, “RFPs, bidding, and proposals is a full grown-up profession.” But something happened in late 2022.

Yes, you guessed it, ChatGPT was released. The artificial intelligence technology wave has impacted every business area in many ways, from efficiency gains to whole rebuilds. AI has forced every profession – including ours – into a new adolescence. What we once considered best practices must now be questioned.

The fundamentals will likely stay, and the global knowledge sharing is already there, so it’s not like we have to start over. But it’s now a time to question every practice and update workflows when necessary.

For this to happen in a positive way, we all have a role to play – vendors, associations and, most importantly, every bidding and proposal professional. The temptation to keep the status quo is real, but only by participating in the change will we ensure this amazing technology works for (and not against) us.

We often look back at our early years with nostalgia, wondering what we’d do differently. Well, professionally, we now have that chance. We can be back in our teens and redesign our future.

Who wouldn’t take that opportunity?

From Bad to...Way, Way Better! | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 06:52:18 +0000

I had a shock at the APMP UK conference a couple of years ago. I was late to the coffee break after presenting a session and as I looked over the assembled horde, it hit me: I’m one of the old folks here! One recent survey tells me a third of our profession were still at school – or hadn’t been born – when I set up my first proposal centre in 1999!

Processes that seemed radical then are now mainstream: let’s ponder a couple of examples. Back then, why would you think about a proposal before the RFP landed? Now we’re in a world where capture, pre-proposal planning and renewal proposals are increasingly the norm.

Qualification was a novel concept. Now, according to a recent Loopio / APMP report, 83% of organisations have a “bid / no bid” process – even if far too many teams still pour resource into deals they aren’t confident they can win!

Proposal writing’s become far more professional and conversational. Design’s been revolutionised. Someone recently described a submission to me as a “magazine-style proposal”. No, my friend, it’s a “proposal-style proposal”.

We’re rarely in “war rooms” together now: our world’s become virtual or blended. We’re still looking at new tech – only now it’s AI as well as content management.

And now, there are SO MANY PEOPLE. Relatively few organisations had formal bid teams back in those days: these days, most do. Industry conferences draw hundreds (or thousands). We have apprentices, certification, endless babble about best practice on LinkedIn. Looks like a profession? Behaves like a profession? It’s probably a profession – no longer “glorified admin”.

Yet too few organisations really “get it”: proposals can too often feel like an uphill battle rather than being in the DNA of the business. I’ve long argued the proposal function is the job protection and creation engine for most companies, driving revenue growth. As such, it should be visible to and sponsored from the C-suite. That needs to become more common.

And for high performers, the agenda moves on to creating a bid and proposal function that’s perfecting its engagement with the business and outwitting ever-tougher competition. That requires better alignment to the new business and renewal pipeline, sharper and more nimble processes, top-class training, sound tech. Most importantly, it demands great people. Perhaps the greatest challenge now is how to hire, develop and retain the very best.

Stand still? You lose. The winners – as they’ve been over all these years – will be those with the vision, passion, determination and energy to get even better. Will you be at the front of the pack or left trailing behind, now our profession’s come of age?

A Mature Industry? | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 09:39:30 +0000

When I saw the theme ‘Coming of Age’, I immediately thought of reaching maturity and asked myself, “Has the bidding industry reached maturity?” Here’s my take.

Using a simple industry lifecycle of introduction, growth, maturity and decline, let’s test where we are against the characteristics of each stage.

Introduction

Characteristics: In the early days, an industry takes shape. Buyers learn about the goods and services on offer, which are available from a small and fragmented set of organisations.

How do we compare? Well, we’ve certainly introduced ourselves! The Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) started in the US in 1989 and in the UK in 2001 – those dates could mark a formal start to our industry. From my side, bid management was unheard of when I started work in the 1980s; it came onto my radar in 2007. Even then, suppliers seemed to be few and far between, but that has definitely changed.

Growth

Characteristics: As the goods and services become better understood, demand increases. More suppliers emerge – through diversification and start-ups – and a handful become industry leaders. Geographic reach increases and processes become better and more standardised.

How do we compare? We are certainly better understood and there are many more of us around – from employed bid teams to consultancies to freelancers (some better known than others). We see bid professionals globally and we typically follow established best practices and processes.

Maturity

Characteristics: The industry settles into a ‘business as usual’ rhythm, and competition becomes rife among the established players, potentially driving prices down. The landscape is challenging for newcomers but there may be opportunities for mergers and acquisitions.

How do we compare? While bigger companies may regard bid teams as ‘business as usual’, many teams still have to fight for resources and recognition. Smaller businesses frequently struggle, not realising there’s help at hand. Yes there’s competition but the general feeling is there’s enough business for all of us, and the industry remains collaborative. I can think of two acquisitions in recent years, so maybe that’s a sign of things to come.

Decline
Characteristics: Eventually, an industry may fall away due to weakening demand caused by better alternatives. Growth becomes impossible, leading to casualties or the compelling need to innovate, reinvent or diversify.

How do we compare? I certainly don’t see demand weakening. Tenders abound. Bid teams are as busy as ever. There are also specialisms emerging, such as social value. But what about AI? We are optimistic it will enable us rather than replace us but who knows? It may kill us!

My verdict? I believe we’re still growing, but our ‘Coming of Age’ is probably within reach.

Developing a Grown-Up Relationship with Technology | Bid Solutions

Bid_solution — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 06:12:45 +0000

Relationships are complicated. They can be idyllic and tempestuous. They can burn bright and fizzle out or they can last a lifetime. Starting a new relationship can be scary but, once we take the plunge, the butterflies give way to excitement as we make a connection and something wonderful blossoms.

Technology has been part of the bidding ecosystem for many years and our relationship with it has often been the topic of passionate discussion between advocates and sceptics. Recently, generative AI threw a hand grenade into that relationship and reignited the debate.

I believe now is the time for us to develop a more grown-up relationship with technology in bids and proposals, removed from the hype and paranoia. We need to discover how to fall in love with genuinely useful technology but without all the drama. This means setting healthy expectations and blending technology with processes while keeping people firmly at the heart of everything we do.

Set Healthy Expectations

In my consulting work I often see two types of unhealthy expectations:

Blind Love is placing too much faith in a tool as the solution to all problems. The shiny new, fully integrated, AI-powered, everything automated platform is salvation itself.
Toxic Partners are those stakeholders feeling vulnerable or threatened. They think it will fail and they’ll make it fail to prove themselves right.
Whether we expect technology to fix everything or nothing, we’ll be disappointed. It’s not a silver bullet. But it can bring enormous advantages when we use it well. That means defining clear and realistic goals: what problem needs solving? What measurable outcomes do we want? Not every tool is right for every team. And tools that don’t solve problems are problems.

Blend Technology with Processes

Strong relationships thrive on openness, trust, and understanding. We work together, provide support, and bring out the best in each other.

Similarly, our technology and processes need to operate in a dynamic, two-way partnership. Technology must fit the way we work and our processes must evolve to take advantage of what the tech offers. Each enhances and refines the other.

Keep Humans at the Heart

In the best relationships, each side contributes their unique strengths. Our relationship with technology should augment human skills, not replace them. And we humans augment technology.

Keeping humans at the heart means focusing on the user experience and the wellbeing of our people. When they believe in the vision and understand the strategy, they will help deliver success.

A grown-up relationship with technology means using tools to make our work easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable. Quite simply, it’s empowering brilliant people to do their best work.