Speaking with One Voice

When it comes to bid-writing, one of the greatest challenges is that there are often multiple contributors involved. This can make it difficult to present a unified voice. The complexities of representing many contributors in unison was something that the resource management company, SITA UK, struggled with in their bid and Emphasis was asked to help them solve this problem.

SITA work with businesses and local authorities to reduce the impact of waste on the environment. They regularly create large bids that require input from multiple arms of the company.

Clarke O’Gara, Assistant PPP Project Manager, contacted Emphasis for help with managing multiple contributions. ‘The main purpose of our department is to compose very large bids that include elements from the technical side to the more fluffy,’ he says. ‘As these are written by different people in different departments, we were struggling to maintain a consistent voice. What we wanted was to make sure that at least our core people had the same core writing values.’ 

‘I chose Emphasis because it had a specific tender-writing course, and when I phoned up to enquire, Tom [Wilde] immediately diagnosed exactly the problems we were having and knew how to treat them.’

Project Aim:

• Find and maintain a consistent voice
• Streamline the bid-writing process
• Cut down on time spent reviewing and revising

A sleeker operation

Emphasis facilitated a one-day Bid, tender and sales proposal writing course that was specifically tailored to SITA. The course was divided into two parts: the first focusing on planning, the second on technique.

‘That structure was really helpful, because it reminds you to plan effectively before you start writing,’ explains Clarke.

Reinforcement

The trainer returned a few weeks after the course to hold a follow-up Coaching Clinic with each delegate, having analysed fresh writing samples to monitor their progress.

‘The clinic was really helpful for reinforcing the overall messages,’ says Clarke. ‘It was great to see Jack again and to have a consolidation of the overall course.

‘The Emphasis training course we attended was outstanding. It’s enabled our bid writing to be far more direct and effective, and helped us to find a more unified voice.’ - Kim Shaw, Development Support Manager, SITA

The business development effect

The training has made a big difference within the department, streamlining the bid-writing process and cutting down the time spent reviewing and revising. ‘We’re planning more carefully before the pen hits the paper,’ says Clarke. ‘We’re spending much less time writing and much less time reviewing, and the overall process is much quicker than before.’