Should you bid?

This week’s post explores the concept of ‘bid/no-bid’, or rather, how do you know whether you should bid or not? It can be exciting when a new opportunity arises which you instinctively believe your organisation is ideal for. However, as a good bid requires substantial time and resource investment, knowing when not to bid can at times be just as important.

At HealthBid we would encourage our clients to consider three core questions. Is your proposal deliverable? Is it profitable? Finally, is it winnable? Whilst these questions are naturally not an exhaustive list, as any bid/no-bid decision involves numerous operational and strategic decisions, they offer an ideal starting point:

1.    Deliverable – Here you are considering whether you can actually deliver on the contract. At a minimum you need to think about your resources, operational capacity and ability to deliver a patient-centric, compliant service.

2.    Profitable – You need to consider whether your organisation is going to make any money from the contract. Or, whether you might gain in other ways through building a strong bank of experience or furthering your reputation and brand. The latter may itself lead to future profitability.

3.    Winnable – Ultimately, you must always ask yourself ‘so what’? Qualifying on deliverability and profitability is largely irrelevant if you do not have the winning edge on your competitors. You will need to consider whether your unique selling points genuinely put you in the running and whether you would be able to develop strong win themes in the bid. If you are not bidding to win then you are gambling with your resources.

You may not always have a clear consensus across these categories and here you must dedicate some time to considering how/whether you can mitigate your ‘no’s’. For example, your proposal may not be significantly profitable but winning may deliver your organisation longer term reputational benefits. Or, your proposal may not currently stand up to market competitors but you may be able to invest time into refining your win themes and USPs before the bid campaign begins. Implicated in all these decisions is the moral dilemma of balancing the commercial profitability of your solution with always delivering the highest calibre service for patients on the front end.

At HealthBid we can help you make this decision; we know what a winning solution looks like. As we are external to your organisation, you can trust us to aid your bid/no-bid decision objectively. If you decide you are going to bid then investing in your bid campaign will truly maximise your competitive advantage. HealthBid operate under a unique Bid Engine model, combining years of in-depth knowledge, highly experienced project managers, talented writers and people genuinely passionate about the health and social care sector. We can help you transform your solution into a bespoke, personalised offer with a strong strategy and winning themes.

If you would like to find out more about what we do at HealthBid and how we can work with your organisation, please call our Business Development Laura Moore on 0113 479 0803.