10 Good reasons why we need to have a tender kick-off meeting!
For a lot of tender writers and managers in the professional services sector, a tender hitting the in-box results in a demand to start work immediately.
But, this would be a mistake.
Once a Request for Tender (RFT) or Request for Proposal (RFP) hits your in-box, it's a good idea to take a deep breath, take a step back and talk to all of your possible stakeholders about having a tender kick-off meeting.
What is a tender kick-off meeting?
A tender kick-off meeting marks the start of your tender response journey. It's a crucial event that signifies the start of the tender response process.
In the professional services world, it’s also - probably - the best opportunity you’ll get, as a tender writer/manager, to get all of your key stakeholders in a room together to discuss crucial information about the opportunity.
What do we need to discuss at the tender kick-off meeting?
At a minimum, you should be talking through the following 10 questions with your key stakeholders:
What are we actually being asked to do - including what are the criteria to win this job?
Do we have the required expertise - should we even be going for this?
Do we have a relationship with the client/target?
Are there any conflicts of interest with existing client work?
Who will be the lead partner/principal?
Can we make a compelling case that we have the expertise to do the work?
Who needs to be involved in this response - compliance for the service agreement/pricing/HR/IT?
Can we ask clarification questions about the scope of services being sought?
What are the project key milestone dates, when is the submission deadline and how do we need to make the submission?
Will we make any money from this?
Lastly, make sure to tell everyone in your business that this tender has been issued and that there are likely protocols in place around entertainment and general contact.
Having done all the hard work, the last thing you want to do is to lose a tender because you took someone out for a coffee when you weren't allowed to!
As always, get in touch if you need any help with any of this!
BW!
