Not Every Tender Is Worth Your Time: Here's How to Choose Wisely

Here's something I see time and time again. A business owner spots a contract opportunity, gets excited, spends the best part of a month putting together a detailed submission, and doesn't win. Then it happens again. And again. By the time they come to me, they're exhausted, disheartened, and wondering whether tendering is even worth the effort.

The problem, more often than not, isn't the quality of their work. It's that they're bidding for the wrong contracts.

Choosing which tenders to go after is genuinely one of the most important skills in the bidding process, and one of the most overlooked. So let's talk about it.

The scattergun approach doesn't work

It's tempting to think that the more tenders you submit, the better your chances of winning. In theory that makes sense, but in practice, it rarely plays out that way. Writing a tender submission properly takes significant time and effort. If you're spreading yourself too thin across too many opportunities, none of them will get the attention they deserve, and your quality will suffer across the board.

A focused, well-researched submission for the right contract will always outperform a rushed, generic one, however many times you repeat it.

Start with the basics

Before you even open the tender documents, ask yourself three questions:

• Can you genuinely deliver what this contract is asking for?

• Can you offer a competitive price while still making it viable for your business?

• Do you have the capacity to complete the submission in the time available?

If the honest answer to any of these is 'no', or even a hesitant 'maybe', that's a strong signal to move on. There's no shame in passing on an opportunity. In fact, it's one of the smartest things you can do.

Build a bid/no bid checklist

Once you've passed the initial filter, it's worth going deeper with a more structured evaluation. A bid/no bid checklist is a simple but powerful tool; a set of 5 to 10 questions you score each opportunity against.

The questions should be tailored to your business, but here are some good ones to get you started:

• Do we have relevant experience and case studies to reference?

• Do we meet the minimum requirements (insurance levels, accreditations, turnover thresholds)?

• Is the contract value proportionate to the time investment required?

• Do we have a realistic chance of competing on price?

• Is this contract aligned with the direction we want to grow in?

• Have we worked with this buyer before, or do we know their priorities?

Assign a percentage score to each question and set a threshold; if the overall score falls below, say, 60%, think very carefully before proceeding. It sounds clinical, but having that structure takes the emotion out of the decision, which is exactly what you need when you're excited about an opportunity and tempted to push ahead regardless.

Read the small print. All of it

I know, I know. Nobody enjoys ploughing through pages of procurement documents. But this bit is non-negotiable. The tender documentation will tell you everything you need to know about whether this contract is a realistic fit, if you know what to look for.

Look out for:

•      Minimum requirements.

•      Contract duration and value.

•      Scope of works.

•      Deadlines.

I always prepare a summary document for any tender I'm considering, pulling out all the key details in one place. It takes an extra half hour at the start but saves a lot of confusion later.

Know your strengths, and be honest about your gaps

The tenders you are most likely to win are the ones where your experience, track record, and capabilities closely match what the buyer is asking for. That sounds obvious, but it's worth spelling out, because it means being honest with yourself about where you're strong and where you're not.

If a contract calls for specific case studies you don't have, or asks for an accreditation you're still working towards, factor that in. You might still decide to bid (sometimes it's worth the experience, or you genuinely believe you can make a compelling case), but go in with your eyes open rather than hoping no one will notice.

The contracts where you think 'yes, we're genuinely good at this, we've done it before, and we can prove it': those are the ones to go all in on.

A word on win rates

One final thing worth saying: even experienced tenderers with strong submissions don't win every contract they bid for. A realistic win rate for most businesses is somewhere around 40%, not the 75-80% that many small business owners expect when they're starting out.

Being selective about which contracts you pursue is the single most effective way to improve that number. Fewer bids, better targeted, thoroughly prepared: that's the formula that works.

Not sure where to start?

If you're new to tendering and feeling overwhelmed by the process, or if you've been bidding for a while and not seeing the results you'd hoped for, I'd love to help. At The Bid Zone, we work with SMEs at every stage of their tendering journey, from identifying the right opportunities and building your bid/no bid process, through to writing and reviewing submissions.

Get in touch or book a free consultation at www.thebidzone.co.uk and let's make sure you're putting your energy into the bids that are worth winning. 😊