A good proposal writer is a creative creature. They know how to produce 'fluff' in their proposal writing, creating four or five paragraphs of copy when a single 'yes' or 'no' statement would probably answer the question in the ITT just as well.

 

However, it can seem rude to reply to a query with a single syllable, as if we are afraid that our response will seem rushed or unconsidered, causing the evaluator to see our company as lazy, as a result of the brevity of our proposal writing.

Whether or not a response can be too short is a question which has normally has a proposal writer scratching their heads, wondering about the issue. If I don't take the time to embellish an answer, will we lose marks? Will the evaluator swoop upon our document as an example of an organisation which doesn't care about how they fare in the tender process?

To get to the bottom of the issue, it's always worthwhile considering things from the evaluator's perspective, rather than that of the proposal writer. If you are faced with eight different tender responses, sometimes it can seem like a breath of fresh air when the suppler has decide to be concise in their answer. It can make you feel well-disposed towards the unknown proposal writer who actually saw the value in a short response, and offered one accordingly.

 

Conversely, too much concision can risk omitting key facts which could help sway the decision in the tender writer's favour. If a proposal writer have spent hours generating an outstanding solution, only for the bid manager to reject half the copy in preference to a yes/no response, is value lost?

 

Let's take an example question which most tender writing covers on a daily basis:

• "Does your company have a valid Health and Safety Policy in place?"

 

Now, the logical answer to this would be a simple 'yes'. Question asked, response given. How can the proposal writer add value to their answer?  All companies will probably have a policy in place, and even if they don't they can easily say that they do. Thus, to gain maximum compliance so it's probably worth telling the evaluator a little more. For example, your organisation has a policy which has been in operation for the past ten years, is developed to ISO standards, and reviewed every three months.

The problem with most questions is that proposal writing experts are rarely given the full picture. We need to read between the lines – what are the company really asking here? How can we ensure full compliance, even if the requirements for that aren't immediately clear? While concision is a positive attribute, it's important not to risk gaining full marks for a bid response, by omitting information which could make the difference between a win and a rejection.

 

But above all a great proposal writer does not write 'fluff'. Any additional infomation always exists is always relevent to the question and exists soley to strengthen their arguement.