It is common for recruitment agencies to retain the services of lawyers and accountants, using their expertise to meet statutory requirements and ensure you are up to date with the obligations placed on your recruitment agency.
Unlike law and accountancy, which primarily focus on meeting legal requirements, retained bid services offer a unique advantage. They can significantly enhance your chances of winning new business, thereby increasing turnover and profit. This distinct benefit of bid services is often overlooked, but it’s crucial to understand why they are less commonly used than other specialist services.
The rarity of bid services is due to various factors, including misconceptions about our role, lack of awareness about their benefits, and the presence of an existing bid team. These factors often lead to underestimating the importance of bid services in winning new business.
· Recruiters think they can write all bids themselves and don’t require help. (No one does their year-end accounts or defends a lawsuit but happily submits a bid for a £5 mil contract with no bid expertise).
· Bids and tenders are perceived as something other than business-critical. (It’s difficult to cultivate sizeable opportunities in the millions outside of bids and tenders, so a bid strategy is critical).
· An existing bid team is in place; therefore, the perception is that they know what is required for every bid.
There are other causes; however, the advantages of retained bid services outweigh the disadvantages.
Even if you have an existing bid team, adding impartial bid support can bring a fresh perspective and innovative solutions. We have a holistic view of the market across multiple recruitment specialisms, allowing us to evaluate your bid and suggest improvements critically. This unique perspective can be refreshing, especially when internal solutions feel repetitive or time constraints become a factor in evaluating bids forensically. Our market understanding can help you identify unique selling points and stand out in your bids.
Our team continually analyses bids across all recruitment specialist areas, giving us a clear understanding of what ‘good’ looks like. We also closely monitor emerging recruitment solutions, approaches, and products, ensuring that your investment in bid services is always well-informed and valuable.
Like lawyers and accountants, we are always on hand to provide expert advice whenever needed. Whether it’s ideas on approaching a question or current bid knowledge you would like to access, we are here to help. A simple phone call can alleviate a hurdle and allow for quick and successful bid progression through knowledge share and a different external perspective. With our expert advice, you will always feel supported and guided in your bid processes.
We develop a deep understanding of your business, which allows us to bring industry insights to each bid and integrate past experiences, resulting in more tailored and compelling bids. This familiarity increases efficiency as we adeptly navigate your processes and produce quicker tailored bids as the retained services progress and develop. Our efficient processes ensure timely delivery of bids, relieving you of any last-minute rush or stress.
We evaluate bids following structured bid/no bid processes tailored to your business. We objectively assess opportunities to identify the most suitable ones, advising whether to pursue certain bids based on competitive positioning, past performance, and organisational strengths. This process removes the subjective element, ensuring you are not bidding for incorrect opportunities and increasing your bid success rates.
Our team is well-versed in the recruitment and bid industry, and we understand the applicable public and private sector compliance requirements and standards. This knowledge allows us to avoid errors and ensure that all bids meet the technical specifications, providing you with a high-quality service.
Time and money are critical in the recruitment industry. Retained bid services not only save you time but also free up internal resources to handle more complex areas. This cost-effective solution ensures that your resources are utilised optimally, providing a high return on your investment in our services. You can rest assured that every penny spent on our services contributes to your business’s success.
If you’d like to discuss retained bid services, call Bids and Tenders Consultancy for more information. 07894 561479