Tenders without tears, tantrums, and trauma: Dos and don’ts to take the stress out of law firm tenders and proposals
Tenders and formal procurement processes, though not the preferred way for most law firms to win clients or retain business, have become a fact of life in many market sectors served by law firms. This is especially true if your firm works with government, banks, insurers, listed companies, and other big corporates.
If winning work through tenders is important to your law firm, read on for some of Bidtique’s top tips for law firms to reduce angst and stress at tender time.
Do qualify the ‘opportunity’
Before you put pen to paper, make sure you have properly sized up the bid opportunity and assessed your strategic position. Your law firm must critically evaluate:
How much the work is worth to your firm?
How hotly the tender will be contested?
How your firm compares to [likely] competitors?
Whether there are any threshold issues your firm cannot meet?
The strength of your relationship with the buying organisation?
How many firms will ultimately be appointed to each category of law on the panel?
Bidtique has a helpful ‘bid or no bid’ tool available to help you run through key considerations so you can be sure it’s a real opportunity.
Don’t be indecisive
Make early, clear-cut decisions on the scope of your bid—this may include choosing areas of law and jurisdictions to bid for, as well as nominating team members.
Late changes to any part of the scope may have far-reaching implications and affect many sections of the tender response such as the partner who sees an 11th hour opportunity to add in a whole team and practice area. They will certainly add to the overall time, cost, and stress of production.
Do get evidence ready ahead of time
When it comes to tenders, winners are separated from losers by strong, evidence-based submissions. While you can never know ahead of time the exact questions that will be asked in a tender, you can be sure that you will need to provide certain key evidence, including:
Lawyer profiles
Case examples and project lists
Statistical indicators
Conflicts of interest policies and procedures
Flowcharts of key processes
Longer case studies or success stories highlighting core expertise
Client service credentials or quality processes
Strong, focused references or testimonial quotes from satisfied clients.
Additionally, tenderers are increasingly looking to reduce risk and are seeking proof by requesting full details (or actual copies) of firms’ governance and management policies and procedures. It’s no longer enough to just describe or allude to your standards and processes - you need to show them. Getting items prepped ahead of time will ensure you’re on the front foot well in advance of any RFT release.
Do make it all about THEM, not your law firm
The proposal is not about you. It’s about the buyer.
This means that you need to talk less about you. A lot less.
I have seen many proposals that are entirely focused on the tendering firm: firm history, lists of services, lists of clients, and vague claims about the firm’s general greatness.
The underlying message seems to be that it should be obvious to the buyer that your firm is the best.
But the client doesn’t care about you; they care about what you can do for them. So, this is what you need every element of your tender response to address, and make it easy for the buyer to see how you can help them.
Your firm was established in 1856. So what? You need to explain how this benefits the buyer.
Your firm generally offers the sorts of legal services the buyer wants. So what?
Many other firms will offer similar services, and it’s not enough just to list your services. Why should the buyer use you rather than someone else? (And the answer is not because you were established in 1856!).
Clearly state the benefits and outcomes the buyer will achieve from working with you (don’t assume it’s obvious).
Demonstrate that you understand the buyer’s problems, needs, or objectives and how you can solve, meet, or achieve them.
You don’t want the buyer struggling to interpret your messages because they won’t bother—they have other proposals to assess (i.e., your competitors’).
Do give them what they ask for
In a formal RFT or RFP response, you need to respond to every question, properly and thoroughly within the scope of what’s been asked.
If you do not, at worst your bid will be deemed non-compliant, and at best you may be seen as sloppy and unprofessional.
Unless it’s contrary to specific format and layout requirements, the best way to make sure you’re compliant is to structure your response document following the questions in the request document: copy every question, numbered as per the request document, and make them the headings and sub-headings for your responses.
This way, you are less likely to miss a question, and it will be clear to the evaluators that you have responded to every question.
As part of this, make sure you read each question carefully so that you understand what’s required, and then answer the question that’s asked.
It may seem obvious, but it can be easy to fall into the trap of inserting a cut ‘n’ paste of your response to a similar question from a previous bid without tailoring or revising it for the current context.
In some cases, a question may be ambiguously worded or otherwise unclear. If you’re unsure what’s required, ask (but think carefully before asking questions during a tender process—it can sometimes work against you).
Don’t ask clarification questions if you’re not sure you’ll like the answer
Ambiguously worded questions in tenders are not uncommon and can work to your advantage.
They allow you to interpret and respond to the question in a way that is compliant, but potentially favourable to you.
On occasion, you may genuinely need to seek clarification, for example, to cover a situation unique to your firm. But before you ask questions, consider if the answer will make a significant difference in the way you address the request.
Or can you work around the question in your responses in a way that keeps you compliant?
Don’t underestimate the time it takes to put a bid together
Tender turnaround times for legal services are becoming increasingly truncated. Firms can have as little as 5 business days to complete a response, and three to four weeks seems to be average. You cannot afford to start your response late!
Don’t assume you can write a strong, competitive response in your first draft. In our experience, most tender responses need three rounds of drafting and editing before they are of a high enough quality to be truly competitive. So for contributors, the time for suggestions, commentary, and feedback on drafts is early in the process. Resist the urge to involve multiple team members as your stop point approaches, and have a single senior person responsible for the final sign-off. Approve and sign off on standard sections (for example, contact detail pages) as you go so you are not trying to review 200 pages on hand-in day.
Do treat the process with respect
I have heard law firm partners say, “We don’t need to spend too much time on this bid - I’m good friends with a guy who works at [the buyer organisation], so we’ll be fine.”
Reader, they were not “fine” and lost the bid!
Treat the RFT/RFP process with respect, and never assume that you can get away with a half-hearted effort because you know or are on “good terms” the buyer.
Even if you have an established relationship with the buyer (or the buyer’s mum’s neighbour’s nephew), and even if you’ve been assured a win, you need to put in a credible, strong bid. Why?
You can’t be certain the person you have the relationship with has any power in the decision-making process—and there may be more than one person evaluating responses. You risk marring your firm’s reputation if you submit a poor-quality bid - you may be seen as unprofessional, if not incompetent. You will always have competition - and if you rest on your laurels, sooner or later you are going to come out second-best.
Though every RFT and RFP is different, if you can keep these key points top of mind when you’re writing your next tender response, you will be ahead of the competition.
Don’t assume prior knowledge of you and your firm (even if you are incumbents)
Following on from the point above you can never be 100% certain about the procurement process, so don’t assume the evaluation committee has any prior knowledge of you and your firm. Even if you have strong relationships with internal staff, they may not be involved in evaluating tenders or have any decision-making power.
Remind evaluators of the great results you have achieved, and reinforce the relationships you have developed with the buyer by evidencing these in your response.
Do be clever about constraints
If the tender request is restrictive, either through page limits or word counts, consider appending supplementary supporting material. Most buyers will allow some supporting material to be included, provided it is relevant, adds value, is clearly flagged as additional content, and is not mixed in with your main response.
If you do include additional material, you will still need to provide a compliant answer in your main response document and then clearly refer the evaluators to the appropriate supporting attachment.
Do (your best to) manage politics and partner expectations
As an in firm bid or marketing manager, one of the biggest challenges you’ll face is managing the politics within your law firm and the expectations of partners. It’s often likened to herding cats, but with the right approach, you can avoid tantrums, tears and trauma and ensure a smoother tender process.
First, establish clear communication channels and set realistic expectations from the outset. Ensure all partners involved understand the timeline, the level of effort required, and the importance of meeting deadlines.
Clarity at the outset regarding roles and responsibilities avoids defaults, assumptions or leaving sections or key decisions to ‘drift’. It’s also a good idea to get agreement upfront from your key stakeholders as to decisions or response sections that are delegable whether that’s to another lawyer to work up a first draft or a shared services area such as IT taking the lead on drafting data security responses.
Hold a kick-off meeting to discuss the tendering client’s objectives, roles and delegations, and responsibilities and the firm’s goals for the bid (e.g. retain, defend, grow share of work, etc).
Make it clear that while everyone’s input is valued, but also explain that final decisions will be made based on what is best for the tender’s success. Often this means towards the advanced draft stage the review and decision making audience will narrow to perhaps the client relationship partner or practice group head. This helps to manage egos and ensures that all contributions are aligned with the overall strategy.
Regular updates and check-ins are crucial. Keep partners informed about the progress and any changes that might affect the timeline or the approach. Transparency in your comms can help mitigate any surprises and reduce last-minute changes that can lead to stress and frustration or blame games.
When conflicts arise, address them promptly and diplomatically. Be prepared to mediate disagreements and keep the focus on the end goal: winning the tender. Use data and past successes to support your decisions and demonstrate the rationale behind them.
Finally, recognise and appreciate the contributions of all team members. Acknowledge the hard work and effort put in by the partners and other team members. This fosters a collaborative environment and encourages continued cooperation in future bids.
By effectively managing internal politics and partner expectations, you can create a more cohesive team environment, reducing the likelihood of tantrums and ensuring a more efficient and successful tender process whatever the final outcome of your bid.