Set your business up for success
With 2032 opportunities well and truly on there way, now is the time to set your business up for success.
With major investments rolling out across Queensland and new opportunities being announced almost weekly, only the best-prepared businesses will make the team.
Submitting tenders, Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Expressions of Interest (EOIs) isn’t just important, it’s the only way your business can be considered for major projects. While the process can be demanding on time, resources and cost, it is also your gateway to securing these opportunities.
With over 30 years of experience in tenders resulting in over $15bn won of project value, our experts at Focused Marketing have shared their tips on how to write a winning submission and achieve a gold standard.
Stay ahead of upcoming 2032 opportunities
As Brisbane gears up for the games in 2032, the spotlight on Queensland presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for businesses. With the Games expected to deliver a $4.6 billion boost in tourism and trade for the state and $8.5 billion nationally (GIICA), the competition will be fierce.
Whether your business operates in tourism, infrastructure, energy or other key sectors, being tender-ready is essential. To give you a head start, we’ve compiled a list of 2032 resources.
Review your current submission process, before a tender lands!
Usually, you only go after a tender if you think you can win it. But believing isn’t enough! You’ve got to show up ready to win.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” – James Clear
Your process should clarify roles, responsibilities and timelines to ensure you meet deadlines. When assessing your process, you absolutely need to look at:
To go or not to go?
Before committing to a tender, assess whether it is the right fit for your business. Don’t let excitement cloud your judgement. Consider:
- Alignment with your core services, capacity and experience
- Contract size and financial risk compared to your resources
- Can you meet the minimum compliance requirements?
- Timeframes – can you meet submission and delivery deadlines?
- Strategic value – does this client or project fit into your long-term goals?
- Do you have an existing relationship with the client?
Make a plan (and set deadlines!)
Make sure everyone in your team knows the ‘who, how and when’ of your response plan. A disciplined project management approach improves the quality of the submission. Suggested actions:
- Map out all requirements and deliverables
- Assign roles and responsibilities for gathering inputs. Make sure everyone understands how they are going to contribute to the bid. Set them up for success by explaining what is expected of them and what good looks like.
- Communicate clearly and regularly. This can be done with quick 15minute standing meeting and a follow-up email
- Create an internal timetable with milestones before final submission
- Track renewals for insurance, certifications, and policies
- Build in time for reviews, editing and approvals
Assess your content
It’s important to assess your business-as-usual documentation in your bid library. When was the last time it was refreshed? Consider:
- Do you have a good cross section of relevant quality case studies?
- Up to date company CVs for all your team?
- Is all your compliance information (WHS, insurances, policies) up to date?
Analyse the tender with your team to identify your win themes
Your proposal should tell a clear story about why you are the best choice. To do this:
- Identify 2–3 key win themes (such as local content, innovation, proven performance)
- Emphasise how your offer delivers value for money and reduces client risk
- Align your solution with client priorities (such as safety, sustainability, community outcomes)
- Use the client’s language and terminology to demonstrate alignment
- Keep responses concise, structured and easy to read
- Answer the ‘so what’ questions
If you are struggling with articulating why you, engage an external facilitator or consultant to help. If you don’t know why the client should engage you, your tender submission response will be vague.
Questions to ask the team:
- What is the problem that the client is trying to solve?
- How do we demonstrate that we get it?
- What are the risks or consequences of not fixing the problem?
- How do we solve the challenge?
- What is our experience/proof?
- How will the customer benefit from our understanding/plan/relevant experience?
Craft client-centric tenders and proposals
Proposal writing requires that you focus on the client. Ensure you know what’s required so that your response is effective. Follow these 4 steps to create more client-centric proposals.
- Identify the customer’s needs. What is the question?
- What is it really asking? Determine the outcomes that really matter.
- Recommend solutions to reach those outcomes.
- Provide evidence that you can do what you say.
Do your research
Invest in client and/or stakeholder discovery workshops to make sure that your proposal is informed and relevant:
- Review project portals (QTenders, ICN Gateway, VendorPanel, Buy Queensland)
- Check major project briefings, fact sheets and supplier codes of conduct
- Identify client values, priorities and evaluation criteria
- Review awarded contracts to understand competitors and subcontracting opportunities
Tailor existing content
Ensure your content aligns with the tender and is specific to your client.
Strong tenders balance repurposed proven content with tailored responses:
- Review your capability statement, past tenders and templates
- Tailor existing content to the client’s specific project and evaluation criteria
- Create new content to address identified gaps (e.g., policies, WHS, sustainability)
- Ensure supporting evidence (certificates, references, case studies) is included
Keep it concise
Writing concisely means using the fewest words possible to convey an idea. If your writing is difficult to follow, readers will lose interest. Improve readability in your proposal by:
- Removing filler words
- Choosing everyday words
- Avoiding flowery language
- Limiting sentences to one idea
- Using lists
- Considering the terminology you use
- Writing in accessible language
Remember, simple is powerful!
Also don’t assume reviewers have the same specialised technical understanding as you. Most of the time, they don’t! This is one of the biggest mistakes we see in tender writing. Too many points get lost on overly complex language, clear writing makes points simply and demonstrates competence.
Review your tender submission
Edit your content using the 4 key criteria (the 4 C’s) of a tender response.
If you can get a fresh set of eyes, even better! Even the most seasoned writers rely on an editor to check their writing. Get a colleague to highlight anything that is unclear. This will improve the quality of your final submission and increase your chances of success.
Focused Marketing 4 C’s of Tenders
- Compliant
Before submission, complete a final check to ensure
- All mandatory requirements are addressed
- Content is concise, professional and free of errors
- Formatting is consistent and follows submission guidelines
- Supporting documents are attached (policies, certificates, references)
- Submission deadlines and instructions are met
- Consistent
- All numbers and statistics presented ‘add up’
- The language and writing style used throughout is consistent (Does the proposal sound like the same person wrote every section?)
- Clear
- The use of jargon, terminology and acronyms is limited. Always spell out an acronym in the first instance
- Responses are front-loaded to make sure answers to key questions can be easily identified
- Follow their structure, even if you disagree with it
- Cross reference and label all your tables and diagrams
- Compelling
- Claims are backed with evidence
- Responses are specific and clearly describe the unique benefits that you can provide to the client
- Your capability and capacity to deliver is proven
- You win themes are dotted throughout the document
- They close the document and know exactly ‘why you’
Design your tender submission
Make your proposal memorable with a strong layout and eye-catching design, without compromising compliance. And remember, a good diagram can replace lots of words. Particularly useful when you are working within a page limit.
Now’s the time to get a head start
Getting a head start on your tender process gives your business a clear competitive advantage.
Instead of scrambling at the last minute, you’ll already have strong systems, a strong bid library and a confident team ready to respond. This preparation means you can focus on strategy and storytelling, rather than rushing to meet deadlines. It also allows you to identify the right opportunities to chase, build stronger client insights and create more compelling, polished submissions.
With 2032 bringing once-in-a-generation investment, businesses that prepare early will not only be best placed to win contracts but will also strengthen their long-term positioning, credibility and capability well beyond the Games.
Looking for more information and assistance with your next tender submission? Contact us today and our team will be happy to Make It Happen!
