Bid support: editing bids for competitive advantage
Precise, well-written communication can mean the difference between winning and losing business. If that business is worth millions or billions of pounds, the cost of getting it wrong can be disastrous. Ironically, while companies bidding for contracts of this magnitude will stir apparently limitless amounts of specialised technical expertise into the stew, few will commit a similar expert resource to communicating their solution.
It appears that corporate sales and marketing teams have failed to recognise good communication as a deal maker or breaker or – unusual for this group – have been slow to pick up on it for competitive advantage. The alarming conclusion to be drawn from anecdotal evidence is that these key corporate teams do not – or cannot – perceive anything amiss in the way they pitch for contracts.
Slipshod communication
From the small body of research already undertaken, mainly by linguists, comes many uncomfortable truths: distrust of 'bizblab' users; impatience with pseudo-professional jargon; and the belief that jargon-laden language is intentionally used as a smoke screen. Worse is the damage that slipshod communication can do to a company's reputation and brand. Contracts today may be won in spite of, rather than because of, the way bids are written and presented.
Gerry Ball, CEO of consultancy Mind Your Language, says the cost to businesses of poor communication has long been a subject of debate. "The most intangible issue is the effect that poor English has on weakening a company's brand value. More tangible, but nonetheless just as hard to calculate, is the amount of business a company loses due to poorly written proposals."…
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