ACADEMY KNOWLEDGE BASE
'Her Bid Strategy Coaching Changed the Whole Way We Approach Clients'
“Jordan’s unique perspective was exactly what I was looking for, for our sales and marketing team, and all the participants were very impressed with both the content and the delivery.
“Jordan’s concepts have become part of the way we work and interact with our clients, not only in the realm of a bid, but also in day-to-day interactions.
“Thanks, Jordan, for what should become a pivotal moment in the history of our company.”
Nicholas Dal Sasso
General Manager
Ecotech Pty Ltd (Environmental Monitoring)
'The Results of Jordan’s CV Process Exceeded Expectations Again'
“I worked with Jordan in 2012 on a $100m tender and I recruited her again for a separate company’s tender in 2017.
“Jordan used strategic review and comprehensive interviewing techniques to extract key information from our senior nominated staff. It was thanks to these scripts that our people were best represented as the experienced face of the company, and as such were shortlisted in an extremely specialised field.”
Tim Herlihy
Operations Manager
Contract Services Australasia Pty Ltd
‘Best Possible Non-Price Inputs to A Winning Bid'
“Jordan does considerable research into the non-price attributes section of a tender to ensure it is project-specific (non-generic) and relevant.
“This serves to ensure the best possible non-price adjustments are made to the tendered price to achieve a winning bid.”
Tim Grammer
Senior Engineer
Fletcher Construction New Zealand
'Our First Main Roads Shortlisting in 3 Years! Thanks, Jordan.'
“Hi Jordan,
“Taking your recommendations we approached the bid from a new perspective and it has paid quick dividends.
“So thank you for your help and I look forward to applying the strategies from ‘Think and Win Bids’ during the tender phase.”
Joseph-Paul Rossi
Business Development Manager
York Civil Pty Ltd
‘Skilful Strategy Facilitation & First-Class Writing Skills’
“I’ve worked with Jordan for six years on many different projects and many different objectives.
“I am always surprised at the challenging briefs Jordan is able to execute. She can take a market sector or subject area that is completely unfamiliar to her and generate smart, insightful and implementable strategies.
“Her strategy formulation skills are complemented by her skilful facilitation, her first-class writing skills, and by the fact that she delivers on time, every time.”
Steve Abson
Chief Operating Officer
Ostwald Bros Queensland
‘Remarkable Talent As A Strategic Writer’
“Jordan provided extraordinarily high quality guidance to Oracle in the planning and production of an important strategic communication project.
“Her sharpness of mind, objectivity and lateral thinking skills clarified and perfectly conveyed the competitive strengths of our solution.
“Her facilitation skills are complemented by her remarkable talent as a strategic writer.”
Cheenu Srinivasan
Director – Planning & Operations
Oracle Corporation
'Raised the Morale of the Entire Bid Team’
“I first worked with Jordan when I was with a small technically-oriented company bidding for a major Government project.
“She quickly realised that we lacked the ‘big picture’ on how to present ourselves and our proposal to the many and varied stakeholders who would contribute to the final decision.
“Her strategic thinking led us well outside our normal comfort zone, but she was able to convince us that her approach was the most likely to win over the doubters and the risk-averse.”
John Lush
Principal Consultant
John Lush & Associates
Technology Project Managers, Australia
'Assistance with TeleGrid's Strategic Planning Process'
“Thank you for your input and assistance with the development of TeleGrid’s strategic planning process.
“Your quick grasp of the issues facing TeleGrid, and your obviously sound experience, made your recommendations both useful and achievable.”
Amal Hanna
Manager – TeleGrid
TransGrid
Sydney, Australia
‘Re-defined Our Value Proposition’
“We called Jordan in because the increasing pace of mergers and acquisitions within the IT and Communications industry was beginning to see Allaw lose vital relationship continuity with our large corporate clients.
“She helped us re-define our value proposition and successfully re-position our services with new key partners within those client organisations (clients such as NCR, HP-Compaq, Nortel Networks) and strengthen these critical relationships.”
Walter Schwalbe
Director of Business Development
Allaw Pty Ltd (Vendor Warranty Service)
Sydney, Australia
‘Integral Role In Our Contract Win’
“Jordan, you played an integral role in our management team’s success in winning the $100 million Emergency Alerting System contract with the Victorian Government.
“You have an inherent ability to see exactly what intelligence needs to be acquired in a complex and critical tender process, and you have an equally impressive ability as a strategic planning facilitator.”
Wesley Dart
Commercial Manager
LSE Technology (Australia) Pty Ltd
‘Your Contribution to Winning Our Defence Bid’
“Jordan, thank you so very much.
“Your contribution to our winning bid was greatly appreciated. We are all thrilled here at the win with the New Zealand Defence Force.
“Again, our thanks.”
TelstraClear
New Zealand
'Jordan Kelly’s Is the Very Best Brain You Could Hire’
“If you require a strategic thinker who can apply a laser sharp and incisive line of questioning, who can cut through jargon and clutter like a knife, and who can rapidly pull all the elements of the ‘big picture’ into one cohesive strategy, then Jordan Kelly’s is the very best brain you could hire.
“Jordan has a distinctive, fresh, smart style that is far more productive approach than the standard ‘methodologies’ employed by so many consultants.”
Steven Di Pietro
Managing Director
Shop’n’Chek Australasia
'All my project directors now think at the elevated level of your book.'
“Your book has seen our organisation take an elevated, improved approach to the whole Value for Money (VfM) question.
“You’ve inspired an additional focus on getting VfM clear – up front. This has worked its way right through the project development phases of our projects; all my project directors now think at this elevated level.”
Menno Henneveld
Managing Director
Main Roads Western Australia
I’m Jordan Kelly – a 'veteran' operative in the arena of formal business-winning submission processes (i.e. 'bids', tenders and proposals) . . . along with the planning and execution of proactive, broader-scale pursuits.
The multi-faceted skill set I have drawn on throughout my decades-long service to a vast array of household-name B2G and B2B (and smaller) enterprises to help them secure big-ticket, mission-critical projects, contracts and accounts, has been the fruit of a diverse corporate, consulting, and entrepreneurial, background. It has also informed and enriched my formulation and delivery of many bespoke training, coaching and mentoring programs for client organisations of all sizes.
One of my specialisations in the bidding arena has involved helping multi-national civil infrastructure contractors win non-price-based, consortium-bid, “project alliancing” or “collaborative contracting” projects. In this form of civil infrastructure contracting, client procurement agencies often team with consortia comprising multiple service providers to deliver projects against well-publicised Governmental imperatives.
Winning these (often nationally significant megaprojects) requires not only a detailed understanding of client-side strategies and priorities at the highest level, but also an understanding of the corporate strategies at play within the various competing consortia.
It further requires a level of differentiation unlike any other industry, to stand out amidst a competitive field in which almost every player can “do the job” – at least to an acceptable standard of project delivery.
I was, in fact, sponsored by the Australian civil infrastructure contracting sector to produce what is considered a seminal work in this area: the ‘Cracking the VfM Code’ duo, ‘How to Identify & Deliver Genuine Value for Money in Collaborative Contracting’, and ‘Cracking the VfM Code in Collaborative Contract Bidding: Value for Money … Understanding It & Articulating Your Ability to Deliver It’.
On the note of books, I’ve also written – for the benefit of all B2G and B2B sectors – a full portfolio of how-to books on high-value bidding. This includes my flagship, ‘Think & Win Bids: Winning High-Value, High-Stakes Bids through Superior Questioning, Listening and Thinking Skills’ – a work that some client organisations have made “required reading” for their bid, sales and marketing teams, internationally.
' . . . We have included your books for distribution to our teams around the world . . . '
Don Braid, Group Managing Director, Mainfreight Limited, New Zealand
Early Career Highlights
I’ve been in daily journalism and have been a trade journal editor (New Zealand), and an international industry researcher, competitive intelligence operative, public relations consultant, and marketing manager and brand manager (Australia).
My very early career days included my role as a (Government) ministerial press secretary and Governor General speechwriter (at 20, New Zealand’s then-youngest); my time as an industry-specific reporter and photographer, and my role as National Public Relations Manager for Australia’s then-largest wine group.
More novel CV inclusions were a series of multi-year, mobile and memorable assignments on behalf of two different corporate collectives that saw me stationed in the United Kingdom, the United States, South East Asia and South Africa, analysing the strategies and activities of the fierce global competitors of my clients’ industries.
I’ve also done a stint in the military . . . specifically, officer training in the Army Reserves, at Australia’s Royal Military College of Duntroon in Canberra (with an ardent desire to learn the secrets of military intelligence).
My first book (an industry-specific, hardcover text on public relations) was published when I was 24 – and I’ve since written and seen published, more than 20 books (mainly on marketing and bid-related topics).
