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One particularly common mistake I see made from the level of bid operations right through to senior management, is to confuse strategy with tactics.
These are not interchangeable terms and they’re certainly not interchangeable concepts:
Strategy informs tactics. Two different things. Two different functions. Two different processes.
A basic, high-level definition of “strategy” might be: A way to get from a current “state” to a specific desired end-state.
Between this current state and the desired state may be any degree of gap; it doesn’t matter. “Tactics”, then, are the components of the plan designed to achieve the overarching strategy.
If we take this elementary, macro-level focus, it helps to prevent a very common “strategic planning” flaw i.e. the tendency to start identifying tactics before a strategy has been fully formulated .
By paring the strategy definition back to something as fundamental as the “current state”/“end state” concept, the need to get clear on the “what” before lurching off to brainstorm the “how”, becomes obvious.
THINK AND WIN BIDS
Winning High-Value, High-Stakes Bids through Superior Questioning, Listening & Thinking Skills
(Book)
The three fundamental skills of a successful bid leader and strategist are the ability to think, to listen and to ask quality questions.
So much the better if all members of a bid team understand the role of those fundamentals in formulating a successful bid.
Available both individually and as a six-pack
(6 books for the price of 5),
Think and Win Bids is ideal to ensure everyone is "on the same page".
BID COMMANDOS
On-Target Strategy for Mission-Critical Bids
(Training Program)
BID COMMANDOS is my "blockbuster", comprehensive, 11-module training program.
It's intricately formulated to ensure your team excels at every stage of a formal bidding process . . . from the initial bid/no bid analysis, through research and intelligence-gathering, through the strategy development and documentation process, through strategic and compelling writing and competent editing, and on through the shortlistee presentation stage, right through to optimisation of client de-briefing session/s.
