Beat The Incumbent
Ahh, the dreaded incumbent. You’ve been here before. You find a construction project to bid on that’s right in your wheelhouse. But you soon find that that the other bidder is the incumbent. Your head tells you to run, but your bank account tells you to go for it. After all, it’s hard to turn potential work down. This is no doubt a tricky spot to be in, however, there are ways to move the needle in your direction.
Understanding the Incumbent’s Advantages
First things first, the incumbent has a few advantages in the competitive bidding process. They have the ‘established relationship’ with the client. They know the key decision makers, and they are a known entity to the ownership group. And because of this, you need to be proactive and counter these advantages. It’s time to get creative to outshine to win that bid.
Building Relationships with Clients
Building relationships with this client is going to be key. And you will need to do it quickly. Equally as important, you’ll want to make it clear that your team has the skills and history of successfully completing similar jobs. Also, DO NO SHY AWAY from mentioning the incumbent’s name. The project lead may reveal helpful information you can use to use to improve your chances. They may say something like, ‘well, they did a good job, but they took forever to finish.” This would be a good indication to mentioned that you complete all your jobs on time.
Collaborate
When possible, come up with ways to get in front of the client and get them thinking about the different aspects of the project. Become their go-to- resource and offer up ways to save them time and money around the project. Consider bringing others from your team so that they too can offer their different skill sets and experiences. This can make the client feel more integrated into your solution.
Crafting a Winning Bid
Because most of the heavy lifting is over, from the relationship building to collaboration, crafting your bid is the final chapter in the bid process. Of course, make sure it covers all aspects of the project. But if you want to go the extra mile, set up a time to review the bid with the client and get their feedback in real-time. They may not be able to tell you where you stand in terms of pricing, but they may allow you to tweak the proposal making it more appealing to the stakeholders.
Conclusion
Winning a competitive bid is a challenging task, especially when up against an incumbent. By being more proactive than the incumbent in the upfront part of the bidding process, you become not only more credible, but you will have a real shot of winning the job.