How to Build a Winning Bid Culture That Drives Growth

What does a winning bid culture look like❓

A good bid culture is more than just submitting proposals on time — it’s about creating a consistent, collaborative, and strategic approach to winning work. It reflects how an organisation values business development, teamwork & communication in the bidding process. Here’s what it looks like in practice:

🔍 1. Client-Focused Mindset

A strong bid culture starts with a deep understanding of the client. The team prioritises empathy and relevance considering client need & priorities.

Every bid is crafted to speak to client needs first, not just to showcase the supplier’s capabilities. Indeed all of the “we are amazing at this” need to be turned into “you will receive X as a result of our expertise in Y”. The focus should always be on the client, not yourself.

🧠 2. Clear Strategy Before Writing

Good bid cultures don’t dive straight into writing. They take time to assess the opportunity, decide whether it is worth pursuing & define win themes well in advance of the RFP drop. This ensures every proposal has direction, purpose, and competitive edge.

You can download my bid/no bid process and templates here: https://lnkd.in/eJaQHEMp

🤝 3. Strong Collaboration

Winning proposals are rarely written in isolation. A good bid culture encourages strong collaboration across teams, regular review and check-in points as well as shared ownership.

🛠️ 4. Structured Yet Flexible Process

High-performing teams have a repeatable proposal process — from kickoff to submission — but they stay agile enough to adapt as needed. Key elements often include kick off meetings, a strong content library and process — all reducing chaos and improving consistency.

🧩 5. Content That Reflects the Brand

A good bid culture ensures that proposals are well-written, on-brand, and tailored — not copy-paste jobs. They avoid jargon and fluff, focusing instead on clarity/impact, benefits over features and real proof in the form of case studies and testimonials.

📈 6. Commitment to Continuous Improvement

Strong bid cultures embrace learning, which includes debriefs and internal reviews, tracking bid win rates and feedback trends.

🧭 7. Leadership Support and Accountability

In companies with a good bid culture, you can expect leadership to understand the value of the bid team and be ready to prioritise and support their function.

In short, a good bid culture is strategic, human-centered, and always evolving. It is the difference between submitting documents — and winning work.

You can also listen to a longer version of this topic conversation on my podcast:
https://lnkd.in/eTXWSmhT

What Does A Good Bid Culture Look Like? Emma Orr discusses the points which need to be made.