Persuasive Thinking – The First Step To Persuasive Writing
By David Harvey, CP.APMP, BidWrite Director
Recently in Gladstone, I ran ‘Next Steps – Tendering to Win workshop’ sponsored by Shell-QGC and Gladstone Engineering Alliance.
This workshop (and accompanying one-on-one diagnostic sessions) was aimed at local businesses keen to improve their tendering capability.
One key focus area was helping these companies to write more persuasively. While persuasive writing can take years to master, we can make a huge step in the right direction by starting with persuasive thinking.
Persuasive thinking requires:
- Putting yourself in the shoes of an evaluator, your customer, a user, or even a customer’s customer.
- Recalling times when you have evaluated options to make an important decision.
- Asking yourself “What would persuade me?” or “Why would I choose us?”
Think about what persuaded you into making important ‘out-sourcing’ decisions. For example, when selecting a company to build or renovate your house, selecting a school or childcare centre for your children, or even selecting a venue for your wedding reception.
It’s highly likely your decision was influenced by factors other than price – the features offered, how professional they seemed, how much you liked them, how much the offer addressed your needs or the ‘value adds’ they offered.
It’s unlikely your decision was influenced by a detailed account of the history of the company, additional products or services unrelated to your specific needs, or how many staff they had nationally.
Being persuasive is about understanding what is important to this customer, at this time, for this opportunity.
This persuasive thinking mindset is just the first step. If you need help making your tenders more persuasive, why not check out our training events or get in touch for bid support today.
What our workshop attendees had to say
“The workshop was dynamic and unlike any advanced tender workshop I’ve experienced before. The customised delivery had taken into account the dynamics of the businesses represented which added value to the discussion points and engaged all attending the workshop. The experience was invaluable, it has helped developed our forward strategy to better articulate our value proposition to our clients and how we can demonstrate our point of difference in a competitive market.”
– Nicola Curtis, Link Resources Pty Ltd
“My business will benefit greatly from the knowledge gained in your very informative training session. I am confident of more success in the tendering process from this point and will share successes with you on our next ‘big win’.”
– Patrick Morgan, Branch Manager Sherriff Electrical Wholesalers