People often ask what it takes to be a good Bid Manager.
I believe it’s a balanced combination of the following
skills and competence to make an effective and efficient bid manager (not necessarily
in the order given):
- Ability to plan, lead and drive the bid to closure
- Effective Business Communication skills
- Technical and functional analysis
- Ability to look at the big picture
- Art of building, articulating and narrating the story around customer needs
- Ability to comprehend the customer need and propose solutions
- Being unbiased and appreciating the customer needs
- Focus on specifics than being generic
- In-depth Domain and Technical understanding
- Understand the nuances of pricing and prepare an effective deal
- Being a customer’s advocate
- Don’t sell …but address customer needs
- Understanding your organization
- Understanding the competition in order to deliver an optimal solution
- Ability to coordinate and work seamlessly with the pursuit team
- Ability to deliver quality under stringent timelines
- Ability to deliver effective content while ensuring compliance to legal and financial terms
- Ability to foresee and Manage risks
- Relationship Management with all the stakeholders
- Ability to negotiate and persuade
To conclude, Bid manager’s role demands a blend of
communication, management, lead and the ability to deliver.
