If the visit takes you overseas


  • When the trip involves a long-haul flight, give yourself time to acclimatize and recover from any effects of jet lag. You cannot afford to perform below your best at the meeting. If you are able to arrive a day or two before you see the client, the time can usefully be spent with local associates (Chapter 10), talking to other sources of information and intelligence and getting a clearer perception of the environment in which you would be working.

  • Plan the visit as an intensive work trip that will include developing and drafting sections of the bid. Have an agenda with clear and precise objectives, but build flexibility into the timetable and itinerary so that you can take advantage of opportunities to make contacts and visits that will help you create a more informed bid. Do not count on being able to return home on a predetermined date.

  • If you are visiting a non-English-speaking environment, you want people with you who know the local language well enough to talk usefully to contacts and read local documentation. Even on a short visit to an unfamiliar location, it is possible by talking to the right people and keeping one's eyes open to become aware of problems and issues that may affect a contract. In many countries there are counterparts to the Financial Times that can be a source of valuable information on current developments in your sector of business.

  • Tell your contacts in the client organization where you are staying and how they can get in touch with you. Business and government hours may follow a quite different pattern from that in the UK, and it may not be unusual to receive a call to visit a government department, say, at 9.30 pm.

  • You will want to talk to the managers or officials who are most closely involved with the contract, but try also to meet other decision makers. They will have competing pressures on their time: do not outstay your welcome.

  • When you are talking to third parties, be careful not to reveal too much about your intentions for the bid or the information you have discovered about the contract. They may be talking to your competitors as well.

  • Let the commercial section of your embassy or consulate-general know about your visit. The staff are only too willing to be helpful, provided you give them enough notice, and you may need their assistance if you run into difficulties.

  • Try to bring back data on unit costs for comparable assignments - for example, the costs of accommodation, local travel and support staff: these are items on which local associates can be helpful.




Bids, Tenders and Proposals. Winning Business Through Best Practice
Bids, Tenders and Proposals: Winning Business through Best Practice (Bids, Tenders & Proposals: Winning Business Through Best)
ISBN: 0749454202
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 145
Authors: Harold Lewis

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