Is there a growing trend towards bid Management In Ireland? Bid management now appears to be a thriving profession, with more and more organisations realising the benefits of procuring sales through an effective and efficient bid team?
I hope so, I’ve recently setup Bid Specialists, an outsourcing bid management services company specialising in the professional management of bids, proposals and tender responses.
Having worked in London for many years where bid management was an accredited and respected profession and bid managers were 10 a penny. I returned to Ireland eight years ago surprised at the lack of awareness for bid management especially with recruiters. They would say “you’re a what, a bid manager, a wha?”. Once explained, they seemed to think bid management was more an admin or secretarial role.
Unsurprisingly, and in the height of the recession, it didn’t take long for me to convince a large organisation of the benefits that an experienced bid professional could bring to a department responding to 40+ bids per month. Very quickly the role grew, as did the requirement for further managers once there was a sharp increase in win rates and an obvious return on investment.
In those intervening eight years I’ve seen a significant increase in demand for Bid Management Services, purely anecdotal, but somewhat evidenced by the number of recruitment calls received and job listings published on a monthly basis. It now seems that bid management is a thriving profession in Ireland, with more and more organisations realising the benefits of procuring sales through an effective and efficient bid team.
The role of a bid manager does seem to vary however from organisation to organisations and in varying degrees of responsibilities, which is evidenced by the wide-ranging salaries available. At one end, the job can largely be administrative and logistical, at the other it can require the skills of a senior manager, salesperson, marketer, delivery and project manager, graphic designer, etc.
At Bid Specialists we have a clear differentiation for these two distinct skill sets, bid management and bid leadership. See Do your bids require a bid manager or bid leader? for a clear differentiation between these two roles.
If you only undertake a few bids a year it is critical that they are managed correctly. Outsourcing the task of bid management to a professional, who has the necessary resources and experience, could be the difference between success and failure.
When your next important tender is published why not contact us to see how our bid specialists and bid management process could help support your team to create a winning bid?
At Bid Specialists, all our Bid Managers are certified to Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP), the worldwide authority for professionals dedicated to the process of winning business through proposals, bids, tenders, and presentations.