OK, a question for the experienced of you out there:I'm getting very frustrated with tender processes where you put in weeks of work preparing bid documents and presentations, sitting through hours of meetings and presentations, answering every question and whim under the sun, and then later finding out that the contract gets awarded to some near-senile freelancer called Colin who looks like an experienced wizard and claims to be an 'expert' when everyone in the industry knows that this old fart is little more than a bullsh1tting charlatan and bodges up almost everything he touches.Any tips for breaking out of this cycle? It's becoming embarrassing. My line manager makes me respond to these bids because in theory we have a chance of winning, yet in practice there are almost always about 10 companies in competition for the work and it always gets awarded to Colin. My line manager has unrealistic expectations and gets very 'authoritative' with me when we don't win, even though to be honest these things are little more than a pot-shot for us. I sometimes feel like we're invited to the process just to make up numbers. It's so much hassle I feel it's not worth it, yet my line manager's view is that we have to bid so long as there is a chance we might win, and his estimate of our chances of winning are always unrealistically high. What can be done about this?

Colin sounds like a legend! He is sitting there now, smoking his pipe, stroking his bloodhound, celebrating another routine victory against an overpriced mid-level consultancy full of 21 year olds!

Can I suggest you email John Niland (john@success121.com) and ask him for a copy of his excellent briefing paper "Questions to ask before writing a proposal". The aim of the paper is to help you ask the right questions to ensure you only invest time in writing proposals for pieces of work that you stand a good chance of winning - and walk away from those that you stand no chance of winning.Hope this helpsTony RestellTop-Consultant.com

Thank you Tony, I will do. :-)

BidderI have been in a similar situation - constantly churning out proposals and having them rejected.As ever, Tony has come up with a good suggestion. I would add:- Try to get feedback from the orgs who didn't select you. Asking something like "what were the single aspects of my proposal that you liked / didn't like?" will often yield good results. After the bidding process is completed it is much easier to build rapport with people who might call on you again - they are no longer worried you may try to influence them.- Also try to get similar feedback from orgs with which you are successful.- Most companies have a "bid / no bid" spreadsheet to help them assess whether to spend the time writing proposals. If you don't have one, create one based on your experiences to date. If you are unsure as to whether a bid is really up your street, ask your line manager to help out in making sure this is a winning bid, pointing out where you think the mismatches are. If he can't, point out that the chances of winning are now remote and you should look at something else. If he insists, ask him to look at the finished product and add his own magic sparkle. Over time, you will build up a high level of evidence as to whether your boss is an idiot or your company is idiotic or whether you need to move etc.- Change your name to Colin.Good luck!

Wiser words...http://www.verasage.com/index.php/community/comments/rfps_and_the_dreaded_winners_curse/

The next "Art of Selling Consulting Services" seminar will also tackle this topic - there&apos;s a session specifically tackling this (<i>Dealing with “The Request for a Proposal” and avoiding time-wasters</i>)<a href=http://events.top-consultant.com/UK/careerconference.aspx?ID=368>Details available here</a>Hope to see you there.Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com

Hi Tony, Many thanks for this - it looks like a really useful seminar. I&apos;m going to approach my line manager today and see if I can get the go-ahead!

I would also suggest you develop your own (I assume you are self employed) qualification process and criteris - it can be a simple as a checklist with values and a SWOT analysis. Get networking too - you will soon see the approach made by others. If you work for a company they should have their own -pre-sales process! If not, I suggest it is time to look for a job elsewhere.