The outcome of a tender is binary. You win … or you lose. So is the outcome of any part of the tender process. You get through, or you don’t get through. There are no degrees of success. A marketing campaign, for example, could be fairly successful, relatively successful or not very successful. A tender can only succeed or fail.
So, there can be no half measures with a tender. If you don’t give it your best shot all the effort you do put in may be wasted.
My tip therefore is this. Decide whether you want wholeheartedly to go for a tender or not. If you do want to go for it, do it properly. Plan it well in advance and allocate the time and resources it merits. Then, when the outcome is decided, win or lose, you will know that you have done your best.