When you win a tender the value is clear to see. But when you lose one it may all seem like wasted effort. Clearly you haven’t won any business, and if you leave it at that there will be no further benefit to be gleaned.
However, if you regard all tenders that you submit as being part of the overall sales and marketing process of your business much more can be gained. Simply put – always ask for feedback. I find that people are usually very happy to provide feedback, and, although they probably won’t talk about specific competitors, you can get a very good measure of how you stack up against the competition.
Having received the feedback the question is how best to use it. What you are looking for is not just how well you answered that specific tender – but how you are shaped up as a business to address particular issues, and whether you are pitching your business effectively. So, getting feedback from a number of tenders and spotting trends is really important.
My tip is this: always ask for feedback. You may be surprised how much you get, and how useful it can be!