
Bid Success Blueprint
Case Study with The NextGen
Background
The NextGen, a start up and scale up programme provider, participated in a pilot scheme for Staffordshire County Council (SCC). As the pilot ended, SCC launched a tender for the program's continuation. Although confident in their writing skills and ability to deliver on the specification, NextGen had never navigated a formal tender process before, presenting a significant challenge in securing the contract.
The Problem
With no prior tender experience, NextGen were unsure of the strategies needed for a successful bid. Despite confidence in their writing skills, the structured, competitive tender process presented a new challenge. NextGen required a clear, tailored strategy to navigate the process and make their submission stand out.
The Solution
NextGen accessed Wordsmith's Bid Success Blueprint, a service designed to guide businesses confidently through the tender process.
Tailored Strategy Development: Wordsmith worked with NextGen to identify their strengths and develop a roadmap addressing all critical aspects and aligned them with SCC's tender requirements.
Step-by-Step Writing Plan: We created a detailed plan that broke down the tender requirements into manageable sections, enabling NextGen to focus on delivering high-quality content.
Midway Progress Review: This review helped maintain bid strength and clarity, addressing any potential weaknesses before submission.
Final Refine and Polish: Our comprehensive refine and polish, ensured the bid was of the highest quality with a clear, compelling narrative that resonated with SCC's evaluation criteria.
Benefits
Successful Bid Submission: Wordsmith’s structured approach enabled NextGen to submit a winning bid that met all tender requirements and stood out in the evaluation process.
Up-skilling for Future Bids: Wordsmith transferred knowledge and skills to NextGen, empowering them to handle their second bid with reduced external support, demonstrating increased skillsets.
Improved Confidence and Capability: The process enhanced NextGen’s understanding of tenders and boosted their confidence in managing future bids independently, positioning them for continued success.
Long-term Partnership: The successful collaboration laid the groundwork for a long-term partnership, leading to a second successful bid together.
Results

“I engaged Joanne and Wordsmith Projects Limited to guide and support my development of a tender response. Although I was confident in my offer, I had not previously won a bid through the tender process so lacked confidence in my understanding of the scoring system and ensuring that I was communicating the right things, in the right place, in the right way, to someone who I knew had no background on me, my business and probably isn't a subject area expert in the service that I provide.
“Wordsmith gave me advice throughout the process, answering my many questions and providing an excellent sounding board. She then reviewed my draft bid, and gave me well-structured feedback that on receiving it, I realised was going to be essential to the success of my bid. She talked the entire bid through with me, and then we discussed some points that I need further guidance on and reached conclusions that we both felt confident with.
I now have a well thought out, well structured, and well worded bid response that I am confident in submitting. As a small business I do have to carefully consider where I invest the budget that I have but I do feel that this is the best investment I have made in my business in a long time. Thank you very much for your support.”
— Kathryn Hyde, Founder, The NextGen
Client Testimonial
Let’s talk
Excited to supercharge your bids? We are too! Get in touch today to see how we could transform your bid process.