Awarded a Further 8 Years and a 100% Retender Record
How Wordsmith Projects became the long-term bid writing partner for Smarter Services, securing every retender undertaken together, including a critical contract renewal that delivered a further eight years of business.
Background
Smarter Services is a facilities management company operating in a competitive, contract-driven market where retaining existing clients and winning new frameworks is critical to sustained growth. In FM, retenders are high-stakes: losing a long-standing contract can have immediate and significant consequences for revenue, workforce and reputation. Getting the written submission right every time is not optional.
The relationship between Wordsmith Projects and Smarter Services began through a personal introduction. A senior member of the Smarter Services team had previously worked with Joanne in another role and, having experienced the quality of her work first-hand, specifically sought to bring her in when they joined the business. That level of personal recommendation is rare and it set the tone for everything that followed.
The Problem
FM retenders are among the most demanding bid writing challenges: the incumbent provider must not only demonstrate what they have delivered but also make a compelling case for why the buyer should continue to trust them for the years ahead. The stakes are high, the evaluation criteria are rigorous, and the risk of complacency, assuming an existing relationship will do the work, is real.
Second paragraph: For Smarter Services, the priority was clear: produce submissions that were structured, evidence-led and persuasive enough to retain contracts against competitive challengers and to do so consistently across multiple bid opportunities, not just once.
The Solution
Wordsmith Projects became Smarter Services' dedicated bid writing partner across a series of retender and new bid opportunities. Joanne's approach centred on drawing out the depth of knowledge and solution-thinking within the Smarter Services team, probing for the right answers and translating them into polished, well-structured written responses that reflected the business at its best.
Rather than simply writing what she was given, Joanne challenged the team to articulate their value clearly, helped shape the narrative behind each submission, and ensured every response was aligned to what the buyer was actually looking for. The result was a consistent standard of bid writing across every engagement.
We always started with drawing the solution out of the client, asking the right questions, challenging assumptions and identifying the strongest evidence before a word is written. For Smarter Services, this ensured every submission reflected genuine capability rather than generic claims.
Every response was written with the evaluator in mind, structured to make scoring straightforward, evidence-led to satisfy quality criteria, and clear enough to stand out in a competitive field.
Benefits
Contracts retained and pipeline protected
A bid writer who functions as part of the team
Confidence on high-stakes submissions
A long-term partnership built on results
Results
The headline result speaks for itself: a 100% retender record across all bid opportunities undertaken with Wordsmith Projects, including a major contract renewal that secured Smarter Services a further eight years with their client. In a sector where retenders are won and lost on the quality of written submissions, that record is exceptional.
Beyond the numbers, the relationship itself is the result. A senior professional who had worked with Joanne previously sought her out specifically when they moved to a new employer and that decision has been vindicated with every bid since.
"In my opinion Joanne is by far the greatest bid-writer I've ever worked with. Experienced, articulate, organised and direct. Joanne has a way of probing the solution out of you and eloquently putting it to paper. I was so pleased when I was able to introduce her to my current employer. The first job we requested help with was a significant re-tender and unsurprisingly, with Joanne on our team, we were awarded with a further 8 years. We have plenty more projects we will be getting her involved in this year."
Head of Business Development, Smarter Services
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