Background
Our client came to us to help them with their first tender, within the education sector. They had been providing a service to a small number of education providers, with whom they had good relationships, based on their values of providing a local, personalised service and caring for their clients and end users through the quality of their products and service.
They are a small organisation. A family run business in a market which is very competitive with numerous regional and national competitors.
On the receipt of their first tendering win using Tender Victory, the client was delighted with our approach and standard of our work and engaged us to write several additional successful tenders.
Challenges
A tender challenge for our client presented itself when a large Multi Academy Trust (MAT) tender was published, that included some of the schools for which they were the incumbent provider. They were keen to tender, to enable them to continue serving the several smaller schools with whom they had held contracts for many years. However, upon reviewing the published documentation and attending the site visit, our client realised the new model of contract and proposed pricing structure did not align with their values as an organisation.
Implementation
The knowledge our clients had, as incumbent, meant that they knew that the intended/prescribed approach would have had a detrimental impact on the end customers that they had been serving. Our client was not prepared to move forward with a process that had this detrimental effect. Our client therefore decided to withdraw from the tender process and instead focus their attention on winning new business elsewhere. Within days they were submitting (what would be successful) tenders for two other (potentially) new clients to the business.
As part of the advice and support that we provided to our client when they were preparing for the MAT tender, we encouraged them to explain their reasons for withdrawing to the buyers.
Result
Our client received a call from the MAT. They had decided to withdraw the tender process. They instigated a restructuring of the contract requirements, enabling our client to contract with them to deliver high quality, local services to the schools in the region. Our client was delighted to receive the phone call and put together a bid; not only would they be able to retain their existing clients who were within the MAT, they would be able to grow substantially through taking on additional schools.
Summary
By communicating with the Buyer upfront and honestly, and maintaining their organisational values, our client’s determination to serve the people they knew well and ensure that it was a win-win opportunity for the schools and the MAT. This ultimately resulted in a fantastic opportunity for continued business growth, without compromising on the values and organisational culture that our client is known and respected for.