Are war rooms keeping you from great bid talent?

It’s hard to deny that war rooms for bidding have a certain nostalgia about them. Some of my closest friends come from sitting across the table from them, day after day, week after week, working on a bid.

But even if they foster warm fuzzies, are war rooms essential in today’s world?

One of the highest-performing bid teams I've ever worked with was spread across the globe. The customer and the account team were in Australia while I was in Singapore with the Solution Architect. Meanwhile, we had subject matter experts everywhere- Brussels, London, New York, Texas, you name it, we had it. 

This meant the Solution Architect and I had to work some strange hours to accommodate our team, but ultimately, we had the best of the best on the bid.

And when the must-win opportunities roll around, sometimes it pays to have the best.

Having the best expert in each area of the solution meant that we: 

• Minimised time delays, particularly around clarifications on the solution, strategy, etc. 
• Progressed each bid milestone much faster with their support
• Improved client communication by always having an expert available for the customer to speak to directly about their issues

Let me paint you a picture

During the last week of the RFT submission, when all of the subject matter experts had finished their work, our core team would work on the submission. After clocking off, we would hand it to the bid writers, editors, and graphic designers back in London. Allowing for a few hours of cross-over, the London team would deliver their work to us in the early hours, ready for us to pick up where they had left off.  

Imagine that… having your bid work for you in your sleep.  

Utilising a remote team was the perfect solution for us and this particular strategic opportunity. We effectively had the cream of the crop, working around the clock, with the added benefit of us all getting a decent night's sleep.  

The finished product was, like all bids, 90% first-class. 

Just because we utilised a remote team doesn’t mean we were never in a room together. Key members of our team met at the very start and end of the bid, reconvening before and after presentations and for negotiations.  

But was the entire team ever in the same room? No. 

Did the bid suffer because of it? Nah, mate.  

Instead, we tapped into an international talent pool, bringing in the people with the experience, know-how, and impressive reputation to best represent our organisation and solution. 

But what if we hadn’t? 

We wouldn’t have existed. 

If I were a betting wo(man), I’d say we probably would’ve lost the bid. 

Had we been tied to the idea that everyone needs to be in the same place at the same time, we would have been severely hamstrung. The company would have put junior and inexperienced people on bid elements, leaving them to wait for decisions to be made by leadership in the UK or the US.  

Creating delays and complexity at a point in the bid when time is of the essence. 

On your next strategic bid, consider whether a traditional war room will make the difference in winning the contract. Because if you’re not careful, it could cost you.