If tendering is becoming a bigger part of your growth strategy, there usually comes a point where something has to change.
As your business grows, so do the number of tender opportunities coming your way. At first, it’s manageable. Existing team members pick things up alongside their day jobs, dipping in and out of bids as and when they arise, but over time, that approach starts to stretch. Not because people aren’t capable, but because tendering demands focus, consistency and time that’s hard to find alongside everything else.
It’s usually at this point the question comes up “do we need to hire a dedicated tender writer?”
On paper, that makes complete sense. Existing resources won’t have their time ‘stolen’ by tenders and having a dedicated member of the team should mean more control and better results, but in practice, hiring isn’t always the straightforward solution it appears to be.
Before you commit to recruitment, it’s worth looking at what that decision really involves and whether it solves the problem you have right now.
Hiring isn’t quick or simple
Experienced tender writers are in demand, and the strongest candidates are rarely sitting on the market waiting for a role. More often, you’re competing with other businesses to attract them.
The process itself also takes time. Reviewing CVs, interviewing, testing, negotiating and then waiting through notice periods can easily stretch into several months. By the time someone starts, the pressure you were trying to solve is often still there, if not worse.
Even once they are in place, there is a settling-in period. They need to understand your business, your services, your past bids and how you operate before they can perform at their best.
The cost is more than just salary
Salary is only one part of the investment. There’s onboarding, management time, systems, training and ongoing support to consider. And because tendering rarely arrives in a steady, predictable flow, one person can quickly become either underused or overwhelmed depending on what’s coming through.
There’s also an element of risk. If that person leaves or simply isn’t the right fit, the responsibility falls straight back onto the business. Or what if an important tender is released just as the tender writer goes on holiday for 2 weeks?
It doesn’t solve the immediate problem
Most businesses don’t start thinking about hiring until they are already under pressure…opportunities are live, deadlines are close and teams are stretched.
Recruitment doesn’t help in that moment, it’s a longer-term decision, not a quick fix for capacity issues today.
What outsourcing does differently
Bringing in the right external partner changes the timing straight away. Instead of waiting months, you can bring in experienced support that can start working on live opportunities almost immediately. That alone can make a significant difference when you are trying to build momentum or avoid missing bids.
Support can be structured around your pipeline, giving you the right level of input at the right time, without committing to a fixed internal hire. And rather than relying on one individual, you are accessing a wider range of experience which often means better insight into what buyers are looking for, stronger responses and a more consistent approach across bids.
Rather than simply outsourcing individual bids, many businesses benefit from a more structured partnership approach. One that supports not just writing but how tendering is managed, prioritised and improved over time.
It’s about more than writing
One of the biggest misconceptions is that tendering is just about writing answers.
In reality, the quality of your submissions is shaped long before anything is written. Decisions around which opportunities to go for, how you structure your response, how you evidence your capability and how you review and improve all play a part.
In theory, a strong internal hire could bring many of these elements together, in practice it’s rare to find someone with the full range of skills and experience needed to do it all consistently well. Tendering draws on strategy, writing, commercial awareness, process management and continuous improvement, and most roles naturally lean towards one or two of these areas rather than the full picture.
This is where external support offers a distinct advantage. Instead of relying on one individual, you’re accessing a broader range of experience built across multiple bids, sectors and buyer expectations. That perspective tends to show up in better bid/no-bid decisions, stronger use of evidence, more structured processes and a more consistent approach across submissions.
It’s not just about responding to opportunities as they arise. It’s about building a clearer, more reliable way of winning them over time.
So, which is right?
For businesses where tendering is becoming a serious growth channel, but the internal structure isn’t quite there yet, hiring a dedicated resource can feel like the natural next step, but an external partner is often the more practical option. It gives you immediate access to relevant experience, reduces risk and helps you improve your results without the time commitment and delay that comes with recruitment.
Rather than asking whether you should hire, it’s often more useful to ask what you actually need right now. If the challenge is capacity issues, inconsistent results or a lack of structure, bringing in the right external expertise at the right time via outsourcing is likely to get you there faster.
If tendering is becoming a key part of your growth, but you’re not ready to build a full internal team, we can support you through a more structured, partnership-led approach. Give us a call on 01707 244713 to start making your bid results more consistent.
