1. Intelligence for advantage: Outsmart your competition and win more

Without intelligence, you’re just guessing and guessing isn’t strategy. It’s wasteful, and it’s expensive. Real intelligence isn’t a quick Google search or 25 minutes with an AI tool. It’s corroborated research, tested against multiple sources, analysed properly and turned into something that you can act on. 

That’s what gives you the edge. You can position early, shape the game long before tenders land and decide exactly where to play. Get to know your customers’ world – priorities, pain points, and what keeps them awake at night. Dig into your competitors’ strengths and weak spots and build confidence in your alternative offer.

This isn’t just homework – it’s your secret weapon. The head start that saves wasted effort and channels energy into the right battles. 

In this market, intelligence isn’t a nice‑to‑have. It’s the price of entry. No intel. No right to win.

2. Powerfully position: Stand out from the crowd

Everyone says they’re “safe hands”. It’s beige. It’s forgettable. 

Challengers offer something smarter. Because they know that when you try to be everything to everyone, you become invisible. Instead, they own their space. They show up smarter, sharper and impossible to ignore. 

Positioning isn’t just a strapline. It’s how you show up. It’s what you do on the ground as much as words on the page. It’s being clear, being bold and bringing value at every touchpoint. 

Find your voice. Own your space. Celebrate the challenge. A clear and compelling value proposition sets you apart from 50 shades of magnolia and who wants to fade into the background?

3.Strategic precision: tactics that delivers results

Growth isn’t built on luck. Hitting targets doesn’t happen by chance. If you want new clients you need their attention. If you want to win work, you need a plan. Not vague ambition. It’s all about deliberate moves tied to the right opportunities. That means tactics and action. 

Use your intel and value proposition to set a growth strategy. For key targets, build a pursuit campaign to make yourselves the ones to beat. Link bidding to your business plan so your delivery teams don’t break when you win. Get everyone pulling in the right direction, together. It’s about less chaos, more focus and securing results fast.

4. Pursue with purpose: focus beats FOMO

Chasing every opportunity drains time, money and energy. It also weakens your position. Challengers achieve more by narrowing their focus. 

Know who you are targeting and create smart ways to get on their radar and set yourselves up for success. Build presence and awareness early before the tender lands. 

That means tightening your LinkedIn and web presence, and backing it up with useful, credible and relevant material. It also means being visible where buyers are, such as site-visits, supply chain days, industry panels and early workshops. 

Measure signals that matter, like conversations, meetings and invitations. Align your sales, marketing and bidding activity so that every interaction reinforces your position.  

It’s not about being everywhere. It’s about being where you need to be and getting there early. That’s how challengers grow.

5. Elevate your offer: find your magic

You might not have the full team and range of initiatives to go up against those who’ve been in the game longer. But, Challengers know that existing capability isn’t enough. They don’t win by matching the old guard on size, experience and stability. They win by finding their spark and creating new approaches that resonate with the end client.

The spark is already there – in how you deliver, in the small innovations, in the way you create value for clients and communities. The trick in bidding is to harness it, shape it and bring it to life. That means turning good practice into named offers, and packaging them with design and storytelling  so they resonate.

Ultimately, bids are where you show who you are now, and who you’re becoming – highlighting your potential and vision. And the new ideas you put forward will one day be your business as usual.

6. Close the gap: build credibility that sticks

Bids can feel out of reach if you don’t tick every box. But, here’s the thing, you don’t have to be perfect. You just need to be authentic in your capability and credible in your delivery proposals. 

Credibility is built by showing clients you can bridge the gap. Missing accreditation? Show a timeline to secure it. Limited experience in a sector? Translate lessons from adjacent projects and highlight the transferable value. 

It’s about creating confidence, not claiming perfection. Sometimes you need to start acting like the business you are becoming. Back it up with signals that you’re on the right path.

7. Systemise your bids: calm the chaos and win bids

Bids don’t have to be chaos. Winning needs rhythm and discipline. Get your systems right and you’ll learn to love bids and win more in the process. 

With structure in place, every stage of the bid journey runs smoother. From getting into the detail and defining your offer to creating a bid library and crafting compelling responses. You need to keep your team on track and stop deadlines being a drama. 

Systemisation is how challengers scale. Building a repeatable process that creates space for strategy, bold ideas and growth.  

So invest in your bids to build a winning habit you won’t lose.

8. Build bid muscle: create your own bid masters

Bidding isn’t easy, but it’s key to securing those all important contracts that help you grow. Teams are often thrown into bids unprepared or see it as a diversion from their day jobs. 

Investing in your team with training, mentoring and coaching will secure rewards. Building your bid muscle means bidding gets easier and your bids get better. Capability builds. Showing that you value the craft of bidding as well as the win. When bidding becomes a team sport, everyone knows their role, they play to their strengths and you all play to win.

Check out more of the ShineX free resources to help your team bid better.

9. Catapult your growth: unlock organisational change through bids

Bids are about much more than winning work; they’re the cheapest form of organisational change you can get. Every bid is a mirror reflecting back where you shine and where you fall short. 

Use each pursuit as an opportunity to sharpen your operational processes and up your game. Develop new and better ways of working and consistently identify and implement improvements. Whatever you do, don’t stand still. Growth is all about embracing change.

10. Make the shift: turn bids into business as usual

Winning is just the start. But the real success that will support your long term growth comes when you turn your bid ideas into business as usual. Connect the dots between what you’ve sold and how you deliver. Translate your bid offers through collaborative handovers, smart mobilisation and clear governance. Then harvest the rewards and proof to create an invincible track record that keeps you winning time after time.