8 FREE tips on writing winning bidding proposals for projects

Now that you are all set you need to bid on a graphics design projects to land up into a job. There are various websites where you can bid for graphics design projects. One site which is going to launch soon would be Shopfordesigns there are many other sites for this purpose but this one is solely dedicated to graphic designers. Though Shopfordesigns works on a slightly different model, still it’s a good place to get good valued projects and offers an open platform for designers to fight it out.

Now comes the big question of how to write a bid when you see a job description. Here comes the points one by one :

1. Analyse the client : Before submitting any bid for a project, you need to properly analyse the client. His buying habits on the website. First of all visit his profile on the said website. See what past works he has got done from that website and see who won the previous bids and why. This will provide you with a good understanding of what he likes or does not like.
   
   
2. Geographical location of the client : Check out his geographical location and see how much time difference you have with the client. Sometimes it helps to have a good difference of time since you can negotiate work with client in the morning (your time) and then work when the client sleeps. In this way you can deliver some part of the work every morning.
   
   
3. Ask for reference site that he likes : Ask for the choice of the client while bidding. Ask for two or three sites according to his liking so that you can study them and understand his likes and dislikes. This helps while bidding because the more you understand the liking of your client the less number of time you shall have to modify a particular design.
   
   
4. Assess his bid amount for other projects :  Take a look at the value of other similar bids that he got done on the website. Check out what project value he paid for them and try to quote accordingly. But if you see that he has paid a big sum of money for a particular project then don’t take him to be a fool and start quoting higher in your bid. It might be so that he has learnt from his past experience and is now an enlightened one. So be fair with your bid amount. You should be able to justify the amount if asked for.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Arbitrations : Check out the number of arbitrations in his profile and also check out the grounds for the arbitration. See how many he lost and how many he won. If you find that he has got a lot of arbitrations in his profile and he has won most of them then try not to bid for that project by all means. Generally bidding websites are biased towards the buyer for obvious reasons. But if you find it very compelling to bid for the job then do so but exercise abundant caution. Be very clear and understand the spec. sheet to every detail before writing the bidding pitch. Leave no ambiguity anywhere in your bid document. Clearly mention the deliverables and time requirement for the project. If you are supplying raw design files as your deliverable then specify the format they would be in. If you are doing a webpage design and also coding it in HTML/CSS be very sure to mention if you are going to get it certified by W3C or not. Just remember to deliver whatever you promise on the site. If you think you can not deliver something be very straight and transparent right from the very beginning of your bidding process.
   

6. Examples of past work and experience :  The client will definitely ask you to show him your portfolio. No one wants to get his work done by a fresher. Just don’t refer him a link where you might have hosted your online portfolio. The secret of successful bidding lies in the fact that you should showcase only those works which are relevant. Say if you are bidding for a webpage design project then do not dump the client with a 100 logo designs to look at. By all means he will not be impressed by your bidding style. Give him some relevant work. Better if you can show something similar. Suppose if you are bidding for a dating site then show him examples of dating sites that you might have made in the past for  other clients of yours.
   
   
7. Communication : You should be very prompt in your communication during the bidding process. If during the bidding process itself the client feels that you will not be available afterwards then he will never go ahead with you regarding the project. Offer immediate responses to the client and put all his worries and anxieties about the project to rest. Communication is one of the most under rated secrets of successful bidding. Communicate well and you will your chances of winning the bid by as much as 50%.
   
   
8. Pricing : This is really really important in the bidding process. Its like tight rope walking. You can not loose yourself and neither can you loose the project. So you shall have to be judicious while quoting price while bidding. Here also looking at the past work records of the client helps. Take a look at what price the client paid for what project and make an estimate of what the client might approve of. But a small word of caution : do not undercut too much. Any kind of project would have some changes. So if you quote a very shoestring price then its you who would suffer and not the client. Graphical projects are subjective so a little change here and a little change there is unavoidable.
   
   
   

   Armed with all these tips of bidding go ahead and win your bids without any trouble. I assure you that if you can use all these bidding tips efficiently then you can win any bid without much trouble.