Aqualand’s Big Bid Proposal
The Client
Aqualand
The Project
Create Big Bid document for proposed development to the value of $850 million in partnership with another large corporation in North Sydney.
The Timing
November 2017
The Description
We like to refer to projects such as these as the Cuckoo Big Bid movement. The core idea is that organisations can increase their success in moving proposed projects to the next stage by writing compelling documents that engage with decision makers. Documents such as these can often contain far too much information. They can be disjointed and dry, losing the attention of the reader and failing to deliver the critical information. In most cases, proposals will be segmented, meaning that stakeholders will skip to the sections relevant to their departments, ignoring the rest and not understanding the full context of the plan. This results in people making decisions or writing a summary report on an incomplete proposition, which reduces your chance of success.
Our solution to this is integrated documents, a single concept that has the relevant requirements easily digestible by all.
In the case of Aqualand, we prepared a proposal for a large development project. We worked closely with the business to determine the strategic communication goals of the document as well as working with their accounting firm to structure the deals.
The Most Interesting Bit
We knew that, in this case, the final decision came down to one person and we profiled this stakeholder to identify what their needs and wants were. Part of our strategy is to determine what kind of language to use and what elements will best resonate with the key decision maker. Think of it like making sure you have the special super-powered weapon to defeat the big boss at the end of a video game.
We looked at the architectural proposal and decided which parts should be shown to describe the plan simply. We also created a brand for the project document which tied everything together in a creative way.
To top this all off, our favourite element, in-house implants in the lead up to the presentation to help give some hype to the meeting, and ensure that any changes or approvals happened quickly to help reach a decision in an appropriate timeframe.
The Results
- Our goal was to move this proposal to the negotiation stage, and our unique strategy achieved exactly that by moving Aqualand from a potential six tenders to the final two.
- The document looked spectacular. It was compelling, and it put the deal at the forefront of all the information.
- Since undertaking this task with Aqualand, we have worked on another three projects for the business.
