Several years ago one large legal practice received three or four invitations to tender a year.

Lawyers laughed when I asked whether they had the training, systems and procedures to respond effectively to pitches.

Just four years later the same number of tenders was being received each week; those lawyers became much more receptive to ideas on how to improve their effectiveness at tenders.Today, most clients know what is available and what they want.

If they do not, they might use consultants to help put together a brief and assess the tendering firms.

Sometimes clients will use the tendering process to meet legal requirements or to put pressure on their existing advisers -- in such cases you can do little without writing off your margins.

But the 'prize' can be significant -- one corporation used tendering to reduce the number of legal advisers it used from a staggering 60 to a manageable seven, no doubt achieving cost savings but rewarding the successful firms with significant volumes of regular work.

It is not just the mega-corporations which put their legal work out to tender.

Even small businesses know that a pitch allows them to compare approaches, expertise, experience, benefits, personalities, ideas and, of course, prices.Assessing your performance in tenders is straightforward.

Assuming there are, on average, four firms invited to tender by each client, anything less than a 25% conversion means your performance needs improving.

Many firms are afraid to ask for feedback on their performance, but most clients -- knowing how much effort it takes to submit a good tender -- are willing to provide detailed tips about where your submission went well and where it could have done better.

Also, cutting relations with a company where you 'lose' is poor marketing -- there are examples where the 'winning' firm failed to live up to expectations and the client was on the look out again within a few months.Preparing a tender is like a microcosm of the whole marketing and selling process.

The use of a preparatory framework will e nsure you minimise the chances of making the most common mistakes:-- To bid or not to bid? Many firms assume that they will try to win the work.

Although some might accuse me of heresy, I would argue that there are many reasons why you might decide that a polite decline (leaving the door open for future communications) is preferable to all the hard work in submitting a tender.

For example: the playing field is uneven; the work is unlikely to be profitable; you lack the necessary expertise; you do not have time to prepare a tender properly; it will cost too much to submit a tender; the best team is committed to other projects; working for this client rules out working for others that are strategically important; the client is notorious for using tenders to pressurise its existing advisers, etc.

-- Research the client.

Before accepting the invitation, you should start to undertake basic research.

Some of the questions you will be addressing are: Why are they tendering? Who are their existing advisers? Who else have they invited? Who will be making the decisions? Are they creditworthy? In what sectors do they operate? What industry issues might be affecting them? What recent changes have there been in the company? What is the company's turnover, profit/loss, range of products, range of export markets? What advice are they seeking? What other advice might be useful to them? What selection criteria will they use? What other professional advisers do they use? Why have we been invited? Who do they know at our firm? -- Handling the initial contract.

Although information can be obtained from public sources, inevitably some data will only be available from the client.

Remember that the moment you telephone, write to or meet the client -- whether to gather information, clarify a brief or fix an appointment -- the selling process has begun and you have started to shape the client's perceptions.

Initial contacts must be carefully prepared, researched and executed -- especially those that are face-to-face where you can observe non-verbal communication and start to develop rapport.-- Managing the bid submission.

There are a multitude of tasks -- research, contacts, writing, rehearsing, site visits etc -- to be undertaken, so it is important that someone has overall responsibility for co-ordinating the team.

Often, the people most capable of providing the best legal advice for a client are not necessarily the best people to prepare and present a tender.

However, most clients will expect those who are featured in a written submission or who attend meetings to be those who will undertake the work.

It is easier to train people in tendering skills than it is to have them trained with the relevant industry knowledge, legal expertise and client management skills to deliver the service required by the client.-- Meeting the client's needs.

Marketing is about meeting client needs profitably.

Many firms present the client with a long menu of all their services (ie a 'product' orientation).

A marketing approach considers very carefully the needs of the individuals, the departments, the organisation and the industry overall and moulds the firm's 'unique' experience and expertise to match.

Of course you must respond to any list of services that the client is seeking, but you can get a head start by thinking creatively about other needs.-- Scoring over the competition.

You should know the strengths and weaknesses of your firm compared to other tenderers.

A critical part of the tendering process is to stress that your firm is different and offers a grea ter array of benefits than other firms.

Firms which fight merely on price indicate to the client that there is no difference in the services provided by the tenderers.

Where there are low value, high volume transactions this may well be the case, but be careful where the client is seeking specialist expertise and added value service.-- Choosing a strategy.

This is where you combine the results of your research, your knowledge of the market, your understanding of the brief, your competitive information and your initial discussions with the client to agree the strategy which will underpin both your written document and subsequent meetings.

A short brainstorm for the whole bid team -- plus a few outsiders -- will help the strategy to gel.-- How will you do the work if you win? Clients find it comforting to see how you intend to tackle the work if successful and, frankly, it is rather hard for them to accept a quoted price without seeing this level of preparation.

Psychologically, if a tenderer looks as if it is already handling the work -- without appearing presumptuous -- it is more likely to win the work.

-- In accountancy pitches business is often won by offering methodologies and by demystifying complex processes by the use of flow charts and diagrams.

In legal situations, showing clients clearly the likely procedures, decision points, options and possible problem areas helps convince them that you know your subject and are able to communicate in business terms.

-- Deciding what to quote.

The flexibility in the fee sections nowadays is quite astonishing.

Whereas it was once possible to get away with hourly rates, blended rates and upper and lower limits, this is unlikely to be the case now.

Clients want to see flexibility, commercial realism and value for money -- some want uncertainty eliminated by fixed price deals.

It is critical that you consider not only the profitability of the work you are trying to win but also what the client will perceive as 'value' and the sort of billing arrangements that would suit their needs.

Discounts can be used creatively to secure volume, loyalty or preferential payment terms.

The ability to offset low value commodity work against the higher value added services is sadly lacking in many submissions.

Many firms do not know how much it costs to service different types of work, so internal systems to capture this information and measure client and matter profitability are critical to support accurate estimating.

-- What should go in the written submission? Some clients require short submissions and others require a lot of detail; some want a brief letter and others expect a glossy colour production -- you need to assess what is appropriate to each situation before wheeling out what you have used before.A common mistake is to put general information about your firm at the start of the document.

Keep in mind the reader's point of view and put all information across from that viewpoint.

Demonstrate clearly your understanding of their stated and unstated needs, your industry experience and legal expertise where it is relevant.

Stress benefits rather than features (this can be done by converting statements starting 'we' to statements starting 'you').

There should be sections on the background of the team you propose, your firm's experience in handling similar work, fees and charging issues, client care and relationship management methods and, ideally, some references.

If several individuals have contributed to the document, make sure one person has overall responsibility for editing and e nsuring consistency.

If possible, leave the document alone for 24 hours before a final review.The old adage 'when in doubt, leave it out' should be carefully observed.-- Preparing for the presentation.

Your presentation -- whether formal or informal -- should strike a balance between stressing the key points (not wholesale repetition) of your written submission, learning more about the client's particular areas of interest or concern, differentiating your firm's offering, building rapport, responding positively to questions and demonstrating how the personality and expertise of your team match the client's needs.

There is much to consider on presentation and sales technique.

For example, audio visuals will add formality and should only be used by those who are trained and confident in their use.

You should anticipate all likely questions, no matter how difficult, before you attend.

Similarly, having a list of intelligent questions to ask the client will help promote discussion.

Take care to match the size, style and composition of your team with those you are meeting.

Ensure your chairperson knows how to field and direct questions and that everyone who attends has something to contribute (take note those senior partners who wish to attend to 'add credibility').

Be prepared to move away from your rehearsed 'script' if the situation demands it.

Towards the end, stress your keenness and suitability for the work and summarise the main points arising from the discussion.

Take care to observe the time constraints imposed by the client and leave plenty of time for questions and discussion -- it is good form to offer to finish a few minutes early.

-- Learn from the exercise.

Whether you win or lose you must try to learn as much as you can from the exercise.

Immediate debriefings between your team members after presentations and meetings are important, but so is obtaining detailed feedback from the client once the dust has settled.

Make sure your firm learns from each tendering situation.

This way, time invested in preparing what turns out to be an unsuccessful bid has become an investment for the future.