Blog 34 - Make In‑Person Meetings Your Competitive Advantage in the Bid Process
The blog this week is from Jeremy
Make In‑Person Meetings Your Competitive Advantage in the Bid Process
There’s a noticeable shift happening in the world of bidding: clients want to meet your humans again. Not just at the end in the traditional post‑tender interview, but before the bid is released, mid‑bid, and increasingly through new flexible procurement procedures that extend into mini‑dialogues with shortlisted bidders.
And do you know what? This is a good thing. A very good thing.
But it does require a different type of preparation.
Why Are Clients Asking for More In‑Person Meetings?
We’re seeing this rise across sectors, but particularly in commoditised markets where—frankly—procurement teams are receiving bids that all look and sound the same. Many are now convinced suppliers are simply using ChatGPT‑type tools to churn out generic responses.
Procurement people also move between categories. They’ve seen this play out elsewhere, and they’re bringing that learning into every new project—even the sophisticated ones where, of course, your whole bid is not AI‑generated.
So what do they do? They ask to meet your team.
They want to:
Test that your solution is real, not something pulled off the internet
See whether your key people have genuine capability and credibility
Sense the cultural fit
Resolve clarifications and potential issues early
Build confidence that you can actually deliver what’s in the document
And that’s the point: your team have to have confidence. Not arrogance—just calm, earned confidence.
Top Tips for Nailing In‑Person Bid Meetings
Here’s what years in construction and fit‑out taught me, where mid‑bid meetings, site visits and formal client interviews are routine.
1. Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
My dad was right. Proper preparation is everything.
In‑person meetings fall apart when:
People arrive flustered
The tech doesn’t work
Senior attendees don’t know the story
Someone’s confidence gets knocked before you even get into the room
Don’t let logistics undo you.
Practical prep:
Get your team to a nearby café 20–30 minutes early
Test equipment and clarify what’s available in the room
Ensure everyone knows the narrative and the solution—no “cab‑prep” allowed
Only bring people who were involved in solution development or storyboarding
Your team must believe in the solution. If they don’t, the client will feel it instantly.
2. Shape the Agenda Where You Can
In the public sector, you’ll usually be given an agenda—stick to it, but don’t be afraid to raise clarifications if something isn’t workable.
In the private sector, if you aren’t given an agenda:
Send suggested talking points in advance
Prime them on what you want to cover
Avoid putting them on the spot in the room when they don’t know the answer
If you ask tough questions live, they’ll likely have to send the response to every bidder. But if you nudge the conversation in advance, they might address it with just you.
It’s smart. Not manipulative.
3. Bring the Right People—Not Just the Senior Ones
Don’t default to wheeling out the most senior person in the company.
The client wants to see:
The number one CV on the bid
The people actually delivering
The brains behind the solution
Your sponsor or board‑level attendee can come, but they shouldn’t lead the meeting. They should sit to one side, providing gravitas, senior commitment and the “we’re really excited about this” messaging.
Your delivery lead must own the session.
4. Beware the Half‑Hour “Tick‑Box” Meeting
Half-hour meetings are popping up—clients trying to replicate Teams calls in real life.
But here’s the truth:
If the meetings feel rushed, generic or like they’re being “done to you”, you’re probably behind.
Clients don’t feel the need to invest time in suppliers who haven’t invested in capture.
Someone else will have positioned better, shaped their expectations and warmed them up.
If you’re walking into a room cold, you’re unlikely to walk out as winners.
5. None of This Should Be a Surprise
You should already know:
Who will be in the room
What they care about
What they’ve struggled with historically
What they’re trying to fix
Who holds influence
What concerns they’re already whispering internally
If you’re writing bids to strangers, you’re probably losing.
Final Thought: This Is an Opportunity—Grab It
The return to in‑person meetings is positive. Clients want connection, credibility and confidence. They want to see the humans behind the PowerPoint.
So do the basics brilliantly:
Prep properly
Get logistics nailed
Shape the agenda where you can
Bring the right people
Build confidence in the room
Treat every interaction as part of your win strategy
And above all: show them that the people responsible for delivery are the same people responsible for the thinking.
Other Resources
We’re on a mission to help companies like yours win more work.
Here are some other free resources that should help you too. Feel also free to share them with friends and colleagues:
Bid Writing Training - Learn to write winning tenders here.
Free Bid Writing Basics Training Video - Watch the video here.
Writing Crown Commercial Services Bids - Learn to tackle the challenges of writing CCS tenders here.
The Bid Toolkit - We make winning simple.
Our free work winning Podcast, the Red Review, can be found here.
You can also follow Jeremy on LinkedIn for hints, tips and insights here.
100% Typo Guarantee—Our blog posts are free-range. It was hand-crafted with love and sent out unfiltered. There was no review queue, no editorial process, no post-post revisions. Therefore, I can pretty much guarantee that there is some sort of typo or grammatical error or literary snafu. Got a business to run and a four year old to Dad. Sorry.