My co-author, Matthew Fuller and I, are currently working on the second edition of our book, "Strategic Tendering for Professional Services: Win More, Lose Less."  In approaching the second edition we wanted to consult the market. In particular, we wanted to hear how senior decision-makers on the other side of the fence from the firms, viewed the process and how it has changed since our first edition was published in 2017. In total, we had eleven conversations, with each and every one proving to be insightful, interesting and helpful. Special thanks to everyone who took part and who was so helpful. In this first article, we tackle how respondents view the RFP process.

Eleven interviews may not constitute a representative sample, it was never intended as such, but our respondents represented companies from the UK, Europe, Asia and Africa. We wanted a cross-section of views around the subject of tendering and that is exactly what we got.

Tenders are a lot of hard work, whether you're setting them, responding to them or having to read them when they come in. There are internal politics in setting them up, disputes over the form they should take and let's not even start on procurement's involvement…