It's not all about me

I'm often asked to review people's Executive Summaries. To me these are very important in "selling the sizzle" to your potential client, yet often they read like the are "all about me"!

"We are a large company..." "We offer a quality service..." "We have a good reputation..."

All this says to the reader is that you are more concerned about yourself than them. Try to rephrase those statements so they don't start with "we" and then also add a benefit to each so the client gets a good idea of what it means to THEM.

For example: "With a staff of 25 qualified technicians, we guarantee to be onsite within 60 minutes, which means you will be operational again quickly with minimal downtime."

Take a look at your last Executive Summary and have a go at changing all your "we" statements into strong selling points.

Answer the question!

Next time you are watching a politician in a television interview, listen carefully to what questions are being asked and then evaluate whether they answered the question or not.
In many cases you'll find that they completely avoid the question and give an answer that reflects their party's policy.
 I've seen the same thing happen in tender submissions. People are so keen to get "their" message across they don't pay enough attention to what is being asked. Rule number 1 is "always answer the question".
The challenge is to answer it in such a way that the purchaser gets what they want; but that you do it so that it positions your organisation as the one that can meet all the requirements better than anyone else.