Thought Leadership
Independent tender debriefs
Client Feedback Case Study
DAC Beachcroft is a leading international law firm providing services to high-profile corporate and public bodies across healthcare, insurance, and real estate.
​
Keen to increase their win-ratio in competitive tenders, the firm engaged Nisus to conduct a programme of tender debriefs to ascertain the underlying reasons behind appointment decisions. DAC Beachcroft felt there was an advantage to using an independent party following a pitch – that Nisus could take an objective approach and probe to gain more critical and constructive feedback than would be obtained otherwise.
​
Within 12-months, Nisus completed over 30 tender debriefs, exploring:
​
-
Evaluation criteria and decision-making processes including identifying ultimate decision-makers
-
Changes in perceptions of the firm – before and after the pitch, what made an impact
-
Comparison with competitors across all aspects of the offer including pricing and added value
-
Final sentiment towards the firm and likelihood of being invited to tender for work again in future
​
In-depth feedback analysis
Following each interview, Nisus supplies DAC Beachcroft with a verbatim interview transcript and a clear set of recommendations based on the feedback provided. By subsequently coding and aggregating the data, Nisus and DAC Beachcroft are able to work together to recognise trends in the feedback generally and to identify specific areas for improvement.
Independent debriefs play a vital part in the improvement process and their importance is often underestimated by partners. Our view is that a professional bid function, pursuing best practice, cannot possibly operate effectively without a properly structured debrief mechanism.
This is the one independent, non-hearsay based tool we have in the locker to effect positive change and Nisus have been instrumental in this regard. The quality of their debriefs has helped us move towards a position where debriefs are now the norm for the business. This has been further underpinned by their excellent responsiveness and communication with us at all times.
​
Evan Morgan – Bid Team Leader,
Clients and Markets
Having started the programme in 2013, running until 2018, Nisus completed dozens of debriefs every year, providing the firm with a wealth of candid insight from new and prospective clients, that contributes to the firm’s ever-increasing win-rate and fast growing client-base.