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National Car Rental is of the mindset
that the only way to stay ahead is to keep improving. Which
is why it asked Writing
Machine to audit the way it responded to invitations to tender – to
ensure it was pitching itself in the best possible light to
potential corporate clients. Writing Machine was asked to assess
the clarity, structure, fluency, presentation and impact of
National Car Rental’s sales bids, and to make recommendations
on how to make their pitches more effective and engaging.
When
we returned with the results of our investigations,
National Car Rental saw an opportunity to empower its sales
team and
equip the individuals within it with essential writing
skills. The result was delivery of our Structured Bid Writing
training with special focus on the executive
summary.
Structured Bid Writing - taught
by writers
Ron Santiago, previously Vice
President for International Sales & Marketing at National Car Rental,
felt that Writing Machine could offer a unique training package – based
on our experience and expertise as writers. “It was
very important to us that the people leading this course
were themselves
writers. It meant that we were not only learning techniques,
but were being shown how they could be implemented in the
real world. It also meant all the delegates could benefit
from expert
feedback and one-on-one tuition.”
As with all our courses,
Structured Bid Writing was designed to be an interactive
course, not a lecture. The delegates were introduced
to a range of skills that we, as professional writers,
use in our daily working lives to engage and enthuse the
reader.
They were then made to put those skills to the test in a
range of practical writing exercises. It was challenging,
but hugely
effective.
The key elements covered in the course
included:
- Devices to break up text and keep
readers engaged, such as titles, subheadings, bullets and
captions
- How to turn facts into benefits
- Use
of bid messaging
- Structuring
- Basic grammar issues
This comprehensive approach was designed
to give the delegates a ‘full tool kit’ of techniques and strategies
for writing executive summaries – one
they could adapt to all markets, audiences
and situations.
Overcoming writing phobia
“Before the training course,
there was a degree of ‘writing phobia’ within the
team”, said
Santiago. “They didn’t see themselves as writers,
so facing a blank computer screen and being asked to express
what
made
our company unique was very intimidating for them. The course
not only gave them a range of useful techniques, it also gave
them the confidence to approach writing executive summaries with
enthusiasm.”
David McNeill, one of the delegates
on the course, has certainly felt the
benefit: “I
thought it was an excellent course. When writing executive
summaries it can be so easy to slip into old habits, but
now I look at
each one individually. As a result, I now write with far
more clarity and focus.”
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