6 Ways to Prepare for Bid Monitoring in the New Year

With the new year around the corner, it’s the perfect time to set your team up for bid success. Bid monitoring can be a powerful asset, helping you find the right opportunities and get a head start on every proposal. But to make the most of it, a little preparation can go a long way. By following these six steps, you can ensure that you’re ready to tackle the new year’s bids with efficiency and focus—and with RFPSchoolWatch, you can enjoy a hands-off solution that streamlines the process every step of the way.

1. Look Back to Move Forward: Review Last Year’s Bidding Data

Before diving into a new year, it’s a smart move to look back and see what worked—and what didn’t. Reviewing past bids can show you the types of projects you won most often, the factors that may have led to losses, and any seasonal patterns in bid availability. This data helps you fine-tune your strategy going forward.

How to do it: Pull up your bid history and analyze the numbers: win rates, proposal timelines, and client feedback. Use this info to decide where you’ll focus in the coming year. And with RFPSchoolWatch handling your bid monitoring, you can use these insights to zero in on opportunities that match your strengths without spending time searching manually.

2. Set Clear Goals for the Year

Getting specific about your bid goals makes it easier to align your strategy and resources. Whether it’s increasing your win rate, targeting new industries, or expanding to new regions, setting measurable goals gives you and your team direction and motivation.

How to do it: Identify 2–3 main goals, such as “Increase win rate by 15%” or “Focus on larger education sector bids.” With RFPSchoolWatch’s automatic alerts and tailored notifications, you’ll be set up to focus on these goals without having to monitor bids manually.

3. Refresh and Organize Your Proposal Resources

Starting the year with fresh resources—like templates, case studies, and project examples—ensures you’re prepared to respond quickly and effectively to each bid. Having up-to-date materials makes your proposals stronger and gives you a head start on quality submissions.

How to do it: Organize templates, recent project descriptions, and successful past proposals in easy-to-access folders. And with RFPSchoolWatch handling the bid alerts, you’ll have more time to focus on refining these resources, knowing you won’t miss out on any key opportunities.

4. Fine-Tune Your Bid Monitoring Settings

When thousands of bids go live each week, having the right filters can save you hours. Fine-tuning your bid monitoring filters means you’ll only see the bids that truly align with your goals, industry, market sector, and expertise.

How to do it: RFPSchoolWatch helps you by setting up a customized search that focuses on your region, industry, market sector, and specialty area. And since RFPSchoolWatch continuously scans for matching opportunities, it’s a truly hands-off way to ensure you only see the bids that are a great fit for your business.

5. Create a Bid Calendar and Assign Team Roles

Planning ahead is easier with a dedicated bid calendar that keeps you organized. It lets your team visualize upcoming deadlines and allocate roles for research, proposal writing, and budgeting. With this in place, you’re not scrambling when a new opportunity pops up.

How to do it: Use a shared calendar to set reminders for each bid’s submission deadline and assign team roles. Since RFPSchoolWatch handles bid tracking and sends timely notifications, you can focus on preparation, knowing that relevant bids will arrive right in your inbox.

6. Stay Alert for Early Opportunities in January

Many industries, especially government and education, release new bids early in the fiscal year. By keeping an eye on these early opportunities, you can get a head start on the competition. With RFPSchoolWatch’s automated, hands-off bid monitoring, you’ll be among the first to know about these new opportunities, without needing to monitor bid portals yourself.

How to do it: Set up targeted alerts to capture early-year bids that match your goals. RFPSchoolWatch’s automated alerts mean you can focus on building strong proposals rather than scouring the web, giving you a clear advantage as soon as the new year begins.

Get Ready for Success with RFPSchoolWatch by Your Side

Preparing for the new year doesn’t have to mean more manual work. With RFPSchoolWatch, you have a hands-off bid monitoring solution that brings opportunities directly to you, customized to your industry and goals. With automated and customized alerts, RFPSchoolWatch helps you focus on what matters most—crafting winning proposals and growing your business. Here’s to making the next year your best one yet, with RFPSchoolWatch as your partner in success!