Founding cohort | Five businesses only
Win Better Contracts by Learning How Buyers Evaluate Your Business
A practical six-week accelerator for established SMEs that want to identify the right opportunities, strengthen their evidence and build submissions that are easier for buyers to score.
- Orientation
- Friday 30 October 2026
- Live programme
- Tuesdays 6:00pm to 7:30pm, 3 November to 8 December 2026
- New Year review
- Tuesday 12 January 2027
- Founding investment
- £2,500
Built from the Buyer Side
The programme is led by Adrian Betton MCIPS, a senior procurement and commercial leader with more than 25 years on the buying side across public-sector and major corporate procurement, awarding over £8 billion in contracts. You learn how buyers qualify opportunities, assess risk, evaluate evidence, score responses and reach moderated award decisions.
No programme can guarantee a contract award. This one shows you how the award decision is actually made.
Strong Businesses Still Lose Winnable Contracts
- Chasing opportunities that are not a genuine fit
- Describing services without giving scoreable evidence
- Using generic case studies and method statements
- Treating social value as an afterthought
- Writing before understanding the buyer, the risk and the evaluation criteria
- Repeating the same bid process without learning from losses
What You Will Build in Six Weeks
- A qualified contract pipeline and a discovery plan for your priority buyers
- A buyer-focused value proposition and stronger capability evidence
- Reusable case studies, method statement content and social value commitments
- A tender response plan with clear responsibilities and compliance checks
- A buyer-side score of one selected response of up to 1,500 words
- A pricing position you can defend against the market
- A practical 90-day contract growth plan
Programme Schedule
Live sessions run on Tuesdays, 6:00pm to 7:30pm UK time (90 minutes each).
Orientation | Friday 30 October 2026
Orientation (45 minutes, 6:00pm to 6:45pm)
Set the baseline, confirm your priority market and opportunity, set up tool access and agree success measures.
Week 1 | Tuesday 3 November 2026
Choose and Qualify the Right Contracts
Use the Buyer Readiness Scorecard, Contract Matcher and Keyword Generator to define your target market and pipeline, then qualify each opportunity with the Bid/No-Bid Decision Matrix as your implementation task.
Week 2 | Tuesday 10 November 2026
Discovery Before the Tender (led by Michelle Raymond)
Learn how to run discovery conversations and buyer roundtables, gather insight before a tender is published, and turn it into a proposal using the ARISE Proposal Builder.
Week 3 | Tuesday 17 November 2026
Build Scoreable Evidence
Use the Case Study Builder to turn experience into concise, quantified proof and strengthen your capability statement and evidence bank.
Week 4 | Tuesday 24 November 2026
Answer What the Buyer Is Scoring
Use the Method Statement Drafter and Social Value Statement Builder to map evaluation criteria, risks, commitments, measures and evidence into clear responses.
Week 5 | Tuesday 1 December 2026
Price to Win
Understand how buyers score price, where your price sits against recent market awards, and how to avoid abnormally low or uncompetitive bids, using the Pricing Tool.
Week 6 | Tuesday 8 December 2026
Enter the Moderation Room
Run a buyer-side scoring and moderation exercise, build your tender response plan, identify avoidable scoring losses and complete your 90-day plan.
Implementation Review | Tuesday 12 January 2027
New Year review (90 minutes, 6:00pm to 7:30pm)
Review pipeline progress, evidence completed, live opportunities, tool usage and priorities for the next quarter.
What Is Included
- Six 90-minute live group implementation sessions
- One 45-minute orientation session
- One 90-minute New Year implementation review
- One 45-minute private strategy review for your business
- A buyer-side written scorecard for one selected response of up to 1,500 words
- Six months of access to the Tender Build Tier tools
- Templates, checklists, session recordings and weekly implementation tasks
- A cohort support channel until the January review
Learn the Method and Use the Tools
Buyer Readiness Scorecard
Buyer readiness scorecard — see how an evaluator would rate you today.
Contract Matcher
Match your business to live public-sector opportunities.
Keyword Generator
Find the search terms and CPV codes buyers actually use.
Bid/No-Bid Decision Matrix
Score an opportunity before committing time and resource.
ARISE Proposal Builder
Turn discovery insight into a structured, buyer-focused proposal.
Case Study Builder
Turn project experience into concise, quantified proof.
Method Statement Drafter
Structure your delivery approach the way evaluators score it.
Social Value Statement Builder
Build credible, measurable social value commitments.
Pricing Tool
Benchmark your price against recent market awards and build a defensible position.
The tools speed up good commercial practice. Their outputs must be checked, verified and adapted to each opportunity. They do not replace your judgement, legal or technical review, or your responsibility for the final submission.
Who It Is For
- UK businesses trading for at least two years with real delivery experience
- Typically £250,000 to £10 million turnover
- Targeting public-sector or major corporate contracts, roughly £100,000 to £5 million
- Has lost bids, is unsure which contracts to pursue or needs a repeatable tender process
- Has leadership commitment and a named person who will do the work
- Can attend live sessions and give two to three hours a week
Who It Is Not For
- Pre-revenue businesses with no delivery evidence
- Anyone looking for a guaranteed win
- Anyone wanting Ask the Buyer to write a live tender within the fee
- Businesses without leadership commitment or delivery capacity
- Anyone who cannot commit two to three hours a week
Founding Cohort Investment
- Price:
- £2,500
- Or:
- two payments of £1,350 (£2,700 total)
- Capacity:
- five businesses
- Applications close:
- Thursday 29 October 2026, or earlier if all five places are filled
Pay in full and save £200.
No VAT is charged.
Founding clients receive a reduced rate in exchange for structured feedback during the programme and, only if you approve it, a testimonial or anonymised case study.
Clear Scope and Expectations
The fee does not include: full tender writing or rewriting; review of a complete submission or multiple documents; unlimited email, WhatsApp or call support; legal, financial, technical or regulatory advice; bespoke market or competitor research; opportunity alerts or pipeline management by Ask the Buyer; procurement representation or contact with a buyer on your behalf; implementation by Ask the Buyer; or any guarantee of shortlisting, framework appointment or award. Additional support can be scoped and quoted separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a bid-writing service?
No. It is a buyer-led implementation programme. You build your own evidence, content and process with live guidance, templates and tools. Bid-writing support can be quoted separately.
Do you guarantee that I will win a contract?
No. Nobody can honestly guarantee an award. The programme improves the decisions, evidence and process that determine how your submission is scored.
What happens if I miss a live session?
Every session runs 6:00pm to 7:30pm UK time and is recorded. You can catch up and raise questions in the cohort support channel.
Which tools are included and for how long?
Buyer Readiness Scorecard, Contract Matcher, Keyword Generator, Bid/No-Bid Decision Matrix, ARISE Proposal Builder, Case Study Builder, Method Statement Drafter, Social Value Statement Builder, Pricing Tool — for 6 months from orientation.
Can more than one person from my business attend?
Yes. Up to two people from each business can join the live sessions, for example the owner and the person who leads your bids. Both get access to the tools.
What will you review for me?
One selected response of up to 1,500 words, scored and moderated as a buyer would, with written feedback. You also get a 45-minute private strategy review.
Is VAT included?
No VAT is charged.
What happens after I apply?
We review every application within two working days. We may invite you to a short fit call. You will then be offered a place with a private enrolment link, added to the waitlist, or pointed to a better-fitting option.
Can I keep using the tools after six months?
Yes. Thirty days before your access ends we'll review your progress with you. You can then keep the tools at the founding member rate of £29 a month.
What if the programme is not right for my business?
We will tell you honestly at application stage and suggest a better fit, such as the £19 Are You Bid Ready? assessment.
Stop Guessing What the Buyer Wants
Apply for one of five founding places. We will review your goals, current pipeline, delivery readiness and fit before offering enrolment.