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The Height Bid Team enjoys helping clients navigate the entire bidding process. From pre-positioning strategies to developing the submission, all the way through to the final stages, supporting those crucial interactive meetings.
Interactives can be nerve-wracking. They’re like a live cooking show: you’ve got all the ingredients, but now you need to whip up something impressive in front of an audience that critiques your every move. You need to think on your feet, stay sharp, and above all, be prepared.
And yet, we’ve all heard the horror stories - teams turning up without having read the tender they submitted, the ‘wrong’ team showing up – sometimes missing the very people the client actually wanted to meet.
Even if these interactive sessions are not officially scored (and many are scored nowadays), don’t be fooled; the client is forming impressions about what it might be like to work with you. For most government agencies and councils, interactives are now a common procurement practice. On large collaborative projects, it’s typical to have not just one, but several interactive sessions during the tender period.
Here are our top tips for a successful interactive:
1. Pick the right team and involve them early
Don’t wheel in the ‘A Team’ of senior execs who barely touched the tender. Clients want to hear from the delivery people they’ll actually work with. Get them involved in the bid early so they know the details and can talk authentically.
2. Know your audience inside out
Do your homework. Who will be in the room from the client side? What’s their role, what do they care about, and how technical do they want you to get? Tailor your team and your preparation to their needs.
3. Prepare during the tender, not after
Start preparing for the interactive while you’re building the tender, not once the submission is in. Too many teams wait until they get the invite and then scramble. By then, it’s too late to shape a unified narrative or get the delivery team truly comfortable with the role they need to play. Treat the interactive as part of the tender process itself, because it is. Run mock sessions, anticipate the hard questions, and decide who answers what.
4. Be open & address the elephant in the room
Got past contract issues everyone in the industry already knows about? Don’t pretend they didn’t happen. Share what you learned, what you’ve changed, and how you’ll do better. Clients respect transparency, and it shows you’re serious about continuous improvement.
5. Show your values – not just your slides
Every interactive is an opportunity to demonstrate your culture, not just your capabilities. Use real examples and stories that bring your values to life and show how they align with the clients. This is what sticks in their mind long after the PowerPoint slides are closed.
Interactive meetings aren’t just about answering questions; they’re about giving the client a taste of what it’s like to work with your team on a daily basis. A polished, cohesive, authentic team can give you an edge in a crowded field. At Height, our coaching brings teams together, so they present as one unified, knowledgeable, client-friendly crew. And because we’ve got specialists who’ve been on the other side of the table, we know what to look for.
Don’t just show up for an interactive. Show up ready.