Your Strategy is What’s Missing
- Vision TDM
- Jul 16
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 23
Why vague messaging won’t win work and what to do instead
We see it all the time:
Good businesses with great capabilities submitting average bids or marketing themselves with generic messaging.
They say things like:
“We provide innovative solutions tailored to client needs.”
“Our team is experienced, reliable, and results driven.”
Sound familiar?
Here’s the hard truth: that’s not a strategy, it’s wallpaper.
Vagueness Is the Enemy of Persuasion
Most bids and business pitches fail not because the team lacks skill or delivery capability; they fail because the message lacks clarity, empathy, and strategic intent.
You can’t convince someone to choose you if you’re saying what everyone else is saying.
You need to connect the dots between your capabilities and their priorities, and do it with precision.
Empathy Is Your Strategic Advantage
The best strategies start not with what you offer, but with what your client needs. That means:
Understanding their pain points
Speaking to their real-world challenges
Positioning your offer as the solution they didn’t know they needed
I often say, “A good bid tells the client you understand the job. A great one shows you understand them.”
Empathy means writing with the client in mind, not just listing your credentials. It means being specific, not generic.
Specificity Builds Trust
Replace vague claims with real, measurable value. For example:
Instead of:
“We’re committed to delivering high-quality service.”
Say:
“We achieved 98.5% on-time delivery over the past 12 months across 42 infrastructure projects exceeding KPIs for 3 out of 4 clients.”
Specifics give your reader something to trust, anchor to, and remember.
Specificity is also the foundation of a great value proposition. It answers:
Why you?
Why now?
Why are you the safest pair of hands?
Your Strategy Is the Message Behind the Message
When we talk about “strategy” at Vision TDM, we’re not talking about how long your proposal is, or how pretty the graphics look.
We're talking about the thinking that shapes everything else:
What’s the most important message we need to land?
How does this align with the client’s goals or pain points?
What positioning gives us the edge?
Strategy helps you prioritise, tailor, and differentiate. It’s the “why you’ll win” foundation that makes the writing part easier and more effective.
Quick Tips to Sharpen Your Strategic Focus:
Start with the client, not yourself. What do they care about most?
Say less, mean more. Don’t fluff, focus.
Use proof, not promises. Specificity beats slogans.
Position your value, not your services. What changes for the client because of you?
If your message feels like everyone else’s, it’s time to go deeper.
Your business is different but unless your strategy brings that difference to life with empathy and specificity, your bids, proposals, and pitches will keep blending into the background.
Don’t just say you’re strategic. Be strategic.
Because your strategy is what’s missing.
Need help building a messaging strategy that actually wins work? We do that every day.
🔗 Book your FREE Bid Review Call.
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