Guest Blog – Capability Statement Tips to Help You Win More Business

13 Jul Guest Blog – Capability Statement Tips to Help You Win More Business

When it comes to proactively securing new clients and ongoing business, a well-written capability statement is a powerful tool to market your services, experience and competence.

While most tradies are great on the tools, when it comes to marketing, they’re often overwhelmed or simply unsure where to start. Sadly, many tradies don’t proactively market themselves. Then, when the work dries up, panic sets in and the search for the next job becomes urgent.

When winning more business is important, having a capability statement prepared and ready to send to prospective clients is the key.

So, what is a Capability Statement?

A capability statement is a business document which outlines your skills, achievements, expertise, qualifications, the services you provide and your track record – in other words, your capabilities.

The purpose of a capability statement is to introduce your business to prospective partners such as Tier 1, 2 or 3 builders, joint venture partners or potential clients. The document is designed to underscore the reasons why your business is suitable to work with them.

Open doors with a Capability Statement

Large organisations, government agencies and Tier 1, 2 or 3 builders such as Hutchinsons, LendLease or Watpac, will often ask for your capability statement before they will consider working with you. A carefully prepared capability statement can sometimes be used as part of a tender submission.

Your capability statement can also be handy to provide to new team members as part of their orientation. The document provides them with an overview of your business’ offering.

How long should a Capability Statement be?

The length of your document depends on your industry requirements and how much information you wish to convey. Some people prefer to keep it short and simple, while others like to include a full picture of their business capabilities.

In Australia, most tradespeople have a multi-page capability statement – usually anywhere from 2 to 12 pages long. However, a single-page summary can be most useful to include in tender documents or RFPs – or as an introduction document.

Tips for a winning capability statement

There is no such thing as a standard capability statement – each one is individual. If a capability statement is required in a hurry, it can be tempting to copy and paste from a competitor’s document or “adapt” their content to your business. This is not a good idea. Why?

• You are breaching Australian copyright laws by copying another company’s document;
• Should a prospective partner or client discover you’ve copied your document, or if you come up against the original company when bidding for work, it would not be a good look for you at all!

Your capability statement must be unique to your business, not a second-hand version of someone else’s document.

What to include in your Capability Statement

I’m often asked what you need to include in a document of this type. The content can vary, so to work out what’s best for your business, give some thought to these questions:

• Who will be reading your document?
• What type of work do you hope to secure?
• Precisely what information do your prospective clients need to know before they make an informed decision?
• What are the primary factors in their “buying decision”?
• What sets your company apart from competitors?

Topics to choose from

Next, think about how you will complete each of the following essential elements:

• Business name and logo
• Business address
• Primary phone number
• Main business email address
• ABN and ACN
• License numbers
• An overview of your business
• List of your core competencies
• Track record of performance
• Your differentiators or Unique Selling Points
• Your trade/educational qualifications

When there’s room for more information …

Additional contents can include, but are not limited to:

• Equipment you use
• Techniques you use
• Number of employees/vehicles on the road
• Geographical area you cover
• WHS/risk management measures – policies and procedures, insurances, safety processes
• Professional associations you are a member of
• Bio/profile of your key team members
• Case studies of past projects/track record
• Major client list
• Testimonials from your current or past clients
• Charts/graphs/pictures/infographics where relevant

Proofread your document

Don’t rush into preparing and sending your document out to prospective clients. It’s important to have someone else check it first. Ask them to read the capability statement thoroughly, carefully checking for any spelling, grammatical errors or typos (yep, we all make them). Ask for their feedback on whether the information is easy to read. Do they think the statement helps “sell” your business?

If you choose to create your capability statement in Word, be sure to convert it to a PDF file before you send it out. This looks much more professional and also ensures the content stays in the format you intended.

Need more help?

I trust the above capability statement tips will help you write a document which assists in promoting your business and securing future jobs.

As a professional writer of over 20 years, I’ve successfully written many hundreds of documents which have helped my clients win more business. I partner with Australian small business owners – including loads of tradies – to create quality marketing materials, especially capability statements.

If you’d like to chat about how I can help your company put its best foot forward with an outstanding capability statement, please get in touch to arrange an obligation-free discovery session. (Link to go above: https://www.professionalwriter.com.au/get-in-touch/) .

Or if you need a document in a hurry for an RFP or tender submission, the Capability Statement Kit is your best friend. This innovative product is about to be released and those on our email list will be the first to hear when it’s ready to roll: https://www.subscribepage.com/thecapabilitystatementkit