Chasing The Win is for people in the pursuit world who know this work is about far more than deadlines, documents and compliance. Behind every bid, there is strategy, judgement, communication, trust and a whole lot of human effort. There is the challenge of bringing clarity to complexity, staying steady under pressure and creating something that genuinely deserves to be chosen. I created this show because I believe more of this knowledge should be shared. Tendering shapes so much of the world around us. It influences who delivers vital services, who builds important infrastructure, who supports communities and who gets the opportunity to make a real impact. And yet, so much of the insight behind this work stays tucked away inside busy teams, hard deadlines and long bid days. I wanted to create a space where we could bring more of that thinking into the open and have more honest conversations about what it really takes to do this work well. Through this podcast, I will explore pursuit strategy, win themes, persuasive writing, client relationships, team dynamics and the lived reality of bid work. Some conversations will be practical and focused. Others will explore the more human side of the work, the pressure, the collaboration, the tension, the resilience and the small shifts that can make a big difference. At its heart, Chasing The Win is for the people behind the submissions. The bid managers, writers, strategists, subject matter experts, sales leads and everyone else who cares deeply about creating something thoughtful, credible and worth selecting. I want this show to feel generous, grounded and useful. A place where we can learn from one another, strengthen the craft and bring more clarity, confidence and humanity to the pursuit process.
Chasing The Win
Claim This Podcastby Deborah Mazoudier
Podcast Overview
Chasing The Win is for people in the pursuit world who know this work is about far more than deadlines, documents and compliance. Behind every bid, there is strategy, judgement, communication, trust and a whole lot of human effort. There is the challenge of bringing clarity to complexity, staying steady under pressure and creating something that genuinely deserves to be chosen. I created this show because I believe more of this knowledge should be shared. Tendering shapes so much of the world around us. It influences who delivers vital services, who builds important infrastructure, who supports communities and who gets the opportunity to make a real impact. And yet, so much of the insight behind this work stays tucked away inside busy teams, hard deadlines and long bid days. I wanted to create a space where we could bring more of that thinking into the open and have more honest conversations about what it really takes to do this work well. Through this podcast, I will explore pursuit strategy, win themes, persuasive writing, client relationships, team dynamics and the lived reality of bid work. Some conversations will be practical and focused. Others will explore the more human side of the work, the pressure, the collaboration, the tension, the resilience and the small shifts that can make a big difference. At its heart, Chasing The Win is for the people behind the submissions. The bid managers, writers, strategists, subject matter experts, sales leads and everyone else who cares deeply about creating something thoughtful, credible and worth selecting. I want this show to feel generous, grounded and useful. A place where we can learn from one another, strengthen the craft and bring more clarity, confidence and humanity to the pursuit process.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/14/2026
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Recent Episodes
August 5, 2026
Building an Intentional Career in Tendering & Bid Management with Veronica Simeoni
<p>Building an intentional career in tendering and bid management is rarely something people plan. Most submission professionals fall into it, then realise they’ve built a whole identity around deadlines, stakeholder management, and staying calm while everything shifts. In this episode of Chasing the Win, I’m joined by Veronica Simeoni, a strategic pursuits and submissions leader with close to three decades across water, transport, civil infrastructure and building.</p><p>We talk about what actually keeps people in this profession for the long haul and Veronica keeps coming back to curiosity. Not as a nice trait, but as a practical advantage in tendering, because the subject matter changes constantly and the best bid teams keep learning. If you work in infrastructure bids, you’ll recognise that feeling of seeing a project come out of the ground and knowing you helped win it.</p><p>We also get into what separates competent bid writing from exceptional submissions management. Veronica is blunt about the real skill being maturity with people, especially when you’re coordinating SMEs, managing review gates and adapting without drama when the goalposts move. We cover bid planning, capture management, Bronze Silver Gold reviews, and why tendering needs to be treated like a project with milestones and a critical path, not an emergency.</p><p>Finally, we talk about culture, leadership, and the future of bids. From setting expectations early on major pursuits to choosing the right bid manager, and even the basics of creating a functional bid environment that respects the team. We also unpack AI in tendering, including why AI tools are powerful for information retrieval and content libraries, but still need human judgement, empathy, and value proposition thinking to win work.</p><p></p><p><strong>CHAPTER MARKERS </strong></p><p>00:00 Introduction</p><p>04:03 Skills of Great Tenderers</p><p>06:40 Calm in the Chaos</p><p>08:01 MBA Research Findings</p><p>09:42 Making Tendering a Career</p><p>11:30 Treat Bids Like Projects</p><p>13:34 Collaboration and Leadership</p><p>15:51 Respect the Bid Team</p><p>18:02 AI in Bid Management</p><p>21:56 Advice for Newcomers</p><p></p><p><strong>Connect with Veronica</strong></p><p>Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-simeoni-bb466560/</p><p></p><p><strong>Connect with Deb at Tender Plus</strong></p><p>Web: <u><a href="https://www.tenderplusconsulting.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.tenderplusconsulting.com.au/</a></u> </p><p>LinkedIn: <u><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/tender-plus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/company/tender-plus/</a></u> </p><p></p>
July 22, 2026
Winning pre-contract strategy and insights with Richard Cowley
<p>Pre-contracts strategy is the part of tendering most teams say they do, but few teams actually run properly. It’s the thinking and shaping that happens before the bid machine kicks in, when you still have choices, influence, and time to reduce risk. In this episode, I’m joined by Richard Cowley, Fulton Hogan’s 30-year tendering veteran, to talk about what strong pre-contracts strategy looks like in the real world, what gets missed when teams leave it too late, and why this stage is often the difference between a bid that reads well and a bid that wins.</p><p>Richard leads the pre-contracts team for Fulton Hogan’s northern region across Queensland, the Northern Territory and WA, and he’s spent nearly three decades in and around tendering across client, consulting and contractor roles. He’s blunt about the shift in the market, especially how probity has changed early engagement in the public sector, and why that makes it harder to get the insight you need to build a real strategy. If you’re chasing bids without that context, you can still burn the time and money, but you’re doing it with one hand tied behind your back.</p><p>We also get into the disconnect between clients and contractors, and how often both sides underestimate what the other is dealing with. Richard shares examples that explain why “small” changes can ripple through pricing, risk and approvals, and why project realities can be shaped by politics, governance and pressures you’ll never see from the outside. The takeaway is simple: if we want better outcomes, we need to get better at communicating the work, not just doing it.</p><p>From there we talk partnering and delivery, because pre-contract decisions don’t stop at submission. Richard breaks down why partner selection is make-or-break on large pursuits, why culture and behaviours matter more than a shiny capability list, and why your delivery performance can undo even the best tender strategy. We finish on the human side too: kindness, context, and the personal traits that actually hold up over the long game of tendering.</p><p> </p><p><strong>CHAPTER MARKERS (AUDIO VERSION)</strong> </p><p>00:00 Pre-Contracts Strategy Intro</p><p>02:33 Win Tenders With Pre-Contracts</p><p>02:58 Probity Rules Client Engagement</p><p>04:47 Tender Cost Client Disconnect</p><p>07:09 Competitive Edge In Tendering</p><p>07:58 Lessons Learned Bid Culture</p><p>10:27 Trust In Bid Teams</p><p>12:37 Contracts Vs Delivery Behaviours</p><p>15:15 Tender Pipeline Productivity</p><p>18:20 Deadline Risk In Major Tenders</p><p>20:17 Delivery Performance Wins Work</p><p>22:27 Align Tender And Operations</p><p>25:28 Joint Venture Partner Selection</p><p>31:19 Worthy Rivals Tender Mindset</p><p>32:33 Early Pipeline For Tenders</p><p>37:12 Bid No Bid Strategy</p><p>39:51 Stakeholder Alignment Pre-Contracts</p><p> </p><p><strong>Connect with Richard</strong></p><p>Linkedin: <u><a href="http://au.linkedin.com/in/richardcowleyaustralia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">au.linkedin.com/in/richardcowleyaustralia</a></u></p><p>Website: <u><a href="https://www.fultonhogan.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.fultonhogan.com/</a></u></p><p></p><p><strong>Connect with Deb at Tender Plus</strong></p><p>Web: <u><a href="https://www.tenderplusconsulting.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.tenderplusconsulting.com.au/</a></u> </p><p>LinkedIn: <u><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/tender-plus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/company/tender-plus/</a></u> </p><p></p>
July 8, 2026
Bronze, Silver & Gold: The Tendering Review Framework That Gets You on the Podium
<p>If your bronze review feels thin, your silver feels rushed and your gold feels like a panic, it might not be your team. It might be the way you’re timing your bronze, silver, gold reviews. </p><p>In this episode, we’re breaking down the “bronze, silver, gold” tender review framework and what each stage is actually for. Bronze is structure and compliance. Silver is where the solution becomes readable and the features become clear. Gold is where you sharpen the story and make the benefits obvious. </p><p>We’ll walk through how to apply the framework across three common tender timeframes: 16 to 18 week bids, nine week tenders and the fast two to six week bids. You’ll hear why bronze should be pushed later on long bids and why on short bids the submission manager often needs to do bronze themselves by blueprinting the document and setting compliance expectations. </p><p>If you want a tender review process that creates clarity instead of chaos, this is the mindset shift. Match the review checkpoints to the time you actually have and you give your team a real chance of ending up on the podium. </p><p> </p><p><strong>CHAPTER MARKERS (AUDIO VERSION)</strong> </p><p>00:00 Introduction </p><p>01:26 Long Bid Bronze Timing </p><p>02:52 Silver Review Expectations </p><p>03:41 Gold Review Benefits </p><p>04:58 Nine Week Bid Setup </p><p>05:57 Two to Six Week Bids </p><p>07:27 Key Takeaways Wrap Up </p><p>07:51 Final Podium Mindset </p><p> </p><p><strong>LINKS</strong>: </p><p>Web: <u><a href="https://www.tenderplusconsulting.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.tenderplusconsulting.com.au/</a></u> </p><p>LinkedIn: <u><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/tender-plus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/company/tender-plus/</a></u> </p><p></p>
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Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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