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Writing for Professionals and Writing for Bids are based on the unique Structured Writing Method™, and teach tried-and-tested specialist techniques used with companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, BAE Systems, BT Global Services, Ciena, Carter Jonas, Experian, Hitachi Vantara, HP, Kapsch CarrierCom, QinetiQ, Siemens, SITA and TomTom.

 

Each course is taught over two half-day sessions on consecutive weeks. The price includes seven hours virtual classroom learning with one of Writing Machine’s consultant writers, plus access to either the Structured Writing Method eLearning course or the more advanced Structured Writing Method for Bids eLearning course for three months.

Find out more about the Structured Writing Method

Click here to register your interest in attending one of our open courses

About the courses

Writing for Professionals

Whether you write for marketing, pre-sales or general business reasons, Writing for Professionals will enable you to write more compellingly, clearly and professionally – and to do so faster.

Writing for Bids

Writing Machine’s unique Writing for Bids enables individuals and teams to write clearer, more compelling, professional, and far more competitive bid and pitch documents.

 

Writing for Professionals costs £550 + VAT per person. 

Writing for Bids costs £675+ VAT per person. 

Writing is an important part of most people’s professional lives. Being able to communicate a message clearly and concisely is an incredibly important skill – whether that’s when writing reports, emails, marketing documents or pre-sales materials. Poor writing, meanwhile, can lead to frustration and miscommunication.

This course teaches Writing Machine’s unique Structured Writing Method, and tried-and-tested specialist techniques used by our agency to provide writing services to companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, BAE Systems, BT Global Services, Carter Jonas, Experian, HP, Kapsch CarrierCom, QinetiQ, Siemens, SITA and TomTom.

Ideal for pre-sales, marketing and general professional writers, Writing for Professionals is based on our unique Structured Writing Method™.

It includes seven hours of virtual classroom sessions plus access to our second-generation eLearning. The course is delivered over two half-day sessions on consecutive weeks.

These are the modules that will be covered by the blended virtual classroom course. The emphasis of the virtual classroom sessions is typically adapted to suit the needs of the group.

Session 1 (3 ½ hours)

  • An introduction to the Structured Writing Method
  • ‘Objective setting’
  • Messaging
  • Structuring

Consolidation of learning and ‘Thinking Ahead’

There is a gap of a week between each session. Please be aware that you will be asked to use the eLearning to consolidate your learning and complete any lessons not fully covered in the first virtual classroom session. You will also be given eLearning tasks to ‘think ahead’ towards the second session which is dedicated to crafting.

Session 2 (3 ½ hours)

  • Writing for skim readers
  • Engaging your readers
  • Writing with clarity
  • Writing with authority
  • Grammar and punctuation
  • Proofreading

In addition, you get three months access to the Structured Writing Method eLearning materials.

On completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • Implement an effective writing process
    making your writing more efficient, and leading to better quality documents
  • Clarify objectives and messages
    before writing leading to clearer and more focussed writing
  • Effectively plan and structure documents
    to create a logical flow and, again, to speed up the writing process
  • Use clear and concise language
    to get your point across
  • Improve the quality of writing style
    to make your documents grammatically correct, appear more professional, authoritative and easier to skim-read
  • Proofread your writing
    to ensure your documents are free of mistakes

Writing for Professionals costs £550 + VAT per person.

The course is taught over two half-day sessions on consecutive weeks. The price includes seven hours virtual classroom learning with one of Writing Machine’s consultant writers, plus access to the Structured Writing Method eLearning course for three months.

Book your early bird discount now!

When competing for large contracts, it’s sometimes not enough to have a technically excellent, credible and cost-competitive solution. Very often, organisations lose tenders simply because they are unable to articulate a clear, compelling and competitive proposition when writing the commercially significant bid and pitch documents.

Writing, then, is a critical part of any sales proposal, RFP or pitch. Good writing can, quite simply, improve an organisation’s win rate. With the right specialised training, companies can make significant improvements to the bottom line simply by improving the quality of their writing and the efficiency of their writing processes.

Created by the writers at Writing Machine Agency, the course teaches the method, and tried-and-tested specialist techniques used to provide bid writing services to companies such as BAE Systems, HP, Fujitsu, Logica, Mott MacDonald, SITA, Thales, and QinetiQ.

Ideal for those who work on critical, ‘must-win’ tender documents, Writing for Bids is based on our unique Structured Writing Method for bids.

It includes seven hours of virtual classroom sessions plus access to our second-generation eLearning. The course is delivered over two half-day sessions on consecutive weeks.

These are the modules that will be covered by the blended virtual classroom course. The emphasis of the virtual classroom sessions is typically adapted to suit the needs of the group.

Session 1 (3 ½ hours)

  • An introduction to the Structured Writing Method
  • Objective setting and bid requirements analysis
  • Advanced messaging for bids
  • Messaging for executive summaries
  • Messaging for complex bid questions
  • Structuring
  • Structuring for executive summaries
  • Structuring for complex bid questions
  • Better teamwork with storyboarding

Consolidation of learning and ‘Thinking Ahead’

There is a gap of a week between each session. Please be aware that you will be asked to use the eLearning to consolidate your learning and complete any lessons not fully covered in the first virtual classroom session. You will also be given eLearning tasks to ‘think ahead’ towards the second session which is dedicated to crafting.

Session 2 (3 ½ hours)

  • Writing for skim readers
  • Engaging your readers
  • Writing with clarity
  • Writing with authority
  • Grammar and punctuation
  • Proofreading

In addition, you get three months access to the Structured Writing Method for bids eLearning materials.

You will be taught a variety of techniques and processes to follow in order to write bid documents that are clearer, more concise, compelling and competitive. By teaching an effective and unique writing process, the course will help you become much more productive. On completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • Implement an effective writing process
    making bid creation more efficient, and leading to better quality tender documents
  • Identify key messages from existing source material
    to speed up the transition from subject matter to sales bid
  • Formulate sophisticated, highly competitive messages
    whether for executive summaries or when answering complex bid questions
  • Effectively plan and structure lengthy bid and pitch documents
    using structured writing techniques and Microsoft Word’s Outline View functionality to ease the stress of managing document creation
  • Rapidly structure executive summaries
    using the messaging and Microsoft Word’s Outline View
  • Successfully answer complex bid questions
    to optimise scoring
  • Use storyboards to improve writing efficiency
    by enabling editorial ideas to be captured, negotiated and agreed before writing starts
  • Use writing embellishments effectively
    to make the writing clearer, more concise and interesting
  • Improve the quality of writing across the tender document
    to make bids and pitches more professional in appearance and easier to skim-read
  • Proofread your writing
    to ensure your bid documents are free from typos, grammar and punctuation mistakes

Writing for Bids costs £675 + VAT per person.

The course is taught over two half-day sessions on consecutive weeks. The price includes seven hours virtual classroom learning with one of Writing Machine’s consultant writers, plus access to the advanced Structured Writing Method for Bids eLearning course for three months.

Book your early bird discount now!

Training for teams

We are able to offer a more customised course and special team discounts.

If you have a group of 10 or more people to train, please contact us directly.

Tel: +44 (0)1962 841250

Email: hello@writingmachine.com 

 

What our clients say

‘The course made me aware of how easy it is to make mistakes.’

EY delegate

‘I will use the structuring every day.’

Advanced Delegate

‘The Writing for bids course was spot on. People left the training with real skills and techniques that they could implement immediately, on a day-to-day basis. I’m very confident that our writers now have the foundation they need to produce clearer, punchier documents.’

Andy Sampson, Senior Bid Manager, NATS

‘Writing Machine’s Structured Writing Method has not only improved the way we write our reports, it has also changed the way we think as a business.’

Senior Manager, Leadership, Management and Talent Development, Principality Building Society

‘I’m sure that the course will help me produce better quality, more engaging documents and challenge the status quo around content headings.’

Hewlett Packard Delegate

‘The team has absorbed many valuable skills and techniques for creating and communicating clear and concise messages in their writing with greater confi dence. The interactive eLearning format is great. It lets each participant proceed at their own pace and the ability to re-visit course modules over weeks and months is a useful tool for reinforcing and refreshing the learning experience.’

Special Advisor, Indra Navia AS

“The training provided some great insights for the team who were inspired to put the learning straight into action.”

Jodie Yates, Strategic Development Manager, CBRE Global Workplace Solutions

‘My writing will totally change.’

Deloitte delegate

‘I have a clearer idea how to adapt sentences to ensure the messaging is clear.’

AXA delegate

‘[The Structured Writing Method] will help me improve the way I structure my documents, which will also improve my efficiency and the time spent working on them.’

Critical Software delegate

‘I thought I was OK at writing, I know now that I can improve a lot!’

Principality Building Society delegate

‘I feel much more confident when starting to write now – I won’t dread it like I used to!’

Mitchells & Butler delegate

‘It will make me question everything I write… Is it necessary? Is it clear?’

Adelphi delegate

‘I feel more confi dent with my writing and starting with a blank page.’

Electrolux delegate

‘I will think more about structure and headings to bring out key messages and themes.’

Deloitte delegate

‘[I would recommend this course for]… new joiners.’

DLA Piper delegate

‘[I would recommend this course for …] ‘… anyone who writes.’

Principality Building Society delegate

‘I think the course will help my communications to be clearer and more succinct.’

Lloyds Banking Group delegate

‘This course will improve my writing greatly and give me confidence in the future.’

Brand Rexcruitment delegate

The training benefits of our blended virtual classroom model

Spacing

There are some important benefits associated with learning over a period of time. This will give you opportunity to take on board the content, and to start putting it into practice between virtual classroom lessons.

Priming

Our virtual blended classroom courses feature ‘Thinking Ahead’ insight videos from our eLearning to prepare you for active learning. Priming such as this has been shown to significantly increase knowledge retention.

Active learning

Our virtual classroom sessions feature breakout sessions, activities and class discussion to ensure that you are not sitting passively but are genuinely engaging with the material. The virtual classroom sessions are recorded and uploaded to your portal which means that if you are unable to attend a session you won’t miss out.

Consolidation

Following the classroom sessions, you will consolidate the learning in your own time by completing corresponding eLearning lessons. An Apple IOS or Android app means that you can go through this material on a smartphone or tablet as well as a laptop or desktop computer.

Read more

What is the Structured Writing Method?

More than 25 years ago, Writing Machine formally developed the Structured Writing Method. Since then, all of our writers have used the method, which is designed to turn the act of writing into a scientific approach that guarantees a high quality result, first time. However – and this is important – it’s not just for copywriters.

Read more

Five surprising ways the Structured Writing Method can improve your working life

Writing is always amongst the most important skills that many people want to improve. What is not often realised is the clear link between structured writing and skills such as researching, complex problem-solving, and teamwork. Even more surprising, perhaps, is the extent to which structured writing can improve productivity and, for pre-sales or bid writers, even the bottom line.

Read more

Blended virtual classroom: the 'new normal' for skills training?

In recent weeks corporate training has become virtual. Paul Ayling, Writing Machine’s CEO,  considers the longer term and wonders whether virtual blended classroom training, which combines virtual classroom sessions with eLearning materials, will become established as the new default for skills training.
Read more

Book before September 10th and get your 15% discount!

Please fill in this form and we will be in touch very shortly.

Thank you for your interest!

+44 (0)1962 841250 | hello@writingmachine.com