How SMB Willems uses TenderRender for public tenders
SMB Willems is a cleaning company based in Arnhem, founded in 1971. The family business employs over 800 people and serves clients across South-East Netherlands, from municipalities and healthcare institutions to housing associations and business service providers. Commercial Manager Niels Staverman is responsible for public tenders. SMB Willems submits an average of ten per year and uses TenderRender throughout.
From gathering to refining
With ten tenders per year, SMB Willems has built up a rich history of strong submissions. But it was precisely that history which made the process time-consuming. Good texts already existed, but they were scattered across previous tenders. Every new submission began with gathering usable passages before the real work could start.
"The biggest issue was really that we had to start from scratch every time," says Staverman. "Collecting good texts from previous tenders took a lot of time, and then of course you'd start fine-tuning."
TenderRender changed that workflow. The platform composes a base text from previously submitted tenders, largely eliminating the need to manually search through old documents. The team now starts with an initial version built from previously used passages and can move straight to what matters: sharpening the content for the specific request.
"You already have the foundation, with good texts from previous tenders. And you can start fine-tuning sooner," says Staverman. "You actually have more time to make something great."
50% time savings on writing
This shift from gathering to refining has a direct impact on turnaround time. Staverman estimates that writing now takes about half the time compared to the old process. The savings are entirely in the preparation phase. Fine-tuning itself takes the same amount of time as before, but the team simply gets to it sooner.
Asked about the feature with the most impact, Staverman is clear: "Just the writing, really. Laying down the foundation. And from there we start fine-tuning."
Because SMB Willems has an extensive history of previous submissions, the output also matches their own writing style. "It picks that up well," says Staverman. "We obviously have quite a lot of history. And yes, it takes that into account." The team needn't substantially adjust the texts in terms of tone or word choice.
Quality improvement through the review feature
In addition to writing, Staverman uses the review feature, which analyses submissions and suggests improvements. The base quality of the writing is already good enough for SMB Willems. Where the review feature adds value is in sharpening the final result. The suggestions touch on points that might be overlooked during an internal review.
"I think the review feature is really good," says Staverman. "It makes the story stronger. Good questions come out of it and good suggestions for improvement."
Asked whether he would recommend TenderRender to colleagues, Staverman doesn't need long to think. "Yes, definitely."
