Capability statements are essential to any company as a great capability statement will not only encourage clients to do business with you, but it can also be incorporated into tender documents.
What exactly is a capability statement?
Contents
So, what exactly is a capability statement? In a nutshell, it’s a document that can also be referred to as a capability brochure or business capability statement. The purpose of a capability statement is to outline what you can offer potential clients.
You should always have an updated capability statement on hand so you’re able to use it for your business as soon as the need arises.
What should be considered when writing a capability statement?
Here are a few things for you to consider when you’re writing a capability statement:
- What does your business do?
- What industry do you operate in?
- What are your clients looking for?
If you’re new to writing a capability statement, there’s nothing wrong with getting some capability statements from competitors in your industry. That way, you’ll not only have a good idea of the capabilities that competitors have but also how they’re presenting that information.
While you should have a templated capability statement as a base, you’ll want to ensure that you’re tailoring your capability statement for certain clients and tender processes.
To do so, you can consider which core capabilities are of most value to the client. Make sure that you’re also having a good balance of information. You shouldn’t have too much information in your capability statement, but avoid having too little as well.
What should you include in your capability statement?
Here are a couple of points that you should incorporate in your capability statement:
- A description of the operation of your business
- A list of your business’s core capabilities along with a brief outline of each
- A list of the essential personnel in your business along with a brief outline of their core skills and expertise
- A list of key current or previous clients and examples of projects done
- A description of the products and services on offer
- Contact information
The number of pages for each of the above would differ from company to company and what you’d like to highlight or focus on more.
For example, you may only have one critical core capability that you’d like to highlight and would rather use the rest of the capability statement to highlight case studies.
Similarly, you may have more than one core capability that you’d like to focus on. In those instances, you can spend more of the capability statement talking about core capabilities and less on case studies.
Getting started with a successful capability statement
As seen from the above, there are a couple of components you’d need to take into consideration to craft a successful capability statement. If you’re not sure how to go about getting started, it’s always a good idea to have an expert assist you with your needs.
They typically have experience across multiple industries and are able to produce capability statements that deliver competitive advantage.
