When responding to open tendering opportunities in the public sector, businesses must make deliberate decisions. You and your team will need to dedicate significant resources to make them work. But the return may be pushing your business into the big leagues, providing a continuous stream of cash for years to come.
However, SMEs sometimes don't know where to begin, and the entire tender process can be frightening or stressful for them. So, we've put together the top six suggestions to help your business get more contracts.
- Clearly State Your Product or Service
Owners of businesses frequently show up to submit bids with the claim that they want to win a cleaning, security, construction, etc. tender. This is a good place to start because it identifies the sector in which your company operates.
You should be more explicit about the services you provide, though, to improve your chances of winning. There are several tender opportunities, and your response is more likely to get a high score if your services match the buyer's needs well.
- Explore Current Bid Openings
Even if you aren't quite ready to submit a proposal just yet, looking at what is already available will give you an idea of what the public sector organizations are searching for and what their procurement teams are purchasing. The more market knowledge you have, the easier it is to plan how to generate sales.
When you find some interesting bid opportunities, go to the right portal to get all the information you need, including the bid specification.
- Examine Local Bids in Your Area
You can see who has been successful in the past by looking at the awarded tenders, also called "contract award notices." Notices of contract awards tell you useful things about the winning bidder and the type and size of the contract won.
If you know who your competitors are and where they have won awards, your competitor analysis will be stronger. It's a great way to boost your business confidence to think, "We could do a better job than them, and look at the size of the contract they just won!"
If you see that bigger companies are winning contracts that include your services, you could ask them to give you the new work. For example, a contract for a recruitment-managed service provider might include a list of the subcontractors and suppliers that the company likes best.
This is a great way to get more experience and solid case studies for when you are ready to tender yourself.
- Assess Your Business’s Position and Needs for Tender Success
You should take the time to get "tender-ready" now that you are more knowledgeable about what you are offering and the market you are in. Businesses might be tempted to start bidding right away, but waiting until you have all your "ducks in a row" will save you time and money in the long run. Important things to think about are your case studies, financial security, systems, procedures, rules, and accreditations.
- Determine the Members of the Tendering Team
If you have a small business, it might just be you. But if you have a bigger team, you'll want to organize the work in the best way possible to make sure you submit the best bid.
This could mean that the work needs to be split between the core disciplines. Even if you decide to hire a company to write the bids for you instead of doing it yourself, it's important to define this core team so that subject matter experts can be asked questions about their knowledge and experience in their fields.
Now is the time to start looking if you want to engage a group of professionals to assist you in writing a bid. It's important to give yourself enough time to find the right company and to give the company you choose enough time to do the necessary background research before getting into the details of each answer.
- Track Open Bids and Decide Whether or Not to Bid
When you're prepared to begin looking for tender chances, you must decide how you'll keep track of them and quickly decide whether to pursue them. You don't want to leave this up to chance and wait until the ideal moment to deliver a response that accurately represents your bid.
With a tender notification service, you can see all the available chances in one location and search and organize them according to your needs.
Final Thoughts
It can be tricky to decide how to respond to tender opportunities in the public sector. If you follow these six steps, you'll be in a good place and ready to start your journey with tendering on the right foot.
Visit Telco Build to get more ideas on your tendering journey in the telecom industry.