5 Tender Search Tips: Finding and Matching Your Best Tendering Opportunities
Finding the tenders that are right for you, can be a very time consuming activity. Tender search takes lots of time. Here are our five tips to finding tenders as well as a practical review of my tender search provider to help you find and match the tenders that are right for you.
Once you include tenders as part of your business growth strategy, it is important to find the right available opportunities that work for your business. Tender search and matching is the first step in finding these opportunities.
When you start your search, you will be amazed how many tendering opportunities are available where you can register for free.
However, signing up for every tendering opportunity quickly fills one’s inbox with daily emails. It becomes hard to keep up with all the tendering updates.
Also, you cannot find all opportunities on-line. Even these days, many organisations still advertise either on their own websites and in newspapers.
Sometimes it can feel as if you are trying to find a needle in a haystack!
Tips to Finding Tenders
Tip #1 – Time: Work out how much time you want to allow for your tender search
Work out your time and resources and align your search with it.
Analysing tenders is difficult enough.
As we all know, time is money. You do not want to be wasting time especially in a competitive industry.
Tip #2 – Finding Opportunities: Cast your tender search net wide
You cast your tender search net wide until you know where you want to focus your attention or whether tendering is really best for your business.
Tip #3 – Signing up: Be careful not to sign away your life
Be careful not to sign away your life or pay the proverbial “arm and a leg”. Many tender search companies will convince you to sign up for a minimum of 12 months. Once you have signed up, you cannot get out of your subscription until your sign-up period is done.
Read More:
5 Benefits of Business Planning – Planning your Roadmap to Success
Furthermore beware the agents that try and force to make an immediate decision.
Only you can decide the best strategy for your business or what fits your budget.
Tip #4 – Market Scanning: Remember your tender search is only the first step
Online search providers are not bid writers/tender writers. They find the opportunity and make sure that it gets into your inbox as soon as it becomes available.
Finding tenders is the first initial step to your tendering process. The next step will be for you to register your interest and then prepare your submission or outsource your tender writing.
Tender search companies provide the first stepping stone in your search and they do the market scanning for you.
Why do market scanning?
- Before you respond to tenders, you need to identify available opportunities and markets.
- It is important to ensure you can quickly identify the most appropriate sources of tender information.
- Knowing what opportunities are available can provide a huge advantage over your competitors.
Tip #5 – Price: Understand Value for Money
Value for Money is so much more than just the price. But price makes a difference.
When you decide to outsource your tender searches, you want to be assured that:
- you are paying the best market price that will get you the right opportunities; and
- thus you will have a good chance of returning value on your monthly or annual investment.
Outsourcing tender searching, provide you the opportunity to find you tender opportunities in a time effective manner. You get access to tendering opportunities that that you cannot otherwise find unless you spend a lot of time doing your own paper based and online searching.
Using a tender search provider should allow you an opportunity to explore the market and to work out whether tendering is part of your business growth strategy.
Tips for Finding Tenders: Using a provider such as Australian Tenders
Ichiban Commercial Solutions uses Australian Tenders – real people, providing a personable, friendly and very professional service.
Australian Tenders adds value to my business and supports my business strategy for growth.
Using our five tips for finding tenders, this is how we find my tender search opportunities through my tender search provider:
Tip #1: Time
Australian Tenders save me lots of time as they have the resources, tools and technology available to source, search and aggregate tenders in one simple to use location.
In conjunction with Australian Tenders, I set my search criteria and now find the right emails pop into my inbox when the right tender opportunity arrives. In my line of service, tenders can be hidden in various places and Australian Tenders do the hard work for me, saving me valuable time.
It is very easy to set up your tendering profile with Australian Tenders.
Tip #2: Finding tender opportunities
Australian Tenders source tenders from all different sources (Government/Councils and Private tenders from local newspapers to online dedicated tender portals). They are great tendering aggregators, combining all tenders in one easy location.
Therefore, you know that the right opportunities will find their way into your inbox.
They have a 24/7 online search capability and research tender from Monday to Saturday, often sending notices through even before they appear online. They make daily updates to their website.
Tip #3: Signing Up Flexibility
One of the reasons why I often tell people about Australian Tenders, is because they do not sign you up for a lifetime. They do not place pressure on you to sign up on the spot either.
Their sign up period and payment periods are short and you do not have to sign up for a year.
For example, if you have a seasonal requirement, you can choose not to sign up for a particular quarter. It also works well when you want to spread your wings and work out if tenders are for you.
I have experienced with some of my clients who tried to cancel their 12 month contract, that they have gone through a world of pain and could not escape the arm and leg situation. They had to pay for the full 12 month contract.
A shorter term commitment allows you the flexibility to be in the game or not without losing an arm and a leg.
Australian Tenders certainly provide you that flexibility.
Tip #4: Market Scanning
Tender search providers are not tender/bid writers. They:
- provide the first step in finding tender opportunities.
- do the market scanning for you.
- match your business with the right opportunities.
You have to take the next step, register your interest in the tender and submit a response.
Not only do my search provider do the market scanning for you but they also provide full access to all tenders, subcontracts and awarded contract information.
It gives you the opportunity to work out:
- who your competitors are,
- what types of contracts are awarded and
- at what contract price.
Tip #5: Value for Money
Searching for tenders is only the first step in the process of finding the right business opportunities.
The cost of outsourcing your tender searches, thus have to be reasonable and provide you with value for money.
I looked at a number of tender search providers before signing up – I found the other tender search providers:
- often are substantially more expensive,
- provide the same information, if not less and
- frequently require a longer sign up period.
I can furthermore easily change my search criteria. When I get stuck on anything, I call Australian Tenders and they provide a friendly, personable and professional service.
Using my 10X return on investment philosophy
I only really need to win one small tender per year to justify the return on investment.
How easy is that?
Your tender search provider must therefore save you from having to feel as if I have to find a needle in a haystack!
Or even better, when you do look for that needle in a haystack opportunity, they have the systems, resources and technology to find it!
Do you have questions about our tips for finding tenders or bid writing/tender writing?
Please feel free to contact us for more information or assistance with finding the right tenders.
We provide an 15 minute free consultation (phone/Zoom) with more handy tips on finding tenders. To book your free consultation, please contact us.
