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Can we have your feedback on how you currently tender for new business?

Posted on by John Hudson

Can we have your feedback on how you currently tender for new business?

Before we started developing our product we took a selection of creative agencies feedback on the systems they use and how they tender for work. This ranged quite a bit but a few usual culprits appeared. Usually the ones that people knew about were from their local authorities, but there are so many opportunities out there, you just need to be able to find them.

If we understand how people currently tender, we will be able to improve our tendering system. We believe Creative Tenders should be a constantly evolving product and we believe with more ideas up our sleeve that we can change the way business is done globally – a big statement to live up to, right?

So which tendering websites do you use? Do you pay for tendering access or do you only use the free websites that you have found by accident as and when they appear?

What do you like about these tendering sites? Do you find any of them particularly easy or hard to use? If so we need to know, we need to make sure that our system is the best on the market. As we only have sector relevant tenders and we are industry experts, we know with the right feedback from our clients we can create a system that will have huge impact on the sector, and a huge impact on each and every one of our clients businesses.

If you want to send us your feedback so that we can shape a system that is right for you and your business, email Jill on jill@creativetenders.co.uk.

What percentage of your work comes from tendering?

Posted on by John Hudson

What percentage of your work comes from tendering?  Do you think you maximise this sales channel?

After me moaning last week about what people find difficult about tendering for the creative sector, I thought I best discuss something a little more lighthearted. Success rates!

As I have worked in all size agencies in my career, tendering success rates have been different. Mainly because there was no standard format in place, they were usually rushed due to studio time not being available and sometimes winging it a little with the hope that we might be in with a chance.

If I look at the most recent agency I supported, we can see that around 50% of the overall business we won came from public tendering, which for an agency of only 5 people is quite high.

Design is a very personal thing

Obviously it helped that I know how to write bids and more importantly how to write a winning tender so our success rate stood at about 80% for those projects we did bid for, but we never included creative artwork. This is a bugbear of mine. How can we actually develop creative material when we haven’t even met the client, haven’t discussed the brief properly, don’t really understand their client base or even their core objectives. Design is a very personal thing and we don’t believe that a tender should be put to one side based on a tiny fraction of the information provided.

Many people probably don’t maximise tendering as a channel to winning new business because of the studio time needed to produce the tender. I am pleased to say though that fewer tenders these days actually ask for artwork to be created, something we will also advise for those clients we work with on Creative Finder.

We’ve all sorts of standard templates to help our clients be more successful with tendering, one being a tender checklist, if you don’t tick all the boxes, don’t waste the time submitting the tender. Be ruthless.

If you want to access the standard documents we have in place, or even want me to take a look at one of your tenders, send it over, we are happy to help.

Sign up for a free demo of Creative Tenders and review the following opportunities:

Event Tenders

Website Tenders

Printing Tenders

Video Production Tenders & many more.

 

 

Struggling to find the right supplier for your marketing project?

Posted on by John Hudson

Struggling to find the right creative supplier for your marketing project? 

Finding the right creative supplier for your business is extremely important. From research into the businesses that use Creative Finder we have been informed that they use our service for multiple reasons:

  1. They wouldn’t know who to contact, or who the best in their region are?
  2. They don’t know how to approach agencies or if they are getting a good price?
  3. They don’t know how to specify what they are looking for and don’t want agencies to take them in a direction they don’t think they need / want
  4. They want to obtain competitive quotations with the right advice and guidance
  5. They have used the same agency for years and want to see if they are getting the best deal, the best creative ideas or the best marketing approach

Creative Finder

Businesses who use Creative Finder each have their own reasons for using the service. Those who use it is either business owners, marketing managers, or senior business representatives looking for help. It is a great way to get competitive quotes and find the best agencies.

Using our system is so easy and it is 100% FREE. There is also different levels of support available:

  1. You may already have a brief and just want to upload your opportunities and start marketing it suitable agencies
  2. Or, you may be struggling to set out your exact requirements and need help writing a specification

Whatever category you fall into, we can help and its 100% free. Our marketing experts have 15 years experience in the industry so helping you specify your needs is second nature to us, giving you the confidence that we know what we are doing and you will be asking for your exact needs, allowing you to get like for like quotations.

If you wan to chat further about Creative Finder, contact Jill by email at jill@creativetenders.co.uk and she will call at a convenient time to discuss your needs further.

 

What do you find difficult about creative sector tendering?

Posted on by John Hudson

Creative sector tendering, what do you find difficult about it?

As you’ve probably guessed by now we want to see the creative sector in the UK grow, and we believe we can help. Each week we will launch an open discussion and your feedback counts. The more feedback we get from these discussions, the better our system becomes. Simple!

So. Today we are asking what you find difficult about creative sector tendering.

I have worked in the sector for 16 years now and the tendering process has changed somewhat, but the basic principles have remained the same. The hardest thing I have found is the sheer volume of different websites I have to check weekly just to ensure I have not missed any opportunities. How many do I actually check, you may ask? Currently it stands at 1,017. Yep you heard it right. Over 1,000 sites weekly and boy is it boring and time consuming, and definitely a task which needs to be done on an evening in front of the TV as I don’t actually have time during my working day.

Creative sector tendering

The worst thing, over 50% may not even have a single tender on the site, but I have to check them just in case anything is missed. Seriously, who actually has time to do this? Yes I could give it to a junior to do but I would be worried they wouldn’t pick up on all of the opportunities and the search functions can’t be relied on, as they don’t always work. It doesn’t help by the fact that around 75% of public tenders have been categorised incorrectly.

So, help us please understand what it is you don’t like about creative sector tendering and we will ensure our system provides you with a much improved system, a one that will take away your bug bears and make your life easier.

Sign up for a free demo of Creative Tenders and review the following opportunities:

Event Tenders

Website Tenders

Printing Tenders

Video Production Tenders & many more.

 

 

Struggling to win website tenders?

Posted on by John Hudson

Struggling to win website tenders?  Would you like us to provide feedback on your website tender submission?

Are you struggling to win public tenders, or even be shortlisted when submitting proposals? Isn’t it annoying?

We have produced a blog previously about the importance of gathering feedback, but some feedback isn’t actually that helpful. For example, the client may say – cost. Well that’s helpful isn’t it?

Tender writing is an art form.

Tender writing is an art form. Once you’ve got a formula that works for you, you’re onto a winner. No, that doesn’t mean you will win everything you go for, but it does mean that you are presenting your business in the best possible light, answering the questions that are asked of you, rather than telling them information you believe to be important and sometimes realising that less is more.

For those of you struggling to win bids, it’s sometimes good to get an outside perspective. This is what we launched Creative Growth. We work with creative agencies to help them become bid ready. We can usually see from an initial tender review where you might be going wrong and we can help you to reduce the number of common mistakes you ate making.

Free tender review service.

Throughout the next 12 weeks, Creative Growth is offering member companies of Creative Tenders access to a free tender review service. We will critique one of your recent tenders that has not been successful and provider pointers for improved success. What’s not to love about this?

If you would like us to critique one of your tenders, you need to send us the ITT in full (including all of the supporting documents) and your response (in full, including appendices). Once we have this we will get our review complete with 14 days and offer a telephone advice session about what you need to be to be 100% tender ready.

Please send all documents including the reference GROWTH21 to jill@creativetenders.co.uk.

 

Sign up for a free demo of Creative Tenders and review the following opportunities:

Event Tenders

Website Tenders

Printing Tenders

Video Production Tenders & many more.

 

 

The complicated tender process

Posted on by John Hudson

The complicated tender process

The tender process can be daunting. However, it is less complicated than many people think it is and many creative and digital SMEs are losing out on potential clients because they shy away from the tender process.
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Why should SMEs tender for work through digital marketplace?

Posted on by John Hudson

Why should SMEs tender for work through digital marketplace?

As an experienced writer of tenders for a variety of SMEs, I have asked myself whilst writing tenders and racking my brains for a synonym for ‘experience’ – should SMEs tender for work?
Continue reading “Why should SMEs tender for work through digital marketplace?”

Key factors of writing a winning tender

Posted on by John Hudson

Key factors of writing a winning tender

Writing bids may be a laborious task. I have written so many over the course of my career and on occasion I have been fed up with them.
Continue reading “Key factors of writing a winning tender”

The importance of receiving tender / proposal feedback on Graphic Design Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

The importance of receiving tender / proposal feedback on Graphic Design Tenders

It’s disappointment when we receive the unwanted email from those companies we have tendered for, and sometimes more than others. But why is this?
Continue reading “The importance of receiving tender / proposal feedback on Graphic Design Tenders”