THE ALL-NEW TENDER CONSULTANTS!

Posted on 30th January 201810th January 2022 by John Hudson

THE ALL-NEW TENDER CONSULTANTS!

We feel that the time has come to restructure our current provision and are proud to offer you some brand-new services. These will not only make tendering a whole lot easier in your sector but will help maximise your success at securing those all-important contract opportunities. This is the all-new and improved TENDER CONSULTANTS service.

Our Growth Director/Founder, Jill Hudson, stated “since inception we have been continually assessing our customer’s needs and have developed various platforms where customers receive daily contract opportunity bulletins that are specific to their service sector. As a forward thinking and rapidly-growing company, we don’t ONLY want to support our customers with sourcing relevant and interesting opportunities, but help them through the next stages in order to turn that interest into a WIN!”

Jill has over 16-years’ experience managing a range of tenders across a whole load of industries. She is joined by our new Procurement/Content Manager, Dan, who has built his early career helping multiple SMEs and large corporations with ongoing tender writing and procurement support.

Dan said “after carefully analysing the core customers across our industry-platforms, we have created multiple services that are beneficial to all. No matter the work. No matter the sector. We have got you covered!”

Our NEW provision includes:

TENDER READY – HELPING YOU PREPARE

Our 4 WEEK programme allows us to cover all the basics of procurement and create tender-specific content for your business in order to prepare you for the world of tendering.

TENDER IMPROVEMENT – HELPING YOU TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Our 2 WEEK programme is all about focusing on what you’re currently doing and making sure we implement the necessary improvements that will allow your tendering approach to become more refined and successful!

TENDER WRITING – HELPING YOU FILL THE SKILLS GAP

Due to common requests we’ve had from customers, we’ve launched a Tender Writing service. Mainly for those businesses who are incredibly busy but understand the importance of constant development, as well as those who simply can’t seem to make any progress and see any success from their efforts.

TENDER MENTOR – HELPING YOU TO THE FINISH LINE

Our Tender Mentor service will allow you to tackle that all-important tender and receive professional and constructive feedback from our procurement specialists. This is a bespoke service starting at incredibly low rates to guide and review them all-important tenders prior to submission.

TENDER VLE – HELPING YOU UNDERSTAND

COMING SOON IN MAY 2018
This will include a video-based e-learning platform that allows YOU to get up to speed with how tendering works. And how YOU can maximise contract opportunities by developing knowledge further in this field. It’s more important now than ever to develop a skillset around procurement-based products and approaches. TENDER VLE is here to help you do just that!

TENDER BANK – HELPING YOU ORGANISE

COMING SOON IN 2019
Those who tender will know how time-consuming it can be. TENDER BANK will reduce this time considerably by creating a central place to save tender related information in an organised fashion. This will see an innovative tool which allows for tender documents to be created online. It will ensure you don’t miss any important aspect that could be hindering your tendering success.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

GET IN TOUCH TODAY IF YOU WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR TENDERING EFFORTS!

WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU SUCCEED!

WE SOURCE CREATIVE CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES FOR SECTORS INCLUDING;

Book a free live demo with Creative Tenders to see how we can help your business grow.

Tendering doesn’t need to be complicated!

Posted on 25th January 201826th January 2022 by John Hudson

Tendering doesn’t need to be complicated

We’ll repeat … TENDERING DOES NOT NEED TO BE COMPLICATED!

There are so many factors to why people assume tendering is overly-complicated. This is usually down to the amount of time it takes to complete and how mundane the process is. Yes – there may be 5000 pages of specification but hey … who doesn’t love a bit of light reading!

The three things you MUST possess when tendering is PERSISTENCE, PLANNING & POSITIVITY!

Let’s get past the moaning and downtrodden attitude to how ‘complicated’ tendering is and break the process down to show how easy it actually is!

Please see our previous blog ‘the complicated tender process’ detailing a summary of the general tender process for added guidance.

In order to de-complicate the situation – let’s look at a few things that are deemed complicated when tendering. This includes:

1. Terminology

The number of abbreviations flying around is becoming increasingly common in the procurement world. Terms like RFQs, ITTs, PQQs, DPS, and RFPs seems like they are only used to confuse us into a state of literary decline. Let’s simplify:

PQQ	Pre-qualification questionnaire – this is usually a stage-1 questionnaire asking about specific company details like insurance and similar contracts you’ve worked on etc., along with simple ‘yes and no’ questions making sure you’re not fraudulent and you pay your taxes etc.
ITT	Invitation to Tender – we can sometimes forget out the PQQ and jump straight into an ITT, which is usually where your quality and costing ratio comes in. This is where you price the job at hand and answer several technical questions about your ability to undergo the work in accordance with usually detailed specification/scopes of work.
RFP	Request for Proposal – very similar to an ITT where cost and quality are assessed however RFPs are used in situations where the client either can’t – or doesn’t want to – define the scope of work up front to an adequate level of detail, meaning you need to be very descriptive and state a clear proposal to what’s needed.
RFQ	Request for Quotation – The RFQ is a lot like the Tender, however typically smaller in size and scope. They’re often more geared towards clients who are seeking pricing information for a defined scope of work or supply of materials or equipment. Detailed proposals are typically less often sought here.
Framework	A Framework Agreement is an agreement between one or more businesses or organisations. If you enter into a framework agreement, usually you will be one of many suppliers contractually bound to deliver against buyer requirements.
DPS	Dynamic Purchasing System – A DPS is similar to an electronic framework agreement, with two exceptions, new suppliers can join at any time and it is to be run as a completely electronic process. DPS is used exclusively by public sector organisations and can be considered as a ‘competitive supply chain’, where all chosen supply chain members regularly compete for work via ITTs and RFQs.

2. Opportunities

These are extremely broad with hundreds upon hundreds of opportunities released daily! Customers tend to wish to have one main platform to source the most relevant opportunities to grow their business. Wouldn’t that be great? Currently, opportunities are typically shared through typically problematic electronic algorithms across multiple platforms, either showing you irrelevant opportunities or no opportunities at all.

Keeping it simple – sign up with our industry-specific portals via Tender Connect to receive daily opportunities, sourced from the hundreds of UK tender portals. These are manually searched and published on a daily basis by a team of procurement-based staff, not computers. We are the first company to do this and the feedback we have is out of this world

3. Portals

There are thousands of online platforms, websites and communication systems that are evident across UK procurement. Some portals are outdated, complex and an all-around pain to navigate. Our team have used them all! Just make sure you know your key focus areas and process-knowledge for each website – these are working your way around:

Downloading all tender information;
Asking/monitoring clarification questions from other suppliers/the buyer;
Submitting the tender;

Every website should have a ‘help’ section – don’t be afraid to use it and/or contact the people who run it.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was one platform for everything? For every industry? For every buyer? WATCH THIS SPACE– we are working with national professionals to work on a user-friendly, affordable and globally accessible platform to condense UK procurement in a one-stop-shop fashion.

4. Writing

Not everyone can write in an engaging, concise and straightforward manner. It’s easy telling people what you do, but to put that on paper in a professional way, covering set criteria, is a major hassle for a lot of business developers. Don’t get stressed with it. Just remember 3 key focus areas when writing a response to any question:

WHAT: what you have done or what you are going to do?
HOW: how you have done this (methodology) or how you are going to do it?
EVIDENCE: hard-hitting proof that you have done it before- experience/ evidence is key!

We offer Bid Writing services, using our procurement experts with over 25 combined years’ experience of writing tenders. Check us out – Tender Consultants.

5. Losing

What is the point of spending all this time on a bid for it to lose and you to go back hating the process, hating the tender and subsequently hating life itself! Don’t fret – USE THE FEEDBACK! If you didn’t win the work because you lack ISO accreditations (for e.g.)– you know what to do! As part of our provision at Tender Consultants, we have a tender readiness programme that you can use to make sure you maintain a good chance of securing key pieces of work.

All procurement-based processes that most people find difficult/complicated are exactly that because of the lack of understanding of key tender-management processes. We will be launching a FREE training environment (Tender VLE) in May 2018, which focuses on everything tender and procurement based, including profound topics that will completely eradicate the notion that tendering and procurement is complicated.

Let’s leave them procurement pains behind!

We’re here to help you grow, develop and standout!

Why choose Creative Tenders?

Posted on 4th October 201626th January 2022 by John Hudson

Why choose Creative Tenders?

Mr Tenders vs Mrs Finder

Our system is used by two types of customers, creative agencies and freelancers looking for new business opportunities. Business owners and marketing managers looking to source creative partners will also benefit from Creative Tenders.

How can we help your business grow you might ask? By using Creative Tenders (for agencies and freelancers) or by using Creative Finder (to source creative partners).

Here’s how….

Mr Tenders vs Mrs Finder

Mr Tenders will…

Source creative only tenders, minimising the time needed to search for tenders
Work with his team who has decades of creative sector experience
Provide a time saving solution for business development teams
Provide a dedicated account manager to make sure you don’t miss out
Set up cold calling campaigns to generate unique opportunities for our subscribers
Grow his team who are currently operating UK wide with a clear international strategy
Create an ideal solution that works for both growing UK agencies and freelancers

Mrs Finder will…

Give you access to our ‘free to use’ system for unlimited invitation to quotes
Help you write your creative and digital specifications
Ensure your opportunities are seen by hundreds of relevant freelancers and agencies
Take the legwork out of securing competitive quotes
Ensure our system is an easy to use online solution
Allow agencies to respond via our system, reducing the amount of emails you receive
Provide you with a dedicated account manager with over 10 years’ industry experience

Don’t waste your valuable time searching for tender opportunities and suppliers….we’ve got them all in one place. Sign up today at www.creativetenders.co.uk

Tel: 0203 051 2217

Top five reasons for tendering

Posted on 25th September 201626th January 2022 by John Hudson

Top five reasons for tendering

We’re often told by companies that we work with, that they don’t tender as it takes too long, they’re never successful, they don’t have the time…etc. etc.

Tendering is a powerful way to generate new business, so powerful in fact that many businesses use this as their sole route to winning new business. We think every business should at least try tendering.

We understand why businesses are put off from the long, in-depth process you have to follow. But, spending the time upfront to learn how to tender could be vital to the success and growth of your service based business.

Our Growth Director, Jill has been winning work via bid writing for well over a decade, and she is sharing with you below, her top five reasons for tendering in creative and digital agencies.

1. You don’t need to sell the need for your service

Responding to tenders means businesses have already established the need for your services and have allocated a budget to carry out the work. This reduces the need for selling the benefits of the services, and establishing the benefit of investing in XYZ.

Responding to a tender means you’ve just got to prove that you’re the best fit for their business. Surely it’s worth a try? Just make sure you follow a strict process of what you will and won’t apply for.

2. The project has clear start and end dates

When tendering the client usually outlines when they would like the work to start and end, meaning you can work your studio time around this. When selling directly B2B we often have projects on hold waiting for content / imagery etc. We’re not saying this won’t happen with tendering, but your client is likely to be more prepared.

3. Budget signed off in advance

As the budget has already been allocated, you know what constraints you’re working within, allowing you to best advise your client where to allocate spend.

4. Clarifies your offering to clients

You won’t always be successful when tendering, but completing a tender document often gives you additional clarity on other areas of your business. It also teaches you how you can productise service offerings. It also allows you to benchmark your fees against what people expect to pay.

5. Research

Tendering allows you to see how businesses are spending their marketing budgets. This helps you to better understand where you should be spending your own marketing budgets and what services are the most popular. If you see an influx of social media tenders and this is an offering your business provides, read the Invitation to Tender documents. You should then align your service descriptions to ensure it is suitable for the market you’re selling into.

The most common mistakes when tendering

Posted on 19th September 201626th January 2022 by John Hudson

The most common mistakes when tendering.

Here are Creative Tenders top 6 most common mistakes when tendering for new business.

1. Not answering the question that is asked

Many companies answer a question based on what information they think the tendering company should know about their business, their processes and their experience, instead of what they’ve actually asked for. If you are being asked to submit a response to a question, double check you’ve answered what they’ve asked of you.

2. Not doing your research

Research is king! The tendering organisation will want to see that you’ve taken the time to do your homework. Your tender response will be stronger for it.

3. Not taking the time to submit your best response.

If you’re not going to give it your all, it’s pointless submitting a bid. Someone else will put all of their company efforts into winning this work, and is it really the impression you want to leave for your business? We’ve all been there when we’ve seen the tender response 24 hours before its due, but sometimes it really is best to pass than to enter a response that isn’t your best work.

4. Missing the deadline, but sending it anyway.

This shows lack of respect for the tender process, and makes it look like you can’t / won’t achieve deadlines provided. Your tender response would be disregarded anyway, so if you’ve made a mistake and missed the deadline, don’t send in your response and use it as a learning experience.

5. Ignoring the requirements of the Invitation to Tender

Many tender documents will ask you to complete the tender documents in a specific way. Don’t ignore these requests. If the Invitation to Tender asks for you to submit your response using their pre-defined questionnaire, don’t ignore this, use it. The client may fail your response for not following the guidelines provided.

6.Bidding for absolutely everything

So many businesses make the mistake of tendering for absolutely every piece for work and wonder why they don’t win anything. You’re so much better off responding to five tenders extremely well, than 15 tenders quickly and rushed. Create a tender checklist that gives you an understanding of the tenders you would like to win / can deliver well, and stick to it.

Questions to ask before responding to a tender

Posted on 11th September 201626th January 2022 by John Hudson

Jill’s top seven questions to ask before responding to a tender

We all know the term ‘busy fools’! The term definitely comes into play when tendering for new business. Seeing all those tenders coming through, is like candy in a sweet shop. But, knowing that you could deliver the work well is one thing, on paper you have to sound great too.

The best tip we can give you is to create a Tender Checklist. This Tender Checklist will keep you on track when bidding for new work and should include a set of questions which are essential to knowing what to tender for, and what to walk away from.

Here are some sample questions that our Growth Director, Jill asks before submitting tenders on behalf of her clients.

1. Do you have 3 strong case studies from the industry you want to work in?

Most tenders require sector specific experience, and usually require a minimum of three case studies. Think carefully before submitting a response if you’re struggling to get the right level of experience from your bank of case studies.

2. Do you have a solid foundation of experience, developing systems or creating visuals that are similar to those in the Invitation to Tender?

Look at the work you’ve done in the last three years and ask yourself, ‘is it relevant to the business project?’ If it isn’t it’s unlikely you’ll be successful, as another bidding organisation will specialise in this area and will be able to produce a winning submission.

3. Is the tender more than half of your annual turnover?

It’s hard to know the cut off point for organisations when bid writing for work, but the general rule of thumb is that you are unlikely to win any projects as an SME that are more than 50% of your turnover.

4. Do you meet the terms of the tender i.e. three years required accounts?

If you’ve only been trading for 2 years but it is an essential requirement of the tender to have a minimum of 3 years. Disregard the tender and don’t give it another thought.

5.How strong is your teams experience against what they’re asking for?

Think of your current and previous experience, if the management team are strong, with a proven track record, you could have a strong chance of winning the work.

6. Can you meet the deadlines required for the project?

Think about the size of your team and the number of man hours needed to complete the work. If it looks like 100% of your team will be working on the project 100% of the time, you’re unlikely to win it, it’s too risky for the client to give you the work.

7. Is it possible to make a profit, based on the budget allocated?

Many organisations bid for work not thinking of the profit margins should they win the work. Look at the man hours needed for the project, and add 20%. If you’re still making a decent profit, go ahead and submit the response.