By John DiPisa, Founder and CEO, Bid Desk Analytics –
A local, state government or education bid is issued and the dealer asks for your pricing on specific items. If you want that business and similar business in the future, it takes more than just quoting a low price. In fact, sometimes it’s not about the price at all, but about avoiding five frequent mistakes.
The Top 5 Reasons Manufacturers Miss Sales From Bids
- No one sent samples: If your brand is not specified on the bid, always offer to send samples directly to the bid location.
- Your brand is not pre-approved on the bid: Don’t rely on your dealer or sales rep to have your product pre-approved.
- Your product is packaged for retail sales: Check with your dealers – contract or bid packaging is very basic bulk packaging (12/box, etc.).
- Your bid pricing is not comparable to your competition: You don’t need to be the lowest price, but you need to be in the ballpark. Know your competitors.
- You don’t have a good dealer program: Bid programs, rebates and incentives are as important here as in any other marketing initiative.
The opportunities in the public sector business are great, but it’s important to know the best practices to follow to compete in this unique market. In addition, it is critical to be informed and pro-active in order to be profitable.
For more than 30 years, Bid Desk Analytics has been converting data from local and state government, k12, higher education and cooperative purchasing organizations into actionable information, making us a leading resource for Fortune 500 manufacturers’ business intelligence and predictive analytic models. Our live feed of Smart Data is filtered for each client, providing you with a customized, product-specific view, and our experienced Bid Team is there to help you act on the data and optimize opportunities. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.
