KnowledgePrivate tender
After sending: how to follow up a proposal, and learn from losing
In a European public tender, once you submit you wait for the result. In a private tender a second round starts there. The client may talk to you, you can add information and you can show how much you want the work. Waiting quietly leaves that room to someone else.
Written by the Atvalio editorial team: people who spent years bidding on tenders themselves. About us
Follow up fast
In a private tender there are no fixed rules for contact after sending. That is your chance. A client who hears from you while the other suppliers stay silent remembers it.
- Straight away: did it arrive?A short message or call on the day you send it. Did everything arrive, can the client open everything?
- Right then: a next meetingIn the same conversation, agree when you will talk again. Do not wait until you hear nothing.
- In between: add to itSee something that would help the client, like a reference, an example or an answer to a question from the meeting? Send it. Short, and with a reason.
Agree the next meeting straight away, not once you have heard nothing.
The difference with a European public tender
- European public tenderAfter submitting, it is fixedYou may no longer add to your bid, and contact goes through set channels. What you want to say must be in it.
- Private tenderAfter sending, the conversation startsThe client may talk to you, ask questions and negotiate. Whoever handles that conversation well makes their proposal stronger.
Lost? Ask why
A company does not have to explain why it chose someone else. There is no written reasoning as with a public buyer’s award decision. But most clients are willing to tell you, if you ask well.
Be open about it. Say you want to learn, not that you disagree. Ask what the winner did better, and what you should have done differently. If you can, ask more people than your contact, for example procurement too. Who all has a say, read in the decision-making unit.
Show you want to learn, and you get an honest answer.
What you learn depends on where you finished
- Second or thirdThat is where the lesson isYou were close, and the client genuinely weighed your proposal. Then you usually get a good conversation with concrete points.
- Far behindThen you were out earlyFinish sixth or seventh, and you were often completely off and set aside quickly. The client then has little real feedback. The lesson is more likely at the start: should you have bid at all? Read bid or no bid.
HOW ATVALIO HELPS
Atvalio reminds you to follow up and keeps track of what you agreed with the client. After the result, you add the client’s feedback to your proposal. Atvalio holds it against what you wrote and, once you approve, takes the lessons into your next proposals. You stay in contact with the client yourself.
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