UKNM: Wasting Time on Tenders (2)

[Ramona Liberoff]

One of the biggest problems for UK Netmarketing/consultancy/design companies is 

the time and resource taken up by pitches-and it's particularly galling if the 

pitch is an excuse to waste your time and energy without an intention to buy.


But you can do something-and not just the idea of charging pitch fees (although 

it would be great if the market accepted the need for them...)


Two questions to ask when receiving a tender:


(a) Does the client already have an existing or strong relationship with one of 

your competitors?  Does their ad agency have an interactive division?  Takes 

just a few questions and can give you some sense of a competitive playing field.


(b) Is this work that you're well-positioned to get?  Everyone's anxious and 

keen on maximising income coming in, but better to focus on the things that you 

feel you have the best skills to get or the best likelihood of getting than to 

waste resource on expensive research, development, and pitching time.


Rule of thumb-look at the pitches you've been on, and if you've won about 1:3, 

you're doing well-to get it to 1:2 you might actually have to turn pitches away,

counterintuitive thought it might seem...


Thanks for the chance to get my tuppence in...



Ramona Liberoff

Executive Consultant

KPMG ICE Consulting

1 Puddle Dock, Blackfriars

London EC4V 3PD

0171 311 3457