27 Nov 2017

Did you know #DYK: RFQ? Pricing? Drawings…. What?

by | posted in: Did You Know | 0

 

Picture this scenario… the phone rings…
a rather flustered voice comes through the phone..
Michelle!!! what’s this RFQ thingy…?
Who sent me this?
What must I price on?
Where can I find the Drawings…?
…. Specifications…? huh!?

     

 

These are just some of the questions I am asked on a daily basis. So let’s start from the beginning and break them down.

Leads 2 Business has an online pricing system, Leads 2 Quotes (L2Q), that is designed for Main Contractors to send out Request for quotes (RFQ’s) to suppliers and subcontractors (Vendors).

So you might be asking how is this going to bring in new business to my company? Once you receive an RFQ, you can download the drawings and specification from the Vendor home-page or RFQ mail. This will enable you to add your own terms and conditions, attachments and any important information the Contractor would need. The RFQ can be priced online and in return increases your rating on L2Q which will work in your favour when Contractors are sending out new RFQ’s as your company will be ranked higher.

 

We provide you with the Contractors details, so if you have any of those important questions about a specific section in the bill you will already have all the tools you need to get into contact with the right people.

 

If you are not subscribed to any of L2B’s services we have amazing staff that would be more than willing to assist you. Alternatively, you can subscribe to Open Quotes for a minimal amount, this will give you access to new opportunity’s to price to Contractors without them requesting you to price.

Now that’s what I call being proactive!

With a fresh approach to pricing and retrieving what you need to price efficiently and on time. Are you as excited? I am!

   

Let’s sum it up:

  • RFQ’s are sent via L2Q directly to Preferred Vendors.
  • Documentation and Specifications or any additional information that you might need regarding the RFQ can be found either on the L2Q website or by contacting the Contractor directly.
  • You can add your terms and conditions to your RFQ.
  • The more you price online, the higher your rating on L2Q.
  • New Open Quotes feature enables you to forward your pricing to other Buyers without them even asking you for a price.

 

Happy Pricing Everybody!!!!!

 

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About Michelle Herbst

I started working at Leads 2 Business in February 2014. I'm a Senior L2Q Account Executive for the Cape Town Region.

20 Nov 2017

Did you Know #DYK: 3 Fundamentals you need to Know about Business Opportunities

by | posted in: Construction Chat, Did You Know, Frequently Asked Questions, General | 0

Business Opportunities in 3 Steps

 

Sometimes you have to start at the end to get to the beginning.

I have always found that worked better for me. Like anything worth it, there is a price to pay. So I wanted you to know from the start what most people would tell you at the end. You can have the Open Quotes subscription for R60 per month (which is the equivalent of two double cappuccinos a month).

Stick around and let me tell you three fundamental steps to finding and getting more construction work.  Yes, I am talking Tenders, RFQ’s, Bill extracts and finding Awards. All that good stuff. So here we go….

Open Quotes

Step 1

Respond to RFQ’s Online

 

If you are in our Construction directory, you may well receive RFQ’s from Buyers when they are Tendering. You can price back via email, fax (does that even still exist??) or do it online and gain a host of other benefits.

Aside from the benefits in the abovementioned picture, you can access Drawings, Specifications, and Bill extracts. You also have our handy calculator to add your rates when pricing online with the ability to stipulate whether labour is included in pricing. You can add comments to the Buyer as well as attach additional documents if you wish.

When you are in your account, your pricing is only visible to you, so what you price is confidential but still available 24/7 online via your secure password. Pretty neat hey? This means you can pretty much price anywhere quickly and efficiently and beat the deadlines, leaving you with extra time to get life done.

Think of all the trees you are saving too! No need to piles of paper that are easily blown away by the aircon in Summer.

A screenshot from behind the scenes gives you a bit of insight into your future pricing platform.

Got it? Step one – Check!

Step 2

Be in the Know

You heard it here first!

The power is in your hands. Now you can be like the Batman, Spiderman or Hulk of finding new business opportunities.  You have an area on your Dashboard reflecting the most recent Bills that are being priced by Buyers that match your trades. From here you can price online, download the Bill and Drawings/Specifications too.  Or if you are not keen, delete the opportunity from your Bills being priced Dashboard. You can use this to your advantage by proactively pricing to these Buyers to gain new work that you may not even have known about previously. You can also contact them and network. Let them know who you are and what your Company provides. It’s no longer passive marketing, but an active approach. All laid on a silver platter before you. Go get em, Tiger!

Got it? Step two – Check!

Step 3

Knowledge is Power

The Awards section. Yes indeed. Knowing who you can approach is all important. Now not only do you know that, but you can send your prices directly to them! Exactly. The Power is once again in your very eager and proactive hands. To price, all you have to do is identify which award matches what you can provide and click on it. You will recognise the distinctive pricing pages along with the options to insert your T&C’s, notes and documents you may need to send.

Got it? Step three – Check!

And there you have it! In 3 Steps you are a Business Guru.
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Funnily, as knowledge goes, it really isn’t all that difficult or complicated. It basically comes down to converting opportunities. Who better than to do it than you? The one who has the experience, passion and drive to succeed.  So take the opportunities and run with them. Run Forest Run! Go get those business opportunities and lock them in.

Like I said at the start, sometimes it is easier to start at the end. You can have this all for R60 per month fee.

 

 

If you are keen to find out more, you can fill in the form below and we will contact you. Easy Peasy 🙂

Mail Me More Info on Open Quotes

 

[contact-form-7 id=”6025″ title=”Open Quotes Contact forms”]

About Carmen Barends

Social Media adventurer exploring new frontiers and learning how to survive. Tongue in cheek and mischief are the order of any good day topped with a sprinkling of laughter.

15 Jun 2016

Pricing Online – RfQs

by | posted in: Construction Chat, General, Uncategorized | 0

78-Blog-Header-Pricing-Bills-of-Quantity-Online

Have you ever received one of these and wondered why?

RFQ

The reason you have received an RfQ email is because you are listed on our Directory as a Vendor. We have Buyers (main contractors) who subscribe to our Leads 2 Quotes platform who use our Directory to select Vendors to send RfQ’s to.

Basically these Buyers send us BoQ’s for each relevant contract. We (L2Q Bills staff) process these BoQ’s by formatting them and splitting each item into the relevant trades (which may sound simple but can often take many hours to decipher). The Buyers, using our Directory, select a trade and region and a list of the relevant Vendors under that Trade and Serviceable Region appear, they select who they want to send to and click ‘Send RfQ’. You (the Vendor) will then receive an RfQ email (as above).

You have received this email, now what?

Firstly you need to check if the RfQ you have received is relevant to what your company does. If not, you will need to click on the “Update my Trade Profile”.

If the items are of relevance and you would like to price you can click on “Intend to Price”. If the items are of relevance but you are unable to quote for that time period (see respond by date/start date) you can click on “Decline to Price”. This will indicate to us (L2B) and the Buyer (who’s details are listed on the top right hand corner of the email) whether you will or won’t be pricing.

You’ve decided to Price the RfQ, where to next?

You will need to go ahead and work out the relevant rates required. Remember to take note of the Buyers T’s & C’s as some of these may specify whether VAT should be exclusive or inclusive and whether delivery or labour should be included. If you require Drawings in order to price you can click on the “Drawings” link in order to view or download the drawings. If there are no drawings on that link you will need to contact the Buyer. It is vital to note that we only have the information that the Buyers have provided. Any additional information required that is not available online, will have to be requested directly from the Buyer by the Vendor.

In order to use any of the L2B online features you will need your Vendor login details (Registration is Free). If you cannot remember these or have never registered as a Vendor you are welcome to contact us, via email, telephonically or via our Live Help option in order to request assistance.

Once you have all your relevant rates you can then go ahead and choose how you would like to respond to the RfQ. You could choose Fax, Email or Online Pricing, please note that Online Pricing is the quickest and easiest.

You’ve (wisely) chosen to use Online Pricing, where do you start?

You can use Online Pricing by clicking on the “Price Online Now” link which will take you to the L2B website where you will log in using your Vendor login details.

Once logged in you select the Vendor Home page on the Home drop-down. Your Active RfQ’s will now be displayed where you can click on “Submit Price” next to the relevant contract number and you will be redirected to enter your T’s & C’s, after submitting, the “Pricing” page will be displayed where you can simply enter your rates for each item which are automatically multiplied by the quantity to give a total and a grand total in red at the bottom. You are also able to interact with the other tabs as their relevance requires. Once you are happy with everything you can click on “Submit Prices”, ticking the “Send a copy to my email” box if you would like to keep a copy of the pricing you have submitted.

What do you do once you’ve submitted your prices?

Once the contract is awarded you will receive a notification via email. If the Buyer who sent you the original RfQ is awarded the contract you can now follow up with them regarding the prices you previously submitted to see if they will require your services and how competitive your prices were. If the contract is awarded to a different contractor you can still contact them and offer to send them your prices (you should have a copy if you selected to send a copy to your email) or by logging into your L2Q Vendor Profile and clicking on the relevant “Download Sent Bill” icon.

Receiving and responding to RfQ’s has never been easier with Leads 2 Business Online Pricing.

Want to know more about being a Vendor/Buyer, our Platinum Directory Listing (PDL), Leads 2 Quotes (L2Q) or any of the other Services we offer? Contact me on SashaA@L2B.co.za

About Sasha Anderson

Millennial Mom + wife living the hash-tag life. Remember: If You Fail - Fail Forward