“The difference between Stumbling Blocks & Stepping Stones is how you use them” Unknown
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Millennial Mom + wife living the hash-tag life. Remember: If You Fail - Fail Forward
“And forget not that the Earth delights to feel your bare feet & the winds long to play with your hair.” Kahlil Gibran
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Leads 2 Business Advertising Co-ordinator and Digital Designer
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
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Leads 2 Business Advertising Co-ordinator and Digital Designer
“The 2 most important days in your life are; the day you are born and the day you find out why.” Mark Twain
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Millennial Mom + wife living the hash-tag life. Remember: If You Fail - Fail Forward
In recognition of International Women’s Month in March, this week’s quote is from Maya Angelou.
“Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst & surprised by anything in between.” Maya Angelou.
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To view notes with screenshots on how to use our website, please visit Leads 2 Business Wiki.
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Leads 2 Business Advertising Co-ordinator and Digital Designer
“Take nothing but pictures; Kill nothing but time; Leave nothing but footprints.” John Kay
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To view notes with screenshots on how to use our website, please visit Leads 2 Business Wiki.
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Leads 2 Business Advertising Co-ordinator and Digital Designer
This year, be structured enough for success and achievement and flexible enough for creativity and fun – Taylor Duvall.
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To view notes with screenshots on how to use our website, please visit Leads 2 Business Wiki.
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Leads 2 Business Advertising Co-ordinator and Digital Designer
Respond by Dates (RFQ’s)
Are you familiar with these phrases?
Time is money.
No time like the present.
Take time to smell the roses.
Time will tell.
Third time’s the charm.
Time heals all wounds.
Time’s a-wasting!
You get the idea…
“Timing is everything,” A statement that is obvi to most ppl these days, but alas not everyone (SMH as I type this). We live in a fast paced world where instant messaging is not only an app but a way of life. As a Millennial myself I can attest to this. It is the norm to get a response within 5 minutes from someone and if it takes any longer something must be wrong. Possible scenarios (some involving serious injury or death) come to mind.
Do you know what a RBD is? It’s a crucial bit of info within a RFQ. There I go again with my acronyms… (Yes, the previous ones were intentional)
RBD is otherwise known as a Respond by Date and RFQ is also known as a Request for Quote, these terms are probably familiar to you if you subscribe to L2Q (Leads 2 Quotes) .
*For more details on how L2Q works: https://blog.l2b.co.za/l2qosis-symbiosis-through-l2q/
*For more on the in’s and out’s on RFQs: https://blog.l2b.co.za/pricing-online-rfqs/
Now that you are all caught up on the acronyms let’s get into why timing is so crucial to them.
When a Buyer sends out RFQ’s he specifies a date by which he requires prices back (aka the RBD). The RBD is usually prior to the Closing Date (CD) of the tender. The reason for this is because the Buyer needs to complete the Tender Document before the CD so that it can be delivered timeously to the Client to avoid being disqualified. Now I’m not going to go into depth regarding the CD as this will be covered in next week’s blog (check back same time next week if you want to know more).
Vendors are often aware of the actual Closing Date (as referred to on the tender notice) and may often advise that they will only respond closer to this date. Imagine you are a Buyer and have multiple tenders to submit, multiple prices to collate and the Vendors you have sent RFQ’s haven’t responded, you might start to stress (a lot).
In the end it’s all about communication and timing and at L2B we endeavour to facilitate this.
Here are a few tips to consider:
Buyers can take into account that Vendors require adequate time between receiving an RFQ and the RBD in order to respond positively.
Similarly Vendors need to make note of the RDB on RFQ’s and please respond to these on time.
Buyers are able to send through the relevant drawings and specs for Vendors to be able view for accurate pricing.
Vendors have the ability to register as a Vendor on L2B (this is free of charge) in order to view drawings and price online.
Buyers are encouraged to communicate with Vendors regarding receipt of their prices as well as potential use of their services.
Vendors can easily make use of the links on the RFQ to advise if they ‘intend to price’ or ‘decline’ which only takes a few seconds. This informs the Buyer accordingly which prevents unnecessary follow-ups while aiding communication.
Taking the above into account it all amounts to copious amounts of time saved and I think we can all agree that that’s one thing we can never have enough of.
Want to save time and subscribe to L2B? Comment or Contact me on SashaA@L2B.co.za
Sources:
http://time.com/4373616/text-abbreviations-acronyms/
http://socialmarketing.org/archives/generations-xy-z-and-the-others/
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To view notes with screenshots on how to use our website, please visit our Wiki site.
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Millennial Mom + wife living the hash-tag life. Remember: If You Fail - Fail Forward
Have you ever received one of these and wondered why?
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
Millennial Mom + wife living the hash-tag life. Remember: If You Fail - Fail Forward
