A marketing tender is an offer to work or supply goods at a fixed price.   Marketing tenders are widely known as ‘bids’, especially in the USA.     This open and transparent process of competition is intended to promote a fair distribution of work amongst suppliers.

ODM participate in tenders for the supply of marketing materials, but we also manage tenders for multinationals in order to select from key Chinese Manufacturers.   Contact us for either service.

Winning a marketing tender can bring in big order for the your business. However, if you do not win, you may be wasting valuable resources and time in the bidding process. Therefore we should definitely weigh the benefits and the costs involved in joining any marketing tender.   How big is the job and what are your chances of success?

A bid document is a legal document enforceable by law. When preparing a bid, we need to be sure to calculate all the costs involved. It can be difficult to back out once we are awarded with the tender.

We also need to carefully analyse the tender document. This will help us to understand if we can match the technical skill and experience requirements. Also, the work should fit with our business strategy and positioning. Taking part in a marketing tender will definitely affect our other work, staffing and ability to take on other new business opportunities.

Here the ODM Group Buying Office shows you what to look out for when entering a marketing tender.

Marketing Tender

Marketing Tender

Taking Part in A Marketing Tender

As discussed earlier, taking part in bidding will take up substantial resources. We need to ensure that our effort is not wasted. First, we need to analyse the tender document. Be sure that we are up to the standard required for the project.

Next, we need to analyse if the client is serious about the marketing tender. Do not fall for clients who are only testing the market or trying to hit the required number of participating suppliers. It is good to call the clients to enquire more about the project. They should not be restrictive on disclosing necessary information about the requirements to participate in the marketing tender.

Price plays a very important part in determining the winner. However, this is not the only factor considered. A good supplier is one that has value for money offer. This can include technical knowledge, past experience and reliability.

We should always provide our business credentials and highlight similar projects that we had taken previously. This shows that we have the expertise to meet the requirement of the client. Also, emphasize on the strength of the team that is going to be involved in the project.

A timeline is always helpful to show how realistic our proposal is. We need to explain how we are going to execute this project. Also, bring on the table some works that cannot be done by the client. Identify potential problems and show how it is going to be solved. This way we can assure the client that we can manage the project well.

Common Terms and Conditions

Before entering into a tender, we need to understand what is required of us. Here is some common items you find inside the terms and conditions documents.

  1. DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION
    It explains the legal terms found in the documents. This is so that to avoid ambiguities.
  2. RECITAL
    It states the areas and actions subjected to the terms and conditions are applied on.
  3. DISCLAIMER OF RIGHTS
    It lists and breaks down the things that tenderers can be liable for. It is important to read this part very carefully so as to avoid taking the wrong decision in the process.
  4. DISPUTES and BREACH
    It suggests the guidelines on how to go about with disputes and breach, actions that need to be taken and parties to be involved. We need to look into this to understand how we can defend our rights and also to understand what action the other party can take against us.
  5. NOTICES AND DOMICILIA
    It states the legal address one needs to send notices to. Any notices sent to any other address than the stated address will not be enforceable by law under this terms and conditions.
  6. WHOLE AGREEMENT
    It is a statement that the document is legally binding to both parties.
  7. RELAXATION
    It is a statement whether the tenderer may have extension of deadline and such. It covers the extent of strictness of the agreement.
  8. SEVERABILITY
    It shows that the agreement in the terms and conditions can be removed in the event that the item is against the prevailing law. It is also states the scope of actions that can be done when it happens.

For an example of terms and conditions document, you may refer to this marketing tender example. Some companies would provide a less substantial tender document This document is not less legally binding than the full terms and condition in legal document format. It speeds up the process of tendering companies having to examine the documents. When entering into a tender, it is important to understand fully what is required as once we entered a marketing tender, we are bound by the prevailing law.

Too complicated for you?

If the hassle is just too much to take, leave it with ODM. Having years of experience in purchasing field, ODM is able to facilitate a  marketing tender to shortlist suitable China suppliers. We can manage the process and work to help compare suppliers who will give you the best quality products at any given marketing budget.

ODM has a procurement office in Zhuhai, China to benefit from the proximity with China suppliers. This has enabled ODM to examine the suppliers thoroughly and perform quality control on every single project we are working on.

Knowing exactly how a marketing tender is run, we are able to help with preparing a good tender proposal as well. If you are participating in a bidding exercise, you can involve us in the preparation. This way, you will increase the chance of winning the contract and manage your resources effectively at the same time.