Table of Contents
1. Sell to people that are buying
We publish over 3m contracting opportunities every year, but publishing data isn’t our job. Our real job is to help our customers find and win the right opportunities for their business. After 20 years of working on contracting opportunities we’ve found that firms with that use our data to build a sales strategy and repeatable process to support that strategy win more contracts than those who just use our data as a tactical, reactive tool.
With all our experience of winning bids, this is what works for teams selling into the public sector.
Recommendations:
- You can’t be reactive – Open Opportunities will provide you with all the data you need to build a forward looking sales strategy.
- You need to understand your market – Open Opportunities data helps you to understand your market and to anticipate changing procurement trends.
- You need to identify targets – Careful planning and evaluation can help firms build and maintain a reliable list of target organisations.
- Validate with data – Developing relationships is important work, making sure to do with organisations that have budget and track record for purchasing your services is critical.
- You still need to invest in marketing – Buyers need to be aware of you and your services. Set out your targets and market to them.
- Scanning tenders is boring – But people who understand your products and opportunities need to do this work, using Open Opportunities makes it less onerous.
- Having support matters – our team is built from professionals who understand the public procurement market inside out. We’re here throughout your contract to help you win.
- Winning is formulaic – The most successful companies build compelling sales strategies that are backed up by robust processes.
Read more to find out:
- How to understand and explore market opportunities.
- How to build target lists.
- How to integrate Open Opportunities into your daily routine.
2. Data led sales strategy.
Every successful tender begins long before the opportunity is published. At Open Opportunities, we help you spot and act on the right opportunities for your business. Using our data doesn’t just mean tracking opportunities, here’s how our data helps you develop a winning approach.
Understanding Your Market
The first step to winning more contracts is understanding where they come from. Our data shows you which organisations buy your type of product or service, when their existing contracts need renewal, and how buying patterns vary across different countries. For instance, our customers know all of the tenders that have been let in their category, who let them and when. We also have contract data, so that you can search by competitors to see who is buying their services and how to target them.
That’s not all with our data downloads and reporting tools it is possible to understand global and regional procurement patterns: are there more opportunities? Are the average value of contracts falling or growing? Are contracts longer or shorter? With real-time searching your team can know more than ever before about each individual market, or the global market giving the ability to set out a compelling sales strategy.
Below is a chart showing the average length of contracts in the healthcare market.
Charts show on larger screens
Building Your Target List
Success in public sector contracts often comes from focusing on the right opportunities. Start by looking at organisations that have already bought similar products. Consider which contract sizes match your capacity and which countries align with your export capabilities.
One of our clients, a British distributor of refurbished imaging equipment for hospitals, used our data to transform their approach to finding new customers. They took a dual approach; firstly they identified buyers that had not bought specific equipment in the last five years, so that they could examine whether they had any upgrade needs; in a second phase they looked for health authorities that had let contracts for management consultancy or research into healthcare modernisation.
This allowed them to understand precisely who to target and where to build relationships well before tender notices appeared. As a result they could move to highly targeted account based marketing for 40 key prospects, successfully converting four sales in the first quarter of using Open Opportunities.
Taking Action
Once you’ve built your target list, keeping track of opportunities becomes straightforward. Our system helps you monitor specific organisations, track particular types of tender, and receive alerts when target organisations start their buying process.
A mid-sized software company recently used this approach to great effect. They focused on local government organisations with digital transformation budgets that were using a competitor’s product. By tracking these specific opportunities, they could prepare well in advance for each tender and engage buyers prior to the tender being published.
Staying Informed
Knowledge builds confidence in tendering. Our data helps you understand what your target organisations typically spend, their buying patterns, and the best times to make contact. This means you can plan your resources around likely tender dates and approach each opportunity with confidence.
Making Early Preparation Count
The key to successful tendering is being ready before the opportunity appears. Our data helps you understand the market, identify the right targets, and take action at the right time. Rather than rushing to respond to sudden opportunities, you can develop relationships and understand requirements well in advance.
3. Never miss an opportunity
While planning ahead is vital, staying alert to current opportunities helps you win business right now. Here’s how Open Opportunities helps you spot and respond to active tenders.
Smart Monitoring
Finding the right opportunities shouldn’t mean endless searching. Our alert system lets you define what matters to your business – whether that’s specific products, regions, or contract values. A defence equipment supplier recently told us they’ve transformed their success rate by focusing only on relevant NATO procurement programmes, rather than trying to track everything.
Quick Decision Making
When a new tender appears, time is precious. Our data helps you quickly understand if this opportunity is worth pursuing. You can see if the buyer is already on your target list, what they’ve bought before, and who has won their previous contracts. This means you can decide quickly whether to invest time in a response.
Bringing Together Planning and Action
We often see how combining long-term planning with active monitoring leads to success. A robotics manufacturer used our data to identify Universities with a history of purchasing automation products, then added alerts for these buyers so that when the opportunities appeared, they were ready to respond with research already done.
Similarly, a healthcare software provider spotted hospitals planning system upgrades through our data. By monitoring these organisations closely, they knew exactly when integration project tenders appeared. Their early preparation and market monitoring meant they could submit stronger proposals in good time.
Bid less, win more
Using Open Opportunities helps you make the best use of your time and effort. Instead of scrambling to respond to every opportunity, you can focus on the ones that match your strategy. One of our pharmaceutical customers puts it well: “We now respond to fewer tenders, but win more of them.”
Getting Started with Open Opportunities
Success with tender opportunities comes from having a simple, regular routine. We recommend spending an hour each week reviewing your target list and any changes, while keeping a daily eye on new tender notices. Many of our users check their alerts first thing each morning, then set aside time on Fridays for planning.
Your First Month
Getting started is straightforward. We’ll be here to help you build the searches you need and to get you and your team onboarded. Our team can help you to conduct research and to build new market insights. Once you have your target list, we’ll help you set up searches that monitor those targets every day.
4. Opportunities at your fingertips
Winning contracts isn’t about brilliant strategy, nor is it about bidding on every opportunity that looks interesting. Winning is about creating the right strategy and executing it well.
We advocate the following approach:
The right people in place
Scanning tender opportunities is really boring. We know. What’s worse is that the right people have to do this work. That means that someone with a good understanding of the market and a good understanding of your products and services, has to view the opportunities.
You might not view every opportunity but you will need someone to review and send you the best opportunities. Don’t skip on that training, it matters.
Getting the set up right
We’re here to get you across the data and our search tools, we’ll understand your needs and get the right opportunities into your feed. If you’re targeting specific buyers we’ll get the right alerts set up to monitor their opportunities.
A Simple Daily Routine
Start each day with a quick check of your alerts. This only needs fifteen minutes – just enough time to spot anything that needs attention. With our email alerts, our users do this on their commute or when they’re getting started for the day. If you see something interesting, you can instantly share it with colleagues for evaluate.
Weekly Planning That Works
Friday mornings work well for most of our users. Take an hour to look at all of the tenders your key targets have published, even the ones outside of your category. Check the contracts that are ending soon and whether this provides a reason to engage your target with helpful information. This helps you stay ahead without letting it take over your week.
Monthly Review
Once a month, take a proper look at how things are working. Are your alerts picking up the right opportunities? Have you spotted any new organisations to add to your target list? Has anything changed in your target markets? This is also a good time to share insights with your team about what’s working well.
Supporting Your Team
Different team members might need different information from Open Opportunities. Sales teams often want daily alerts about new tenders. Your bid writers might need deeper information about past contracts. Directors usually want a quarterly overview of upcoming opportunities. Our system helps you share the right information with the right people.
Learning from Experience
We’ve noticed patterns among our most successful users. They tend to:
- Focus on understanding a few markets really well, rather than trying to track everything.
- You need to isolate and focus on a number of key targets.
- Take time to learn about their target organisations’ buying patterns.
- They still need to know who you are and what you do, invest time and energy in marketing to your targets.
- Build a repeatable process that means that you know about what is happening in the market.
- Monitor the contract awards, update priorities and targets when the data changes.
- Share insights across your team.
Getting Help When You Need It
Sometimes you might want to try something new with the system, or you might need help understanding a particular market. Our support team knows how to help without giving you a hard sell. Just ask – we’re happy to show you useful features you might have missed.
Making It Work for Different Sectors
Whether you’re selling medical equipment, software, or defence systems, the basic approach stays the same. The difference is in the details – which alerts you set up, which organisations you track, and how far ahead you need to plan. We can show you how similar companies make the most of our data.
5. Measure your success
Success with tender opportunities is the same for every organisation: it’s about winning the right opportunities. An important part of that is about spending less time on unsuitable tenders and eliminating unwinnable tenders. Open Opportunities ensures you’re aware of all the opportunities and how to win those opportunities when they come around.
Simple Ways to Measure Progress
Start by looking at the basics. Are you finding opportunities earlier? Are you spending less time searching? Many of our users find they’re able to plan their resources better within a few weeks of getting started.
A customer told us recently: “We used to rush to respond to every tender. Now we have more of a plan, we have a better understanding of the market and we can prepare for opportunities months in advance. It’s transformed how we work.”
Looking at the Numbers
Some useful things to track:
- How many targets you’re engaged with
- How key accounts are expecting to go to market in the next period
- How many relevant opportunities you’re finding
- How much earlier you’re spotting opportunities
- Whether you’re spending less time searching
- If you’re winning more of the tenders you pursue
One consulting company found they were bidding for fewer tenders but instead were building deeper relationships. They are now much better prepared for each opportunity.
Beyond the Quick Wins
The real value often shows up in unexpected ways. A defence supplier noticed there were new opportunities for their ballistic armour because a number of governments still maintain cash disbursement locations. These longer-term benefits can be just as valuable as quick wins.
Regular Review
We suggest taking a proper look every quarter at how you’re using the system. Are your alerts still picking up the right opportunities? Has your target list grown? Are you spotting patterns you didn’t see before?
Sharing Success
Your whole team can benefit from better tender intelligence. Sales teams spot opportunities earlier. Bid teams have more time to prepare. Directors can plan resources better. We help you share the right information with everyone who needs it.
Getting More Value
Often, our users find new ways to use the data as they get more familiar with it. A pharmaceutical company started by tracking tenders, then realised they could use our data for market research. A software provider found they could predict technology trends in different countries.
6. Getting it right
We can help you get started to build your sales strategy, working with your team to build your target list and then setting up your monitoring searches. Here’s your checklist for growing your public sector business.
Strategic Setup Checklist
□ List your core products/services
□ Define your ideal contract size range
□ Choose your target countries
□ List your export capabilities
□ Note any certification requirements
□ Identify your key competitors
Getting Started Checklist
□ Create your account
□ We’ll help you add your main product/service categories
□ You can set up email alerts in a couple of clicks
□ Add team members who need access
□ Add yourself to your dedicated Teams channel
Building Your Target List
□ Search for similar contracts
□ Note which organisations buy your type of product
□ Check typical contract values
□ List organisations that match your capabilities □ Record contract renewal dates
□ Flag high-priority targets
Daily Routine
□ Check new alert emails (15 mins)
□ Review any interesting opportunities
□ Save relevant notices
□ Update team on key opportunities
□ Log any new target organisations
Weekly Review
□ Check target contract activity
□ Update target list
□ Review alert settings
□ Look for new patterns
□ Plan next week’s actions
□ Share insights with team
Monthly Planning
□ Review your searches
□ Check contract end dates
□ Update search terms
□ Look at competitor activities
□ Plan next quarter’s focus
□ Review success rate
Before Responding to a Tender
□ Check if buyer is on target list
□ Review their buying history
□ Look at previous contract values
□ Check submission deadline
□ Review similar past tenders
□ Consider resource requirements
8. Procurement Patterns
Here are some procurement patterns you might want to monitor.
Changes in Framework Usage
Are buyers using frameworks or aggregate contracting vehicles more than previously? Does this change how you plan to approach the market? Are you on the framework opportunities you need to be on?
Duration Trends
If contract durations fall it is likely that your buyers are constrained by falling budgets and that this prevents long term commitments. Longer contracts? That’s an indication that buyers want savings and are happy to commit.
Contract Duration and Value
Is the average monthly value of contracts in your category falling or rising? Is your market consolidating? Perhaps your buyers are expecting longer contracts from fewer suppliers perhaps?Or maybe buyers want shorter contracts and more frameworks? Indicating that your market is becoming commodified.
Moving away from frameworks
If the data suggests buyers might be moving away from frameworks there may be a sense that some suppliers have been able to differentiate themselves significantly and that they have been able to forge a unique position.
Using This Information
For suppliers, these changes in buying patterns matter. Framework participation requires different resources and approaches compared to single supplier contracts. For some categories frameworks remain a key route to market, while other categories might need more focus on direct supply relationships. The shorter duration of framework contracts means more frequent rebidding, but the higher values suggest greater revenue potential for successful suppliers.
10. Conclusion: Data is king
The world of public sector contracts can seem complex, but it doesn’t need to be. With the right information and a simple, steady approach, you can find and win the opportunities that matter to your business.
Open Opportunities gives you this insight. Whether you’re planning ahead to spot future contracts, or keeping track of current tenders, our data helps you make better decisions about where to focus your time and resources.
Start small. Choose a few target organisations to monitor. Set up some basic alerts. See what patterns you notice. There’s no need to transform everything at once.
Remember, every successful tender begins with good information. The earlier you spot an opportunity, the better your chances of success. The better you understand your target organisations, the stronger your proposals will be.
We’re here to help you make sense of the opportunities. Get in touch to see how Open Opportunities could work for your business.