It’s no surprise then that 99% of subcontractors who track bids in email or Excel miss multiple bid invites a year. There’s a simple fix for all of this — adopting technology. Here are four advantages of moving your bid board online.
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The 4 advantages of moving your bid board online
02/14/2019
Managing a bid board with email, Excel, and whiteboards is an overwhelming, labor-intensive process. Time is in short supply for subcontractors already, and the inefficiencies of a manual bid board only add to the problem. On top of that, they’re fearful of making mistakes with manual entry, such as missed or late bids. 1. More visibility, less inefficiencySubcontractors manage a lot of tasks. They’re bogged down in emails, manually enter hundreds of bids a month into an Excel spreadsheet, track addenda and changes, and manage contact information, to name a few. An online bid board eliminates manual entry and consolidates everything needed to manage bids in one, easy-to-access place. With everything in one place, you can see bid invites across your entire office or division, and not just the ones you’re invited to. You can get rid of duplicate work by knowing who is working on what bids and assign them to the right team members. You can also automatically track project files, job walks, due dates, and more, in each stage of the bidding process. 2. Make smarter decisionsData helps you make smarter, more informed decisions. Data often goes unused in construction. For example, 65% of subcontractors don’t even track things like their win rate. Without valuable data, how do you know if you’re spending your time and resources correctly? An online bid board allows you to increase bottom-line revenue by getting real-time insights, like win rates and contract values, so you can prioritize bids you’re more likely to win. Reports, leaderboards, and analytics also allow you to accurately forecast revenue and identify estimators who are bidding too high or too low, so you can put the right estimators on each bid. 3. An easy-to-use process for the whole companyThe construction industry has been using email and Excel spreadsheets for decades, and even though it’s not efficient, easy-to-use, or manage, it’s familiar. To get widespread internal adoption of a new process, it has to be easier than the old process. Luckily there’s no implementation cost or IT support needed to start using an online bid board. Systems that are easy to use increase efficiency, and lead to more accurate reporting and forecasting. Efficiency gives everyone time back in their day to produce higher value work. 4. Win the bids you wantNot knowing every single general contractor on a competitive project decreases subcontractors’ odds of winning. Subcontractors spend lots of time and resources looking for the other general contractors bidding on a project. Estimators don’t want to waste time bidding on a project and miss a chance to get their number in front of the winning general contractor. An online bid board is an easy way to surface client suggestions for subcontractors who bid on projects where general contractors are competing against each other. It automatically groups the same jobs from different general contractors together for easy tracking. No need to spend the entire day chasing down general contractors, calling architects, and shifting through plan rooms. Not only does it save time, but it also increases your odds of winning work.
Ultimately, if you’re implementing a new system, you want a good return on investment, like growing your revenue and helping your team become more effective. An online bid board does exactly that. Start bidding smarter. Back To News |
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