Times are still tough out there (so I am told), and judging by search queries being run through Google and posts on small business forums I visit, a lot of small companies are finding it increasingly difficult to find new customers.   The two biggest phrases I see from SME’s at the moment are “dealing with late payers” and “how to attract new customers”.

This is odd, because if small companies and freelancers are struggling in making sales, it does not really explain my recent experience dealing with small companies.

Over the last few weeks I have spent some background time working on a project for a customer, finding one or more suppliers to provide IT software development services.   The customer needed a company or two to provide a mixture of services such as web site design, some database design, and application development.  My task was to define the requirements, help find companies to perform the work, vet the companies and make recommendations.

How I found the Companies

Luckily, finding the companies was not my task – it was given to an office junior who used a combination of google searches (both using adword adverts and natural results), advertising on freelancer work sites, and using a small list of previous suppliers.   In all, I was given a list of 31 possible suppliers to approach with the specification of work required.

It’s worth noting that for the sake of integrity for this work, I did not put my own company forward for doing the work.  I was simply tasked to create the outline specification, recommend a supplier and then work with them during development of the systems.  The budget for the entire work package (not including my own companies time) was £198,000 – a fair chunk of work then.  Most ‘chunks’ of work were budgeted at between £17,000 and £34,000.

The shocking Response

After  discounting 2 companies (due to geographical restrictions on the project), 29 information packs were sent out – including the outline requirements spec for all work required, rough time lines (spring next year for completion so no pressure), asking them to get in contact with bits they were interested in and outline costs.  I didn’t include the outline budgets – I didn’t want to tell anybody what they should charge.

Out of the 29 packs sent out – the stats after 4 weeks were as follows:

• 9 companies never made contact – in any form.  No emails, no calls, no letters – nothing.  I have called all 9 companies and all 9 are still in existence.
• 7 companies made contact by phone, said that the information was good enough to work with, and would provide outline costs and timelines within 2 weeks – none of them sent anything through.
• 5 companies visited for meetings for more information.  Out of these 5, 1 company visited 3 times.  Out of the 5 companies, none provided any costs or timelines – they simply. . . .vanished.
• 2 companies responded with what I would call a standard information pack; a background of their company, projects they worked on in the past, and various services they offered.  Nothing was provided specifically for the project – no timelines, costs or even reference to the project.
• 3 companies provided responses with what they would do, how long it would take, how many people would be assigned, how they would do it – but all 3 would not give a price – any price.  No day rate, no total, no overall outline– it was as if pricing was a national secret.

Just 3 companies provided the information – what they would do, by when, and how much.  And guess what, all 3 got the business (they all wanted to do different parts).

What this means for you

The companies made it so easy for me.  I could happily recommend the 3 companies who got the work as they were the only 3 companies to respond with the information needed.  Any of the other companies could have been awarded some or all of the work too, just by providing the information that was required.

Now I am sure that if asked by a potential customer to provide a bid, you would create a quote in the agreed timeframe with the information requested.  But, it just strikes me as crazy that so many companies are searching on how to find work and customers, when the work was there all the time, and all they had to do was respond.