Buying the Unknown

Many times the SMEs know they need something. But that's it. They don't know what they need.

Let me give you an example: company Beach, who manages a concession in Sunny beach needs to buy chairs for their customers.

The company Beach starts a procurement process for acquiring those chairs with a single phrase: " Please quote 100 white beach chairs for placing them in Sunny beach in 4 weeks". Does this look familiar to you?

The suppliers receive this "RFP" and start asking themselves: "are plastic or metal chairs?", "are adjustable or fixed?", "more durable or less durable?", "in a lease mode?", "support and replacement services?"

The problem is that company Beach doesn't have the know how yet to create a detailed RFP that addresses all those questions. The nearest competitor that has the Turtle beach, near to Sunny beach, is not willing to provide such information, because he is a direct competitor.

So, what to do next?

Call To Action

Find a similar business that it is not a direct competitor to you. Since you are a SME a good option is to find a company that it is geographically away from you. Ask them for help. Sure you will owe them a favor later on, but meanwhile you are better off since you got a good RFP. This type of collaboration will provide insight not only about the RFP but also of the current market prices and conditions.