Digital Marketing · Service

Responding to a freight RFQ

Where forwarders lose tenders they were technically winning.

Discuss a mandate Part of Digital Marketing ↗

At a glance

Activity Digital Marketing

Engagement Scoped mandate

Markets UAE · India · UK · US · Europe

Replies Two working days

What it is

“The invitation is decided months before the RFQ. That is a marketing problem.”

A principal, Kaelo Digital Marketing

Most freight tenders are lost in the response document rather than on the rate. Bids arrive incomplete, on inconsistent assumptions, or answering a question the buyer did not ask — and the evaluator, working through twenty of them, marks what is in front of them rather than what was meant. Marketing owns this more than sales does, because the material a tender response draws on is built long before the RFQ arrives.

What’s included

Four areas of scope

The assets a tender draws on

Capability statements, lane coverage, compliance and accreditation evidence, claims and OTIF history, systems and integration detail, and contingency and escalation process. Assembled once and kept current beats assembling them under a deadline.

Answering the asked question

Evaluators score against their own criteria, not against your strengths. A response that reorganises the buyer's structure to suit the bidder scores badly even when the underlying capability is better.

Quantifying what you claim

'Excellent service levels' scores nothing. A stated OTIF figure with the measurement basis attached scores. Where a number is weak, stating it with the remediation plan beats omitting it — evaluators notice omissions.

Being on the list at all

The invitation is decided months before the RFQ, by visibility and reputation with the procurement function. That is a marketing problem, and it is the one worth solving first.

How the work runs

STEP 01

Asset audit

What exists, what is stale, what is missing.

STEP 02

Response library

Reusable, current, and owned by someone.

STEP 03

Positioning for the invitation

Visibility with the procurement function ahead of the cycle.

When to come to us

01 You are invited to tenders and convert fewer than you expect.
02 Each response is assembled from scratch under deadline.
03 You suspect you are not being invited to tenders you would win.

What we do not do

Writing your technical or compliance responses for you — those must come from your operation.
Overstating an accreditation or a service level. Evaluators verify, and being caught ends the relationship rather than the bid.