For 20 years, Mariëlle van der Keur has been winning tender after tender
When the word procurement comes up, many entrepreneurs raise their eyebrows, because: complicated. But selling to the government can bring in a lot of extra revenue. Tender Services Group (celebrating its 20th anniversary in April!) helps make an 'offer they can't refuse'.
DATE
22 February 2023
TEXT
Jasper Gramsma
IMAGE
Fleur Beemster
For 20 years, Mariëlle van der Keur has been winning tender after tender
When the word procurement comes up, many entrepreneurs raise their eyebrows, because: complicated. But selling to the government can bring in a lot of extra revenue. Tender Services Group (celebrating its 20th anniversary in April!) helps make an 'offer they can't refuse'.
Mariëlle van der Keur was not necessarily destined to become a pioneer in the world of tenders, or public procurement. "No, yuck! I hated all those rules and frameworks," she recalls from her time as sales manager for an IT giant. Nevertheless, The Hague is now celebrating the 20th anniversary of her Tender Services Group.
Mariëlle van der Keur found a gap in the market with Tender Services Group.
Acquiring for a company that monitors tenders proved to be the turning point. "In doing so, I noticed that clients were keen to know what the government was procuring, but stumbled over the complicated terminology in such a tender. A shame, because a tender is just another form of selling. Nothing more, nothing less." Then, winking: "And I'll sell anything if I have to, even my mother-in-law."
'A tender is just another form of selling'
The gap in the market had been found; a party offering help to get more revenue from tenders did not exist. So in 2003, Van der Keur, together with two companions, started his own agency. "We wrote a short and simple business plan - it's still here in the cupboard - with which we won The Hague Baby Tycoon Award. From the money we rented our first office and the next day the phone was ringing red hot." The talent to translate government demand into the right offer from the entrepreneur is paying off. "Of all the trajectories we guide, two-thirds win. If you leave out the price factor - we don't make those calculations - it's even 90 per cent," she states.
Owl
For the secret of success, Van der Keur points to Tender Services Group's logo. "I had this owl designed at the time I continued with the company without partners. My father always collected miniatures of owls and when I delved into the symbolism, I found that this animal encapsulates everything my team and I stand for."
She counts on her fingers: "The owl sees in the dark what remains hidden from others, has an overview thanks to its spinning head, listens carefully to its surroundings, only joins forces with others when it adds value and only hunts when it is sure it can score. When I present people with this metaphor, they say: I want that too!"
'Based on historical data, we also know exactly when a tender will come back on the market'
Signalling, transferring knowledge, writing and submitting: in all phases of tendering, Tender Services Group provides relief. "With our TenderScope service, we provide insight into all tenders in EU Member States," explains Van der Keur. "These are not only current tenders. Based on historical data, we also know exactly when a tender will come back on the market, who competed before and what and how it was tendered at the time. So you can anticipate."
Are there then knowledge gaps to arrive at a good bid? Then there is the TenderAcademy. "We have developed a complete curriculum with training by hotshots, from learning how to formulate concretely to the ins and outs of procurement law. Unique in the Netherlands," she says proudly.
TenderCoach
With the experience of thousands of tenders and knowledge of hundreds of governments under its belt, no wave is too high for the tender agency at the Port of Scheveningen. "Few companies employ someone who can fully focus on tenders, and trends in the market keep changing. As a result, expertise is often lacking," says Van der Keur. "For this reason, there is TenderCoach. Suppose you call us and ask: 'In this tender, there are requirements for the sustainability of my company, but how do I make that measurable?' Then we start working for you in a targeted way." In this way, both well-known SMEs from The Hague, including House of Lords, and large international companies got their foot in the door with the government.
Scandinavia
What the impact of doing business with the government can be, Van der Keur illustrates with a recent example. "In 2019, the Dutch Cabin Group, maker of temporary housing and office units, came to us for the first time. They competed in two or three tenders every year with a turnover value of around two million euros. Now, with our help, they participate in 70 such tenders every year and have grown exponentially. So much so that they were recently acquired for a large sum by a major player from Scandinavia." Readers have been warned.
text Jasper Gramsma image Fleur Beemster
Mariëlle van der Keur was not necessarily destined to become a pioneer in the world of tenders, or public procurement. "No, yuck! I hated all those rules and frameworks," she recalls from her time as sales manager for an IT giant. Nevertheless, The Hague is now celebrating the 20th anniversary of her Tender Services Group.
Mariëlle van der Keur found a gap in the market with Tender Services Group.
Acquiring for a company that monitors tenders proved to be the turning point. "In doing so, I noticed that clients were keen to know what the government was procuring, but stumbled over the complicated terminology in such a tender. A shame, because a tender is just another form of selling. Nothing more, nothing less." Then, winking: "And I'll sell anything if I have to, even my mother-in-law."
'A tender is just another form of selling'
The gap in the market had been found; a party offering help to get more revenue from tenders did not exist. So in 2003, Van der Keur, together with two companions, started his own agency. "We wrote a short and simple business plan - it's still here in the cupboard - with which we won The Hague Baby Tycoon Award. From the money we rented our first office and the next day the phone was ringing red hot." The talent to translate government demand into the right offer from the entrepreneur is paying off. "Of all the trajectories we guide, two-thirds win. If you leave out the price factor - we don't make those calculations - it's even 90 per cent," she states.
Owl
For the secret of success, Van der Keur points to Tender Services Group's logo. "I had this owl designed at the time I continued with the company without partners. My father always collected miniatures of owls and when I delved into the symbolism, I found that this animal encapsulates everything my team and I stand for."
She counts on her fingers: "The owl sees in the dark what remains hidden from others, has an overview thanks to its spinning head, listens carefully to its surroundings, only joins forces with others when it adds value and only hunts when it is sure it can score. When I present people with this metaphor, they say: I want that too!"
'Based on historical data, we also know exactly when a tender will come back on the market'
Signalling, transferring knowledge, writing and submitting: in all phases of tendering, Tender Services Group provides relief. "With our TenderScope service, we provide insight into all tenders in EU Member States," explains Van der Keur. "These are not only current tenders. Based on historical data, we also know exactly when a tender will come back on the market, who competed before and what and how it was tendered at the time. So you can anticipate."
Are there then knowledge gaps to arrive at a good bid? Then there is the TenderAcademy. "We have developed a complete curriculum with training by hotshots, from learning how to formulate concretely to the ins and outs of procurement law. Unique in the Netherlands," she says proudly.
TenderCoach
With the experience of thousands of tenders and knowledge of hundreds of governments under its belt, no wave is too high for the tender agency at the Port of Scheveningen. "Few companies employ someone who can fully focus on tenders, and trends in the market keep changing. As a result, expertise is often lacking," says Van der Keur. "For this reason, there is TenderCoach. Suppose you call us and ask: 'In this tender, there are requirements for the sustainability of my company, but how do I make that measurable?' Then we start working for you in a targeted way." In this way, both well-known SMEs from The Hague, including House of Lords, and large international companies got their foot in the door with the government.
Scandinavia
What the impact of doing business with the government can be, Van der Keur illustrates with a recent example. "In 2019, the Dutch Cabin Group, maker of temporary housing and office units, came to us for the first time. They competed in two or three tenders every year with a turnover value of around two million euros. Now, with our help, they participate in 70 such tenders every year and have grown exponentially. So much so that they were recently acquired for a large sum by a major player from Scandinavia." Readers have been warned.
