You click “submit application”, look at the proposed price one more time, and catch yourself thinking: this time, I put everything together properly. The work is described, the amount is clear, and it seems to be exactly what the client needs. Then a short reply arrives: your offer was not considered any further. Not because someone found a cheaper option. It simply did not make it to the price comparison.
This is an uncomfortable point in the search for orders: it seems that you need to sell your work even better, while in fact you first need to understand the entry rules. Some orders arise from conversations, recommendations, and repeat requests. Some go through a public procedure - a formal method in which a government or other public client chooses a provider under announced rules. In these two worlds, neither the first step nor the reason for rejection is the same.
So the useful everyday question is not “where else can I look for clients?”, but “which orders am I already prepared to apply for without a last-minute scramble - and what exactly stops me with the others?” When you answer that honestly, searching stops being a walk between browser tabs where each one promises gold and delivers another form.
1. First, separate a client conversation from a procedure
A private client is a company or person who independently decides whom to hire. Here, an order is often found by recognising a need: someone has opened new premises, changed contractors, cannot keep up with the current workload, or wants clearer communication. You need to show that you heard the specific task, name the next step, and give the person a simple way to check whether working with you will feel calm and straightforward.
A public procedure works differently. In Germany, GWB § 97 establishes the principle that public contracts are awarded in competition and through transparent procedures. The same section requires equal treatment of participants unless the law provides an exception. This means that a letter saying “we are trying very hard” does not replace what the conditions requested. Equality may not be very romantic here, but it explains why the client is not allowed to simply overlook a missing document for you after submission.
Two different first steps
Do not mix these routes into one list of “leads”. A lead is a potential contact or opportunity to sell a service. If a warm recommendation from someone you know sits next to a public-contract notice, they require different actions. For a recommendation, prepare a short explanation of how you can help in this particular situation and a question that will help you learn the scope of the work. For a procedure, first read the requirements and mark what you can already prove.
Imagine you provide Gebäudereinigung - professional building cleaning. The owner of a small workshop contacts you through an acquaintance: they do not like that the premises remain dirty after a shift. Your task is not to pretend this is a competition with ten folders. Ask about the premises, schedule, expected result, and the person who makes the decision. After the conversation, send a clear offer tailored to that need.
Now imagine another situation: you see a public procedure for a similar service. Similarity of the work does not make the rules similar. Here, price is only one part of the offer. First find out which criteria the client has set for the participant and whether you have the evidence. If not, do not spend the evening on a beautiful estimate that nobody will be able to compare.
2. Where to look once you know which route you are looking for
In private sales, do not look for an abstract “order”, but for the moment when a business has a specific job to be done. Return to people who already know you: former clients, partners, suppliers, and business owners you know. Do not send everyone the same “do you have any work for me?” Instead, name your service and the type of situation you handle: for example, regular cleaning after a contractor change or preparing premises for opening.
Then watch your own conversations. If people regularly ask about the same problem, that does not guarantee market demand, but it is a reason to clarify who makes the decision and what prevents a purchase now. Record not only the contact name, but also the reason they reached out, the date of the next step, and the outcome. After several such records, you can see where you actually get conversations and where you only collect other people’s business cards. If the records grow and get lost, automating recurring preparation tasks can remove manual data copying, but it will not decide for you whom to approach or what to offer.
For public procedures, search for notices as a separate channel. Do not conclude that an order is attractive from its title alone. Open the conditions and write down: what exactly must be delivered, which evidence the client requests, where the offer is submitted, and which requirements are tied to this specific order. Then you will not confuse “this would be interesting to do” with “I can participate now”.
Also look at your own results by channel. You do not need complex spreadsheets for this: it is enough to have the channel name, the number of conversations started, the number of offers sent, the response, and the reason if it is known. Channel analytics is useful when it helps you see this route without guesswork: not “I think recommendations work”, but “from this source, we actually reached concrete conversations”.
3. What suitability is and why you cannot borrow it from yesterday’s client
Eignung, or suitability, in public procurement means that a business meets the criteria required to properly deliver a specific order. GWB § 122 says that public contracts are awarded to qualified and capable businesses that have not been excluded under §§ 123 or 124. The important part for you is this: the client defines the suitability criteria for the specific order. So there is no single universal folder called “we are suitable”. There is your basic set of evidence about the business, but each time you need to compare it with the specific request. It is like keys: the keyring may be large and tidy, but only the right key opens the door.
From similar work to checking the evidence
Imagine that you have already completed small regular jobs for private clients and see a public order that seems larger but familiar in content. Do not rush to decide that the experience “fits in general”. Read which exact signs of suitability are named in the conditions. Then make two columns: “I can prove this” and “I cannot prove this or do not understand it”. In the first, write the name of the document or information, not simply “have it”. In the second, write the question that needs clarification before submission.
Such a list creates more discipline than hope. It shows four different situations that are often mixed together: you have not yet found a suitable order; you found one but do not have the required evidence; you have the evidence but did not manage to assemble it for submission; or you can apply, but the price and working conditions do not make sense for you. Each situation needs a different action. The first is solved by searching for a more precise type of order. The second by preparing evidence or declining this procedure. The third by putting documents in order. The fourth by making the sober decision not to take it on.
Do not try to convince yourself that declining an unsuitable procedure is a defeat. It is normal selection. You keep your attention for an opportunity where your work and preparation can genuinely be considered.
4. A formal rejection is not the same as losing on price
There are rejections you can influence through the quality of the offer: you did not understand the need, described the work unclearly, or failed to explain the terms. But in a public procedure, there are also formal grounds that stand apart from how well you can deliver the service.
GWB § 123 provides for mandatory exclusion of a business from participation at any stage if the client knows of a final conviction or an imposed fine for one of the offences listed in that section. This is not a list you should retell from memory or interpret for your own case. For your daily work, something else matters more: a serious formal problem is not offset by a lower price, a polished letter, or a good work example. So do not spend effort on an explanation that cannot replace a mandatory condition: first separate what can be improved in the offer from what prevents it from reaching comparison at all.
Do not reduce every rejection to “bad luck”. After submission, record the known reason, and if there is no reply, write that down too: the next decision should not rest on a guess.
The same principle is useful in private work as well, although the rules are different there. If a client disappears after an offer, do not automatically call it “a rejection because of price”. Perhaps they were not ready to buy, did not understand the scope of the work, or were not authorised to make the decision themselves. Next time, add one simple question before the estimate: who approves the work, and by which signs will they choose a provider?
5. Build readiness to apply, not a folder for decoration
The worst time to look for the required file is when the form is already open and notifications, your phone, and your own embarrassment about names such as “final_final_2” are all ringing in your head at once. A broken process is always very inventive: it hides what matters precisely when you are in a hurry.
Instead of a universal presentation, create a simple readiness card. It can live in an ordinary document. For each type of order, keep five fields:
- what exactly you sell and which result your business takes responsibility for;
- who this service suits, and whom you will honestly decline;
- which materials already exist to prove your capability;
- what is missing for applying to the specific order;
- who is responsible for the next action and when you will return to the contact or conditions.
This is not bureaucracy for the sake of paperwork. Such a card separates fact from assumption. You can see whether you are truly ready or merely want to make it in time. For a private contact, it helps you remember the agreement and avoid sending an offer into empty space. For a public procedure, it helps you go through the conditions without the temptation to replace missing evidence with optimism.
GWB § 97 also says that the interests of small and medium-sized businesses must be taken into account primarily when public contracts are awarded. This is not a promise that a small business will automatically receive an advantage or an order. It is a reason not to abandon the channel solely because of your size - and at the same time not to miss requirements that apply to every participant. Keep this thought next to the readiness card: the size of your business does not cancel the requirements, but it is not a reason to avoid checking an opportunity that genuinely suits you.
Start with one recent unclear case and fill in the readiness card only for it. This will show you whether what is missing is a channel, a document, clarity about conditions, or order.