A sales desk that works your bid pipeline while you run the jobs.
One trained rep, inside a system built for how contractors actually win work: prequalified with the GCs you want, every invitation to bid answered on time, every bid followed up, and a bid-hit number per GC you can finally see. Not a lead-gen agency rotating callers through your account.
Most contractors win work in spite of their sales process, not because of it.
The estimator prices what comes in. Invitations to bid land in an inbox and some get answered. Bids go out and nobody calls the GC two days later. Nobody knows the bid-hit ratio by GC, so the company keeps bidding the ones it never wins and never gets on the lists of the ones it would.
That is not a people problem. It is a system problem. A survey of more than 2,000 contractors found fewer than one in ten tracked their bid-hit ratio at all. GCs, meanwhile, see only 9–15% of their invitations answered, and keep a preferred list of the subs who are responsive and low-drama.
The sub that answers every ITB, is prequalified before bid day, and follows up on every bid is rare enough to get noticed. That is a job. We built the desk for it.
Six things that move a contractor's win rate, done every week.
This is the rep's job description. Not 'make calls.' Each one is a tracked lane in the system with its own numbers.
Get prequalified with the GCs you want
The rep builds your prequal packet once (licenses, COI, bonding letter, EMR and safety program, project list, key people) and registers you on each target GC's vendor portal and the bid platforms. Prequalification is what gets you invited; nobody at your company has time to do it.
Answer every invitation to bid, on time
ITBs from bid boards, GC portals and email land in one queue. The rep runs the go/no-go rules you set, replies "will bid" or "won't bid" the same day, and routes the go bids to your estimator with the due date and the plans. GCs remember who answers.
Reach estimators before bid day
Weekly calls and emails to the estimators and project managers at target GCs: introduce the company, ask to be on the list for the next project in your trade, and book a 15-minute capabilities meeting for you.
Follow up on every bid
Day one, day three, and after award. Confirm receipt, ask for scope questions, learn where the number landed, and log the outcome and the reason. Structured follow-up is the cheapest known lever on win rate.
Work the direct channel
For service, maintenance and tenant-improvement work: property managers, facility directors and owners in your market, called on a list with a script written for your trade, to book site walks and program meetings.
Keep the numbers honest
Bids sent, bid-hit ratio by GC and by job type, ITB response time, follow-ups completed, meetings held. Weekly. So you can stop bidding the GCs you never win and double down on the ones you do.
What a few points of win rate are worth.
Benchmarks first, then a worked example with a mid-sized specialty sub's numbers. Your numbers will differ; the system exists so you know them.
Where subcontractor win rates land
| How the work is bid | Typical win rate |
|---|---|
| Open / hard-bid public work | 10–20% |
| Invited private bids | 17–25% |
| Negotiated and repeat-GC work | 25–33% |
| GC invitation-to-bid response rate | 9–15% of subs answer |
| Contractors who track bid-hit ratio | Fewer than 10% |
Sources: ConstructConnect (hard-bid and ITB response figures, 2026); George Hedley survey of 2,000+ contractors, Metal Construction News, Jan 2025; delivery-method win rates from a survey of ~5,000 firms reported by 1st Source Bank. Ranges, not guarantees.
A $5M specialty sub, before and after
| Line | Today | With the desk |
|---|---|---|
| Bids a month | 20 | 24 (more ITBs answered) |
| Average job | $150,000 | $150,000 |
| Win rate | 15% | 20% |
| Jobs won a month | 3.0 | 4.8 |
| Revenue a month | $450,000 | $720,000 |
| Gross margin at 12% | $54,000 | $86,400 |
| Cost of the desk | — | $4,950 |
| Net margin gain a month | — | about $27,000 |
Illustrative. Five points of win rate and four more bids a month is a conservative target for a sub that today answers ITBs late and does not follow up. Even one additional $150,000 job a quarter (about $18,000 of margin) covers the desk.
What the Build includes.
Six parts, built once, owned by you. The rep steps into a finished system on day one.
A CRM built for the bid pipeline
GC accounts with prequal status and the estimators' names. ITB intake with go/no-go. Every bid with due date, amount, follow-up dates and outcome. Bid-hit ratio by GC on the dashboard. Built on Convex, owned by you, no per-seat licence.
Bid boards and portals wired in
ConstructConnect, BuildingConnected, PlanHub, public portals and the GC's own portal: invitations land in one queue with the plans, the due date and the contact, so nothing is answered late or missed.
Dialer and outreach sequences
A power dialer the rep works from, with estimator outreach and the direct-channel warm-up (capabilities email, second email, LinkedIn touch) running before an account hits the call list.
API bridges to your tools
Estimating, accounting, scheduling, calendar, email. A go bid lands with the estimator; a won job lands in your job system; a booked meeting lands on your calendar. Typed once.
Scripts, the prequal packet and the playbook
The estimator call, the ITB reply, the bid follow-up, the owner call. Your prequal packet assembled and kept current. Documented so the second rep learns it from the first.
Targets, bonuses, reporting, and the hire
Monthly targets on ITB response, follow-ups and held meetings; a bonus ladder that pays on outcomes, not dials; an end-of-day report in your inbox. We recruit and onboard the first rep with you.
Build it once. Run it month to month.
Build is a one-time project and yours regardless. Run is month to month after the first ninety days.
Build
- CRM built for the bid pipeline: GC accounts, ITB queue, bids, follow-ups, bid-hit by GC
- Bid boards and GC portals wired into one queue
- Dialer and outreach sequences for estimators and owners
- API bridges to estimating, accounting, scheduling and calendar
- Scripts, prequal packet and a written playbook
- Rep training, bonus structure, daily reporting, and we recruit the first rep with you
One-time. The system, the playbook, the prequal packet, the first hire.
Run
- A dedicated rep working ITBs, estimators, bid follow-up and the direct list
- Tools, data, bid-board access and dialer included
- Weekly pipeline review with you: bids, hit ratio by GC, meetings held
- Monthly results report
- Replace or scale reps as results dictate
Ongoing. A trained rep, the tools, and the management.
Coach
- Monthly playbook, script and go/no-go review
- Call recording review and rep feedback
- CRM and reporting tune-ups
- Bonus and target calibration
For a desk you already have.
Bring your last twenty bids. I will tell you what the desk would have changed.
Fifteen minutes. We look at who you bid, who you won, and who you never hear from, and I will give you a straight read on whether a sales desk is the right next hire.