Finding RFQs With Zero or One Competitor
The real money is rarely in the RFQs with 15 bidders. You are hunting for the weird corners: items with history but very few offers, or brand-new requirements where no one has yet specialized.
Start by building filters for: quantity between 1 and 50, ship-to locations you like, FSCs you understand, and past-award counts less than 3. Combine that with keywords for materials, processes, or form factors you know well.
Once you have a short list, open the history for each NSN. Look for: long gaps since last award, awards cancelled after no-quotes, or a single vendor who has dominated but appears to have stopped bidding. That is your opening.
Treat each promising NSN as the seed of a mini business line. Create a one-page profile with drawings, specs, suppliers, and photos. Next time it pops, you quote in minutes, not hours.
Mermaid Block — Business Workflow
Mermaid Block — Interaction Sequence
Action List
- Write down one concrete experiment you will run related to this chapter.
- Identify which RFQs, suppliers, or tools you need to test the idea.
- Define a small success metric: a quote submitted, a new supplier found, a script written.
- Schedule a review to capture lessons learned and update your playbook.