I am not currently a supplier but i used the system as a buyer for many years. One suggestion is to think about what markets fit you best. I used to make relatively expensive equipment for pharmaceutical companies and sometimes I saw cases like the one you mentioned. I had this tray support with thin long arms and high tolerances and two polished beveled sides. It was worth about 50-60$ in the Boston area, the problem was I needed 54-1000 of these. So the price had to come down. We quoted this part many times on MFG asking if it would be cast with no luck. Eventually someone in Alabama quoted the work for $9 a piece with sandblast finish, we accepted and were exited. Needless to say we did not get what we wanted, not even close, I ended up with boxes of useless metal and the supplier with a bad review. We later returned the work and redid them but still it was not as good as what we were getting before. In the mean while we reverted to high cost supplier that did a much better job. Oh and some guy in Canada quoted $11/piece and then disappeared. Point is that many buyers will come back to suppliers that bid earlier if the supplier they chose does not work out. Happens a lot.

So my advise is, look for the right buyers to quote. I know MFG has filters to help you filter the quotes. I have also heard of an other guy in Mexico that was desperate for work, If you didn't know, their American funded companies consolidated all the mayor shops squeezing the middle sized companies out of the market. Well this guy was determined to survive, and he used MFG as his prime strategy. He bid on all the quotes that were closing and nobody wanted to quote. He made sample parts and sent to clients, he called clients to ask if they had any questions. It was hard work, 3 months of constantly going at it and in month 4 he got his lucky break with enough orders to get his company in the black again. Today he has established him self and has recurring orders for the next two years.

What are your strengths?

I spent a reasonably profitable year on MFG - what I found was if you narrow your focus, as another poster suggested, it helps a lot. I will list the things I found to be most helpful in securing the job(s).

1. Match yourself to the customer. Don't go for the Giant buyers if you're not a giant supplier - not only will they eat your lunch, they are the accounts that everybody wants to bid on. We're a small, 1-4 person shop so we always looked to bid accordingly. I don't think it's cost-effective to try to compete with the larger suppliers who are going after major corporate customers. I stuck with small and midsize companies who were looking for small qtys that our custom shop could handle.

2.MAKE THE CALL! MFG is a great resource and online bidding is efficient but nothing will ever replace personal interaction. Think like a buyer. If you had 10-20 quotes in front of you, all within reasonable parameters, but only 5 of those shops took the time to call and introduce themselves, which ones would you shortlist? Making the call also allows you to gain valuable insight into the type of work your buyer may be looking for. Often a buyer won't post a target price but he or she will either give it or allude to it in a phone call. A lot of machine-shop owners hate doing Sales but it's imperative that a knowledgeable member of your staff make that call. It can yield great dividends. Even if you don't get the award, you've established a connection with the buyer and the door is open for you to make a followup call in a few weeks or a month or so. I heartily advise you to keep that line open. Oftentimes I wouldn't get the initial award but a timely call 4-5 weeks down the line resulted in work.

3. Definitely make use of tMFG buyers' rating tools and check to see what their award pattern is as well as what the prices were on the awarded quote. .Between that and the overall award graph (is that still on there? it's been awhile since I looked) you can determine if this is a company that fits well with your capabilities. Saves a whole lot of bidding time, if you know you can't turn out any of their RFQs for the prices they've awarded.

4. Value-added service. As another poster mentioned, little things like proximity can make a huge difference. But proximity to the customer isn't the only selling point available to you! I've closed a lot of jobs on MFG (and off it) by simply anticipating needs my customer hadn't even considered. Do a little bit of research: if this is a small company and they are sourcing all over the place, from foundry to powdercoat, why not assemble your own team and offer to bid beyond the RFQ and give them the whole package! Most supply shop owners are overworked - well, the same holds true for small/midsized buyers. Presenting a quote that can save your potential customer time and money puts you head and shoulders above the competition. I closed several jobs this way. For example, during conversation I found that my potential customer was looking for castings as well as machining - I offered to pull together the entire quote and basically manage the whole production, right down to sending it out for fit and finish. As I had my team assembled it was easy one-stop shopping for them. They awarded the job to me, were thrilled to not have to take all that time to research/review all that stuff...and since my team is local I was able to save them several thousand dollars in shipping fees, which I was quick to point out in the early conversation. My bid time didn't increase greatly and for that simple bit of research and customer service, gained a loyal customer!

Hope some of this helps!