Building a submission
Consultant first, then the route, then the rate — and what the vendor actually receives.
A submission is assembled in the order that makes the outcome countable later, which is not the order most people would guess.
- The consultant firstRequirements are scored against a person, so the person comes first. What this submission answers is what makes the result worth counting afterwards.
- Then the routeThe route, and then the person on its first hop. A vendor's reply rate is an average over people who behave very differently; the contact-level numbers are the ones worth reading.
- Then the detailsThe rate defaults from the consultant's ask and is meant to be changed — the same person goes to different vendors at different rates. Documents are attached here.
- Then how it leavesHow it goes out is asked rather than assumed. Most submissions leave through a portal, a phone call, or somebody's own mail — a system that only knows about its own send button loses track of most of the desk's work.
The table in the email
The standard bench submission carries eight facts in a table, because a vendor scanning forty a day looks for the same eight every time and the ones missing them go to the bottom of the pile.
Nothing describing an internal rate position ever reaches a vendor-facing message. What you are willing to accept is yours; what you are asking is theirs.
Frequently asked
Can I send it myself instead?
Yes. Record that it went out by another route and the submission is tracked the same way — it is the record that matters, not which button sent it.
Why does it ask for the route rather than just the vendor?
Because work often passes through more than one company before it reaches the client, and who you are waiting on depends on which hop it is sitting at.
What if the consultant has not approved this yet?
Ask them. Nothing goes out for somebody who has not agreed to be put forward to that client, and the ask is one link.
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More in Submissions
- The submission stages Ready, Sent, Progressing and Closed — what each means and what moves between them.
- Next action, waiting on, and what is late Where the next step comes from, who is holding a submission, and what turns red.
- Chasing what is owed One sitting that clears a morning of follow-ups, grouped by who you are chasing.
- Likelihood and health scores What thin, fair and strong mean, and why every score opens its reasons.
- Interviews, offers and starts Why an acceptance is tied to one version, and why a start is a separate act.
- Today: your morning list What is owed this morning, grouped by where it came from, in the order it has to happen.
Still stuck? Tell us what you are trying to do — a person answers, and we would rather fix the product than explain it twice.