Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
About the site
Account, registration and login
Business profiles
- Create a business profile (or industry association) in the Directory
- Claim my business
- Adding key contacts
Listing a project or event
- Create an event
- Create project as a small / medium business
- Create procurement notification as an enterprise
Expert articles
- Add your Expert Article
- Commenting on Expert Articles
- Requesting removal of Expert Article or comment
Managing a business, project or event
Searching
Contacting others
About the Site
What is BBP Connect?
BBP Connect is a digital community that helps local businesses to raise their profile with new local customers, to connect and collaborate with each other, and for local suppliers to connect to local procurement opportunities.
Why join BBP Connect?
Search and Connect
Easily search for and connect with businesses in your local area. Answering the question: "I wonder if there is a local that can do that?" has never been easier.
Business Profiles
Your business profile on BBP Connect promotes what you do and who you do it for. Your profile can showcase your key contacts, the goods and services you offer, and the size of jobs you have capacity to deliver. Note: To add a business listing your business must be located in the BBP
Get quotes from local businesses
Get quotes or letters of introduction. Streamline the process for connecting to local suppliers on your projects.
Account Registration and Login
Create your account
It’s easy, first:
- Click on “create an account” in the top menu.
- Create a username. This occasionally appears throughout the site, for example in the URL for your public user profile, so keep it professional.
- Enter your email, name and password and Create Account.
Then you will need to check your email inbox and click on the activation link. This will take you to your account dashboard.
Finally, go to the Edit Profile page to complete your user profile.
I forgot my password
If you have forgotten your password, you can request a new password by email from the Login page.
An email with instructions to reset your password will be sent to you.
Manage my account
If you need to change your password you can reset your password by email from the Login page.
If you want to update your public profile photo, bio or occupation, you can do so from the Edit Profile page.
Business Profiles
Register a business or a industry association
You need to have created an account before you can list your business.
To add a business listing your business must be located in the BBP. To add a Industry Association you do not have to be located in the BBP, but it does have to be relevant to the BBP Community
Important: registering a local business is moderated for quality and locality. Your business listing will appear within 2 business days. If you need to speed this up, email hello@bbpconnect.com.au or call support on 0424 620 366.
- From the Businesses menu, open “Add a business”
- Complete the two page form. Includes: business name, description, industry categorisation, goods/services, business logo, social enterprise or Aboriginal-owned business, contact information, staff.
- After submission, you can manage your business details from your dashboard.
Notes:
- You can add multiple businesses if you need.
Claim my business, it is already listed
If you find that your business is already registered and you want to take ownership, please contact support on hello@bbpconnect.com.au or 0424 620 366.
Adding people on your business profile (aka key contacts)
If you have key publicly facing people in your organisation, add them as Key Contacts. You can add them when creating your business profile, or when editing.
Towards the end of the form, there will be a "Key Contacts" section. Please select the number of key contacts you want to display (up to maximum of 3) and enter the optional and relevant details.
What you should have ready:
- Profile photo
- Name
- Role
- Specialities
- Direct contact info
Listing a Project or Event
Create an event
You need to have created an account before you can advertise an Event. You can advertise local events on behalf of others.
To add a busines event to the calendar it does not have to be located in the BBP, but it does have to be relevant to the BBP community
Important: Advertising an event is moderated for quality and locality. Your event will appear within 2 business days. If you need to speed this up, email hello@bbpconnect.com.au or call support on 0424 620 366.
- From the Events menu, open “Add event”
- Complete the web form. Includes: Event title, description, time/date, venue details, organiser details, event registration URL, cost.
- After submission, you can manage your Event from your dashboard.
Notes:
- Venue: you can search and find an event if it’s already been used in other local events. If it’s a previously-unlisted venue, you will need to “Create: [Venue Name]” and provide details.
- Organiser: If you have previously created an event, past event organisers will be available in the dropdown. If they are new, you will need to “Create: [Contact Name]” and provide details. You can add multiple organisers.
Privacy:
- You don’t have to display your direct contact information if you choose.
Create project as a small / medium business
You need to have created an account before you can create a Project. To post a project where you’re actively seeking less formal responses from local businesses.
To add a project, you do not have to be located in the BBP, but it does have to be relevant to the BBP community
- Tap/click on “Add small business project” from the Projects menu.
- Enter all the required information.
- Select your business as the client, or select ‘other’ and enter the appropriate contact details.
- Attach files if you want.
Important: Advertising an event is moderated for quality and locality. Your event will appear within 2 business days. If you need to speed this up, email hello@bbpconnect.com.au or call support on 0424 620 366.
Privacy:
- You do not have to display your direct contact information if you choose and use in-app messaging for any communications with others.
Create procurement notification as an enterprise
You need to have created an account before you can create a Future Procurement.
To add a procurement, you do not have to be located in the BBP, but it does have to be relevant to the BBP community
To post a future procurement:
- Tap/click on “Add a Future Procurement” from the Projects menu.
- Enter all the required information.
- If your procurement is being managed in a procurement platform (eg: Vendor Panel or TenderSearch), please direct all local businesses to that URL.
- If your organisation has pre-qualification requirements, list these here.
- Select your business as the client, or select ‘other’ and enter the appropriate contact details.
- Attach files if you want.
Important: Advertising an event is moderated for quality and locality. Your event will appear within 2 business days. If you need to speed this up, email hello@bbpconnect.com.au or call support on 0424 620 366.
Privacy:
- You can choose not to display your direct contact information if you prefer and use in-app messaging for any communications with others.
- You can choose to disable all forms of communications (in-app messaging, direct contact information) to avoid any responses about the procurement notification.
Expert Articles & Noticeboard Posts
Add your Expert Article or Noticeboard post
All Expert Article submissions are moderated.
To add an expert article or notice board news you do not have to be located in the BBP, but it does have to be relevant to the BBP community
Moderation rules:
- The author is a local business person
- The author has a Person profile; including profile image, title and business name
- The author Person profile bio needs to demonstrate your expertise
- Article content is of an advisory nature
- Article content is targeted to a Business audience
Commenting on Articles and Notices
You can add value to your local business community by adding comments to an expert article. Be mindful that this is a public forum, so be respectful. Disrespectful comments will be removed.
Editing Articles and Notices
Unfortunately, you can't directly edit your posts nor articles. Please email hello@bbpconnect.com.au or call support on 0424 620 366 to arrange updates.
Removal of Expert Articles, Notices or comments
If you find that an Expert Article or Noticeboard posts infringes copyright or should be removed, please email hello@bbpconnect.com.au or call support on 0424 620 366. Support will review your request and may make contact with the author prior to removal.
If a comment is not respectful, or actively devalues the local business community, please email hello@bbpconnect.com.au or call support on 0424 620 366. Support will review your request and may make contact with the author prior to removal.
If you are the owner of an article or notice, you can delete it directly from the list of articles and notices. There will be a "Delete" link next to the title.
Managing a Business, Project or Event
Update my business
If you need to update your business that you have created, you can do this from your Dashboard. There is an “Edit” link at the bottom of the business listing in your dashboard.
You can update all the information shown: title, description, goods/services, Social Enterprise or Indigenous Organisation, contact information, logo.
To add team members and staff onto the business profile, they need to register to create an account. You can then find and add them to appear on your business profile. Ensure they have a professional photo and description on their user profile, as their public user profile will be linked from your business.
Delete my business
If you need to remove the business listing, you can delete it from the business page, which you can find from the business search page or your dashboard. There is a small “Delete” link at the bottom of the page
Warning: Deleting is permanent and can’t be undone!
Update my event
You can change the events you add to the site from the “My Events” menu. Each event has a View | Edit | Delete set of options.
Warning: Deleting is permanent and can’t be undone!
Update my project / procurement
If you need to update a project / procurement that you have created, you can do this from your Dashboard. There is an “Edit” link at the bottom of the each project listed in your dashboard.
If you have found a great supplier before the close date and don’t wish to receive more messages, it’s best practice to edit the project and change the close date to yesterday. This automagically moves the project to the bottom of the projects list, so users always see currently open projects above closed projects.
Searching
Find local businesses
You can search for local businesses from the Browse Businesses page in the “Businesses” menu.
Use keywords to find businesses you need, or you can filter by town/suburb or by industry.
Find business events
You can search for local business events from the Browse Events page in the Events menu.
Use the date to find events from that date forward.
Use keywords to find events relating to what interests you.
Or you can search by location.
Find projects and future procurements
You can search for projects from small/medium businesses or future procurement opportunities from enterprises from the “Projects” menu.
Use keywords to find projects, or you can filter by industry or town.
Contacting others
Responding to project / procurement
If you have viewed a project / procurement description and wish to respond with an offer:
- If the project owner wishes to be contacted through the site, there will be a ‘CONTACT PROJECT OWNER’ button located at the bottom of the project / procurement page.
- If the project owner wishes to receive all communication through an external URL, the contact button will not be visible, but there will be a link to the external site available under ‘EXTERNAL TENDER WEBSITE’ on the project / procurement page.
Contacting event organiser
To contact an event organiser, click on an event on the Browse Events page to open up a detailed listing of the event information. The organiser’s contact information will be available at the bottom of the listing, inside an information box marked with ‘ORGANISER’.
Contacting a business
To contact a business from our Business directory, click on the business name to open up a detailed listing of the Business’ information.
- The full contact information (phone number, address, website) will be listed in the left hand sidebar, beneath the business logo.
- Use the ‘Message Business’ button to send a direct message to the business owner through the site.
How to respond to in-site messages
Members of the site have access to a personal inbox for sending and receiving messages with other members. Logged in users will be able to select ACCOUNT > INBOX in the header menu to view their inbox.
- All non-archived messages are visible in the left hand side-bar of the inbox. This box is scrollable using your mouse-wheel to by hovering the mouse over the side-bar and using the arrow keys on your keyboard.
- To respond to a message, select it from the sidebar so the full message displays on the right. There is a reply icon in the top-right corner of the message box. Clicking this button will open a message overlay, allowing you to write your message and attach any relevant files. Click ‘Send’ when you are ready to reply to your recipient.
- Older messages can be archived so they don’t clog up your inbox. To archive a message, select it from the sidebar so the full message displays on the right. The archive button is in the top-right corner of the message box, next to the reply icon. Archived messages are saved in your account, but are only listed in the ‘Archive’ view.
- Messages cannot be deleted, they can only be archived, so there is no risk of losing important information from your contacts.