Well before budgets are set. Australian government agencies, and many Australian companies, run their financial year from 1 July, and budgets are decided before it starts. Buyers call the vendors they already know first, so the relationships need to be in place before the budget conversation, not after it.
Why timing decides the shortlist
By the time an RFP is written, the buyer usually knows who they want to hear from. The vendors in that conversation earned their place months earlier, through content the buyer read, a roundtable they attended or a peer who mentioned them.
Start now, or wait a year
Start now and you're in the room when budgets are set, your story frames the category, and roundtable relationships have time to become shortlists. Wait a year and your first conversation is with procurement, not the CISO, and you compete on price because nobody knows your story.
What to do first
Write your destination postcard, name your target accounts, and book the first roundtable. Those three steps take weeks, not months, and everything else builds on them.