RFPs are a paradox.
Clear in that they’re up front with budget and scope. If only every client was so open.
Confusing in that their budget and scope don’t, in any way, line up.
Exciting in the opportunity they present. Often a large contract that would significantly change your business.
Tedious in that you now need to find the time to produce a document the length of one of the great American novels.
Because if we understand why RFPs exist, we can actually win some of them.
What does it mean to be asked?
Firstly, if you’re getting sent RFPs, congratulations.
Someone has had a look at you and wanted you involved. This is worth remembering if you automatically think you can’t win.
Someone said “I want to read thousands of words about this agency”. That’s actually quite a strong buying signal.
And just because the RFP document is boring doesn’t mean they want you to be.
Why would someone issue an RFP?
To get options
Part of the risk is not being able to find someone that can do the work. The RFP is designed to result in several proposals from agencies that the RFP issuer can choose from.
Create competition
One of the KPIs of a business’s procurement department is to get good value. They are setting up a competition to make sure they pay the right price.
To make a good decision
Within this competition they want to compare like for like. They don’t want your sales team involved to influence things. They are trying to make a decision on objective information.
To be transparent
When someone runs an RFP they want to show someone else how they came to a decision. This protects individuals from being solely accountable if something goes wrong. It also means they can take things to someone outside the process for sign-off.
They need an audit trail
This often goes hand in hand with the work being important. They need to show that the process has been fair. This is often the case when there’s public (i.e., taxpayers’) money involved.
Get excited because
This all means the project is high risk
Companies use RFPs when they’re undertaking a piece of work that has to deliver for them, and they need to be very considered in the selection process. High risk normally means high value, important work. Exactly where you want to be operating.
When you look closer, most aspects of the way the RFP works are around reducing that risk.
Understanding this means you can empathise with the people in the process and help them work through the inevitable problems you will find.
The problems with RFPs
Three things that make them hard and a “careful, now”.
They don’t outline a coherent project
That’s because they’re just a representation of an organisation’s understanding of their goals and what’s important. And every business (including yours and mine) is undecided about its goals and how to achieve them.
So this disagreement can, and will, play out in the RFP itself.
The cold shoulder
Another thing you’ll find with RFPs is they’re often not interested in talking to you before the bid is in.
Because that would be “unfair”.
But how are you supposed to understand the nuances of the project and get the pricing right?
The RFP process doesn’t provide a solution for this. It just shrugs its shoulders.
The bizarre fairness mechanisms
The way that RFP processes try to deal with treating every participant fairly is just bizarre.
At some point there will be a chance for bidders to ask questions. The questions (and their answers) will then be shared with all the other bidders.
There’s an interesting psychological study to be had here. If you ask your questions and get valuable insight, it’s going to be shared with all the competition. So should you ask good questions? Should you throw in some misleading ones?
It’s virtually game theory.
Careful, now
These are things that need more space to expand on but need to be mentioned:
- The RFP is about reducing risk. But it only cares about reducing risk for the buyer. That risk has to go somewhere, and you have to push back when too much lands on you.
- RFPs are also a massive time investment. Your approach should either go all in or leave it alone. To start winning these you need to put in the time and go after them regularly.
Your approach
So how should you respond to an RFP?
You have to acknowledge and respect the rules. But that doesn’t mean you have to blindly follow them.
You should still try to run things your way.
Ignore the rules and ask to jump on a call. Ask to run a workshop. Ask if you can meet people and unpack the problem.
There’s some good reasons for trying this:
- You might actually get somewhere and get the important information you need. A lot of RFP processes look strict, but the rules aren’t always that hard and fast.
- You’re showing the people in the process what you’re like even if the official process decides that can’t be considered. You’ll still be influencing the human you are speaking to. It’s not as if robots are running procurement (😬).
- Whenever the process bends even slightly towards your way, that’s a strong buying signal. And given the investment you have to put in you’re going to need strong buying signals to justify the work of creating a response.
Ultimately respond to the people in the process
Don’t only respond to the document, respond to the people in the process.
The individuals in an RFP process often have a very different outlook than the company.
They’re inside an RFP procurement process too and there’s a high chance they’d rather not be.
They’re often the reason you’re involved.
A big corporate company or government body wants to make a change. They hire someone in to help. That person says, “I need some specialist skills here. I want to hire an agency.”
They get sign-off, but now they’ve got to deal with their own business’s procurement process.
The person reaching out to you wants things to be lightweight. They want the procurement process to be about idea generation, collaboration, and flexibility.
But they now work for a company where that’s not allowed.
However, if you want them as a champion, you have to show them that you’re willing.
That you are that innovative company, but you’re also willing to jump through the hoops to join them and go into battle with them against the old way of doing things that exists inside their business.
Conclusion
Of course that’s not every business and every RFP.
Some are big, boring, they emailed you without researching and you are just making up the numbers.
Reaching out personally to the people involved can help establish this too and you can pass on by.
But some RFPs contain people and projects that will change your business. They are just hiding behind a big PDF.
See if you can spot them, and when you do, show up as the agency you truly are.