In my youth, in the days before we males were rescued and transformed by feminism, it was popular among us boys to say the following about women: “You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them.” The same can be said about proposals. Whether we work for the (Wo)Man or ourselves, proposals are a necessary evil. We love them, and we hate them.
The dirty little secret and the driving force behind our hate is that there is no right or best way to issue RFPs or to submit proposals. Oh, sure, there are formulas and templates, but they are no more successful in terms of letting and getting work then those of us who change the way we do our proposals every time we issue or submit one.
However, I suspect that if we put our heads together today, we can share ideas that will make our RFPs and proposals more successful. So, I’ll begin.
My proposal writing begins as soon as I decide to go after a certain client’s work. Here are the steps I take once that client is identified:
1. Background Research on the business, especially financials, press releases and media articles.
2. Through that research, identify an area where the business needs help that I can offer.
3. Look for a way to meet the decision maker (networking, referral, lead, or, if necessary, a direct mail campaign followed-up by telemarketing.
4. Get a meeting if that decision maker is interested in my services, and listen, listen, listen.
Now it’s your turn to do the heavy lifting. If you start the process differently, please share. More importantly, what does your proposal look like? What are the things that most often work? Share everything. We will be grateful for your willingness to share your best practices and your creative moves. Don’t be shy.
Tags: Advertising, Marketing, Professional_services, Proposals, public_relations, RFP, Sales
Ah, a subject near and dear to my heart.
I’ve written about it twice:
http://brainsonfire.com/blog/rfps-are-evil/
http://brainsonfire.com/blog/rfps-are-still-evil/
RFPs are evil. Don’t answer them. They are everything that’s wrong with the agency/client relationship. Seriously. They are archaic and automatically lower you to the same level as everyone you’re competing against.
As Blair Enns (http://winwithoutpitching.com/) taught us a long time ago: Proposals are the words that come out of your mouth.
We write contracts. That’s it. No RFPs, no proposals – contracts.
So I propose that we all ban the practice of writing and answering RFPs. It will change the way (in a good way) of how we do business. But it can only work if we all do it together.
Spike,
Something must be in the water. Once again, we agree. Not only do we not respond to RFPs, we don’t look for them.
But, I’m not sure how one avoids proposals. Perhaps it’s the difference in our work. Although some of our potential clients are happy with a bid, at least 50 percent of them require a proposal describing the scope of our work, a timeline of that work, the cost of that work, and how we will achieve measurable goals.
If hired, the proposal becomes the contract. So are we saying the same thing?
I think we might be on the same page, as a matter of fact.
But the only time we put together anything formal is when the potential partner wants to see everything we’ve talked about in writing. Only when we’re far down the path and very close to working together (as in they’ve been fully qualified) is when we’ll create a physical document.
Spike,
We are saying the same thing. We don’t do anything until we are one of a few bidding on a project or until we are the ones getting the work, if our price is within a client’s budget.
I agree that proposals and RFP’s are a necessary evil. Especially if you receive an RFP from a company you’ve never spoken too. You would think that it’s a free opportunity to get your proposal in the hands of a new company. Well this could be good and bad. In my many years of writing proposals and responding to RFP’s I’ve learned one thing, companies love to fish. They love to see what kind of process you are going to outline and then ultimately go with who they are already with or bring it in house.
One way my colleagues and I try and avoid unnecessary proposal work is to be adamant about speaking to the decision makers and getting some kind of budget out of them. If they won’t give that to us, which most won’t, then we will tell them what our pricing is going to be before going through the trouble of writing the proposal. If we get a verbal agreement that our pricing is okay, then it’s worth the effort. If we are way out of the park, then at least we didn’t have to draft another proposal.
Then of course sometimes, we just have to take that leap of faith and do a proposal without speaking to a decision maker or giving them pricing information. It’s just the nature of being in business and making the call.
I agree that proposals and RFP’s are a necessary evil. Especially if you receive an RFP from a company you’ve never spoken too. You would think that it’s a free opportunity to get your proposal in the hands of a new company. Well this could be good and bad. In my many years of writing proposals and responding to RFP’s I’ve learned one thing, companies love to fish. They love to see what kind of process you are going to outline and then ultimately go with who they are already with or bring it in house.
One way my colleagues and I try and avoid unnecessary proposal work is to be adamant about speaking to the decision makers and getting some kind of budget out of them. If they won’t give that to us, which most won’t, then we will tell them what our pricing is going to be before going through the trouble of writing the proposal. If we get a verbal agreement that our pricing is okay, then it’s worth the effort. If we are way out of the park, then at least we didn’t have to draft another proposal.
Then of course sometimes, we just have to take that leap of faith and do a proposal without speaking to a decision maker or giving them pricing information. It’s just the nature of being in business and making the call.
Anthony,
Great tip. We always as the client for their budget range, and like you, if they don’t provide one we offer ballpark figures.
We don’t have the time to be fish in a pond, and we want businesses to respect us, as we enter every discussion with the greatest respect for them. If we didn’t respect them, we wouldn’t be meeting with them.
I disagree with Spike that RFPs are evil. Anthony is right to correct him by saying they are a necessary evil. And I have responded to RFPs when they seem to be properly thought out and not full of b.s. questions designed just to make the proposal writer or the search agency look smart.
Onme of the questions I always ask, as part of the listening stage (your 4th item) is “Can you give me any budget guidelines?” if budget is not spelled out in the RFP. I don’t always get a definitive answer, but by asking there’s at least a chance that I’ll get a range, so I don’t throw a $100,000 proposal at a $50,000 client. Or, if their budget is larger than I might have guessed, I can then do some high-end thinking for them.
RFPs establish a non-healthy relationship.
David, how many RFPs have you answered and how many have you won? The only time we answer an RFP is when we have the inside track, or – even better – when we write it ourselves. Someone ALWAYS has the inside track, no matter what you might be told. And if it’s not you, don’t waster your time.
Because we don’t answer RFPs, we don’t have to deal with the numbers game you all are talking about. They either have the money, or they don’t.
David,
I have to agree with Spike. I worked for several corporations who issued RFPs only as a means to negotiate fees with “the chosen one(s).”
In the publishing biz, were sent to companies that I knew had no chance. Finance required that we get 10 bids, even though we had longstanding relationships in every functional area with a minimum of three companies.
It is a bad game, and one I won’t play. If someone likes our work, they can write or call us and we will compete for the work if we are interested. Don’t send us an RFP.
More important than RFPs, I believe, is how we submit proposals (contracts) to compete for work. What are the best ways to achieve success?
My ass of a boss is making me go through the RFP process. He is a senior marketing manager with literally no marketing experience at all. He’s making me go through this process so he can learn what is needed from the agency so he can manage it based on a list of criteria. The very best agency may not come out ahead in this process.
Heather,
I have been out of the corporate world for a decade and forgot that RFPs are often issued for the reason you state. It’s a broken process, and one I wish we could get away from.
Spike, I read your posts and I agree that the system has to change. How fair is it that agencies must do the work and give it away up front, just in order to bid? It’s been so commonplace among the big CPG companies for years.
As for proposals, they also take time to prepare. There are many instances where the request isn’t serious and a company is fishing, either because the supplier is already chosen and they must do their due diligence, or maybe because they want ideas to do it in-house. I’m sure there are other motivations.
What I find difficult is to provide a flat rate for a project that isn’t solidified and hasn’t defined parameters. In those cases, I offer retainer packages based on my time.
And I agree with David. It’s a good idea to ask whether they have a budget in mind.
Spike:
Great post and responses. The love hate relationship we have with proposals is interesting. I for one like to write proposals. I find them to be a great creative outlet. Of course I hate loosing a proposal bid. I love to have proposals in the oven and hate having none on the horizon.
Your approach is a good one and if you are lucky you don’t have to write a detailed proposal. On the other hand, if they ask, I am sure you are happy to comply. One more point about this. Sometimes you have to go all out with a proposal for current clients as well. Just to show them you are not complacent.
I have been at this “thing of ours” for over 30 years and I can not tell you how many proposals I have written, and if your target is larger companies it is almost mandatory, in today’s world, to do so. I can tell you how it feels to have too many to write and how it feels to have none to write. Having too many is a much better feeling.
That being said, in the same 30 years I have never won a proposal when it came “over the transom” from a company or person I did not know or when I was not recommended by someone in the company. In other words you have to have some kind of personal relationship or else you are the “third bidder”. If I can not present the bid in person they I don’t want to write it. At least this is true in the marketing services business. I am not talking about selling plastic tubing.
So as you have made clear with your approach. We hate RFPs from people we don’t know and have never met and love them from people we have a relationship with.
Elaine and Harry,
It’s bad enough that I am agreeing with Spike. Now I have to suffer through the indiginity of you guys giving him credit for my post. It’s a conspiracy.
Good comments!
Spike, I’ve won a few times when responding to RFPs. I’d guess I have a 20% win rate.
I must say, though, that I don’t respond to many RFPs. If I see one where I feel I have very strong relevant experience, then I might give it a shot. The bulk of my business comes from referrals.
Sorry Lewis. You know how it is when you are turning 39. ( I wish) (:-)
Most times when you receive an unsolicited RFP, you are merely being included as ‘column fodder.’ That is, you are the second or third vendor being asked to bid so the buyer can say with a straight face that they looked at bids from other vendors. Typically the RFP was written in conjunction with the first or current vendor and is ‘wired’ to their sweet spot. You can only finish second.
My advice to salespeople is to use an RFP as an invitation to change the playing field by meeting with the prospect and discovering new needs that can only be provided by you. If they won’t agree to a meeting, then you can be sure you are not going to win the RFP. In that case, I respond with a nice letter and a volume of marketing material equal in weight to the RFP.
Lewis,
I like Jim’s last comment about the RFPs being skewed in favor of an existing or favorite consultant or supplier – kind of like the job listing that is written so specifically that only the preordained candidate can fill it.
Let’s put RFPs aside as a formal entity and talk about proposals, because you also mentioned that. I concur that meeting or having a long phone converstaion with the client/potential client is the crucial first step in formulating a proposal. A couple of things I want to know up front is how serious they are about engaging the work and going forward (are we just at the talking stage and in danger of committing a lot of time with nothing to show for it) and how many other firms they are talking with or planning on talking to (who is my compeition and is this a bidding war).
I will not compete in a bidding war and say so. I also have gotten burned several times when I have given a detailed analysis of their needs and come up with an effective strategy for addressing them only for them to take my exact proposal and shop it to other consultants. It’s a whole lot easier to bid on something when you don’t have to be the creative one who determines the scope of the work. When I anticipate this situation I walk away also.
Steve
I think you hit it on the head with:
The dirty little secret and the driving force behind our hate is that there is no right or best way to issue RFPs or to submit proposals. Oh, sure, there are formulas and templates, but they are no more successful in terms of letting and getting work then those of us who change the way we do our proposals every time we issue or submit one.
There was a good article in AdWeek on the topic (I have it here http://proposalsarechaos.blogspot.com/2007/07/why-rfps-should-rip.html). What to do…
There is nothing wrong with RFPs, simply that the majority are utter crap. The trick as far as I can see it to winning RFPs is to be as selective and objective as possible before undertaking the lengthy proposal-writing phase. BE SELECTIVE. Head over to the RFP Database @ http://www.rfpdb.com and only respond to the projects that you KNOW you have a good chance of winning. Use the RFPs that you aren’t going to bid on as currency and trade them in for new ones, ones that you might actually win.
My firm has gotten more selective in the RFPs we respond to and our win percentage has gone way up. We spend less time writing for RFPs we’ll never win and have more time to devote to writing compelling proposals for the projects we really believe we have a good shot at winning.
Excellent post. I like how succinctly you broke each stage down.
One of my biggest challenges this year has been working with proposals – I had two potential clients involve me in incredibly lengthy proposal processes (involving multiple rounds of proposals) before finally going with someone else. The whole thing soured me on the idea of doing proposals at all, but I realize that they’re a necessity if I want to get the really big jobs.