What makes a fantastic RFP?
Responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) is usually a lengthy and painful course of. And but, it’s develop into a essential a part of gross sales.
Everybody who responds to an RFP has an image of their thoughts of what the successful submission appears like.
Will or not it’s me or another person who wins this deal? What makes one of the best response? Is it the font?
(Trace: it’s not the font)
I’ve seen tons of of proposals through the years. And whereas there’s no precise science, there are some repeatable methods that may enhance your odds of successful.
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Listed below are the 5 RFP greatest methods:
1. Don’t write notes, write responses.
I’m all the time baffled by a number of the brevity of the responses.
Rushed solutions like “Sure. No. Possibly sooner or later. We don’t try this.” is not going to assist your case. They give the impression of being extra like scribbled notes than an expert response to a proposal.
Quick, unexplained solutions go away room for the client to fill within the blanks. That’s not going to enhance your probabilities of successful.
At all times attempt to clarify your solutions. For those who don’t meet a requirement, clarify why.
We get it, you wish to spend as little time writing as attainable. Assuming you’re not already utilizing an RFP automation tool, that is smart. However contemplate how a lot effort your buyer places into crafting the proposal doc. It might profit you to reciprocate that effort in your solutions.
2. Much less is extra
In that very same vein, let me advise you to not deal with the RFP such as you’re writing a ebook.
An efficient RFP doesn’t have to learn prefer it was written by an expert writer. Each reply doesn’t must be a college-level dissertation.
There’s somebody on the opposite finish of that submission who has to make sense of your solutions. So hold your solutions to the purpose and trim the fats the place attainable.
For instance, as an alternative of writing 3 paragraphs in your community structure, embrace a diagram. This leads us to our subsequent level.
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3. Embrace hyperlinks to supporting content material
You get a query like this:
“Do you help [insert obscured integration here]?”
You reply “Sure.”
The client might be going to ask “How do you try this?”
As a substitute of ready for the inevitable follow-up query, embrace your supporting materials upfront. Hyperlink to net pages, paperwork, or diagrams that may assist clarify your response.
Most RFP response templates comprise a “supporting data/rationalization” part so make certain to make use of it. Even when they don’t, you’ll be able to all the time add extra depth to your solutions or submit content material alongside your submitted RFP supplies. Who’s going to cease you?
4. Ask questions
This can be a nice solution to hold your buyer engaged through the RFP course of.
Far too typically, respondents will full an RFP and throw it over the wall. Then they wait, hoping for a response. This isn’t a winning strategy, and extended episodes of silence can damage your deal.
Asking your prospect questions all through the method cannot solely hold you within the dialog, you need to use these as alternatives to disclose details about the aggressive course of.
Clarifying questions on necessities can be essential to writing a successful response. Don’t suppose it makes you look “weak” – the truth is most respondents is not going to meet each requirement for a challenge. Getting readability on what’s actually necessary to the client can enormously enhance your odds of successful.
Listed below are some examples:
- “Why did you ask this explicit requirement, is it one thing you’re seeing from opponents?”
- “How necessary is that this requirement? Do you know you will get higher outcomes with XYZ?”
- “ABC is on our roadmap. How do you advocate we reply to this query?”
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5. Handle buyer objections preemptively in your response
The most effective issues you are able to do is to make use of the responses as a method of objection dealing with.
Each RFP is actually an asynchronous gross sales dialogue in written kind.
Fake you might be having a dialog and the client challenges you on a selected requirement. Are you simply going to surrender on the decision proper then and there?
Clearly not.
So when confronted with a difficult RFP requirement, struggle again and clarify your case.
Embrace trap-setting questions the client can ask your opponents. For laborious necessities you don’t meet, ask the client why these necessities are necessary. Clarify options and supply buyer proof for a way they will go about the issue along with your resolution.
Each reply is a chance to embed one thing you do higher than the competitors.
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Bonus: Listed below are 3 RFP practices to keep away from
- Not Responding
This can be a widespread piece of gross sales recommendation:
“Don’t reply except you’re able to win.”
Sure, you must keep away from losing time on an RFP the place you’re not greatest positioned to win. Nevertheless, declining to reply to a possibility is just not a technique.
It is best to have the ability to shortly decide in case you’re simply getting used as a comparability to somebody who has already gained the seller choice course of. If not, then there’s no cause why you shouldn’t reply - Ready till the final minute
Early fowl will get the worm. You don’t wish to be the final firm to submit on the eleventh hour. It doesn’t matter if the choice course of takes weeks, and even months. Getting the RFP accomplished shortly will help you get again to promoting.
Far too typically, we see firms extend the method to a degree the place it appears like they’re submitting a rushed ebook report on the final minute. - Assuming nobody reads the doc
Nobody’s REALLY going to learn these huge responses, Proper?
Incorrect.
The truth is that almost all firms that run vendor choices have devoted team members who manage the method. That’s a mistake that can lead you to poor/incomplete responses.
Keep in mind, “assumption is the mom of all.”
Conclusion
Responding to an RFP is painful. We get it.
However what’s actually painful is losing the chance on a sub-par response.
Observe these tips to generate responses that may enhance your probabilities of success.
Picture by Drazen Zigic on Freepik