What makes an ideal RFP?
Responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) generally is a lengthy and painful course of. And but, it’s turn out to be a crucial a part of gross sales.
Everybody who responds to an RFP has an image of their thoughts of what the successful submission seems like.
Will or not it’s me or another person who wins this deal? What makes the perfect response? Is it the font?
(Trace: it’s not the font)
I’ve seen tons of of proposals over time. And whereas there’s no precise science, there are some repeatable methods that may improve 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 at all times baffled by a few of the brevity of the responses.
Rushed solutions like “Sure. No. Perhaps sooner or later. We don’t do this.” won’t assist your case. They appear extra like scribbled notes than an expert response to a proposal.
Brief, unexplained solutions depart 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. In case you don’t meet a requirement, clarify why.
We get it, you need to spend as little time writing as doable. Assuming you’re not already utilizing an RFP automation instrument, that is sensible. However contemplate how a lot effort your buyer places into crafting the proposal doc. It will 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 e-book.
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 preserve your solutions to the purpose and trim the fats the place doable.
For instance, as a substitute of writing 3 paragraphs in your community structure, embody 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 do this?”
As a substitute of ready for the inevitable follow-up query, embody your supporting materials upfront. Hyperlink to internet 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 at all times add extra depth to your solutions or submit content material alongside your submitted RFP supplies. Who’s going to cease you?
4. Ask questions
It is a nice approach to preserve your buyer engaged throughout 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 successful technique, and extended episodes of silence can damage your deal.
Asking your prospect questions all through the method cannot solely preserve you within the dialog, you should use these as alternatives to disclose details about the aggressive course of.
Clarifying questions on necessities can be crucial to writing a successful response. Don’t suppose it makes you look “weak” – the fact is most respondents won’t meet each requirement for a challenge. Getting readability on what’s really vital to the customer can vastly enhance your odds of successful.
Listed below are some examples:
- “Why did you ask this specific requirement, is it one thing you’re seeing from rivals?”
- “How vital is that this requirement? Do you know you may get higher outcomes with XYZ?”
- “ABC is on our roadmap. How do you suggest we reply to this query?”
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5. Deal with buyer objections preemptively in your response
Among the best issues you are able to do is to make use of the responses as a way of objection dealing with.
Each RFP is basically an asynchronous gross sales dialogue in written kind.
Fake you’re 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, battle again and clarify your case.
Embrace trap-setting questions the client can ask your rivals. For arduous necessities you don’t meet, ask the client why these necessities are vital. Clarify alternate options and supply buyer proof for the way they’ll 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
It is a frequent piece of gross sales recommendation:
“Don’t reply until you already know you’re ready to win.”
Sure, you need to keep away from losing time on an RFP the place you’re not greatest positioned to win. Nevertheless, declining to answer a chance will not be a method.
It’s best to be capable of shortly decide should you’re simply getting used as a comparability to somebody who has already received the seller choice course of. If not, then there’s no cause why you shouldn’t reply - Ready till the final minute
Early chicken will get the worm. You don’t need 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 mean you can get again to promoting.
Far too typically, we see corporations delay the method to a degree the place it seems like they’re submitting a rushed e-book report on the final minute. - Assuming nobody reads the doc
Nobody’s REALLY going to learn these large responses, Proper?
Fallacious.
The fact is that almost all corporations that run vendor choices have devoted staff members who handle the method. That’s a mistake that may lead you to poor/incomplete responses.
Bear 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 pointers to generate responses that may improve your probabilities of success.
Picture by Drazen Zigic on Freepik
