Previous Issues
Fast forward
Great advertising accelerates brand awareness — and gets customers up to speed on new products.
Sign up now for our monthly e-newsletter. Ideas, information, links to quick-read case studies.
Your trade show booth: Creating displays, designs, and messages with real stopping power.
You just sent out an RFP (Request for Proposal). Will it create a positive brand impression?
An RFP is the first step in engaging a strategic partner. As such, it's not simply a straightforward business communication, it's a brand opportunity.
Many organizations overlook the opportunity the RFP presents, hurriedly creating a "good enough" piece that's neither clear, nor particularly compelling. Others approach the RFP with dread, repurposing an existing document rather than rethinking the process, the requirements, and the schedule.
If you're seeking a smart, strategic partner, your RFP should reflect that. Here are seven guidelines to help you create a great RFP, in other words, a "Really Fine Publication."
1. Prequalify recipients
Who will receive your RFP? Take the time to prequalify recipients by visiting Web sites, interviewing principals, and requesting portfolios. Send your RFP only to those companies who have a reasonable chance of doing business with you. This is not only courteous and professional, it's efficient. Many firms will decline to respond when they discover you have sent the RFP to dozens of recipients. While firms understand your requirement to obtain competitive bids, most are unwilling to complete a time-consuming RFP if they sense they've been included merely to provide another point of reference.
As a preliminary step, you might consider sending an RFI (Request for Information). Less formal than RFPs, RFIs can help you find the best candidates based on quality of work, capabilities, industry experience, reputation, size of staff, and geographic location.
2. Communicate clearly
Take a good, hard look at your RFP. What, exactly, does it communicate about your organization?
Is it well structured and clearly written? Can recipients scan it and understand what you're looking for? Is it free of confusing jargon? Does it include a checklist of response requirements?
Realize that you get what you request. If you send a complex, detailed document, you will receive a complex, detailed response. If you request fewer facts and figures and more creativity, your recipients will happily oblige. Regardless of your goal, strive to create an RFP that represents a top-notch brand communication, one you would eagerly share with senior executives at your organization. High-quality RFPs garner high-quality responses.
3. Value brevity
Longer does not mean better. If your RFP has chapters or a complicated numbering system (Section 3.3.2.2.1 and the like), consider pruning or cutting way back. In many organizations RFPs begin simply enough, but then get passed along and expanded upon — year after year, author after author, project after project — until they become completely overgrown, redundant, and confusing.
If you've inherited a huge, unwieldy RFP, take action. Don't add to it; subtract and rethink. Or consider starting fresh with an RFP template. Many are available online.
4. Answer questions
The RFP process should be respectful, fair, and professional. Set aside time to answer questions by phone and e-mail. Indicate you will compile questions from all recipients — and provide answers to all recipients.
It's also good form to share the names of those firms who have received your RFP. You may receive a more competitive or more creative response by doing so.
5. Create a realistic schedule
Responding to an RFP, especially a large-scale RFP, takes time. Give recipients reasonable deadlines — and reciprocate by making your decision in a comparable amount of time. Best-in-class RFPs include dates for decision milestones, such as the following:
- Selection team reads and scores proposals
- Selection team meets to short-list finalists
- Finalists notified
- Finalists present to selection team
- Selection team makes final decision
- Contract negotiations finalized
- All bidders notified of decision
6. Provide clear evaluation criteria
How will you make the decision? Create — and share — evaluation criteria. You'll simplify the decision-making process and receive more complete information from all respondees. Some RFPs indicate that price is most important. Others present a more detailed scoring system with a number of variables. Here's an example:
- Expertise
- Creativity
- Team member credentials
- References
- Account and budget management
- Ability to meet schedule
- Overall price
It's helpful if you indicate the value you'll place on each variable. For instance, expertise: 30 percent, overall price: 20 percent, and so on.
7. Follow up with all bidders
Telling someone they did not win the work is part of the job. Take the time to talk with each firm that submitted a proposal. Most will appreciate a candid critique, thanking you for initiating a forthright discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of their proposal relative to the competition.
If you've been responsible for an RFP, you'll breathe a sigh of relief once you've finished writing and distributing it. While it's certainly an achievement worth celebrating, it's not actually the end, but the beginning of a long-term relationship with a new strategic partner. Make sure the first step of that relationship is a positive brand-building experience.
