What makes an awesome RFP?
Responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) could be a lengthy and painful course of. And but, it’s turn into a crucial a part of gross sales.
Everybody who responds to an RFP has an image of their thoughts of what the profitable submission seems to be like.
Will it’s me or another person who wins this deal? What makes the most effective 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 enhance your odds of profitable.
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Listed here are the 5 RFP greatest strategies:
1. Don’t write notes, write responses.
I’m at all times baffled by among 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 give the impression of being extra like scribbled notes than an expert response to a proposal.
Brief, unexplained solutions go away room for the shopper to fill within the blanks. That’s not going to enhance your possibilities of profitable.
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 tool, that is smart. However think about how a lot effort your buyer places into crafting the proposal doc. It could 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 must learn prefer it was written by an expert creator. Each reply doesn’t have to be a college-level dissertation.
There’s somebody on the opposite finish of that submission who has to make sense of your solutions. So maintain 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, 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 do this?”
As an alternative 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 info/clarification” part so be certain that 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
This can be a nice method to maintain your buyer engaged through the RFP course of.
Far too usually, 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 maintain you within the dialog, you should utilize these as alternatives to disclose details about the aggressive course of.
Clarifying questions on necessities can also be crucial to writing a profitable 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 actually vital to the client can significantly enhance your odds of profitable.
Listed here are some examples:
- “Why did you ask this specific requirement, is it one thing you’re seeing from opponents?”
- “How vital is that this requirement? Do you know you may get higher outcomes with XYZ?”
- “ABC is on our roadmap. How do you advocate we reply to this query?”
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5. Deal with buyer objections preemptively in your response
Among the finest 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 type.
Fake you’re having a dialog and the shopper challenges you on a specific requirement. Are you simply going to surrender on the decision proper then and there?
Clearly not.
So when confronted with a difficult RFP requirement, combat again and clarify your case.
Embrace trap-setting questions the shopper can ask your opponents. For exhausting necessities you don’t meet, ask the shopper why these necessities are vital. Clarify alternate options and supply buyer proof for a 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 here are 3 RFP practices to keep away from
- Not Responding
This can be a frequent piece of gross sales recommendation:
“Don’t reply until you already know you’re ready to win.”
Sure, it is best to keep away from losing time on an RFP the place you’re not greatest positioned to win. Nonetheless, declining to reply to a possibility isn’t a method.
You must be capable of rapidly decide when 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 fowl 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 performed rapidly will assist you to get again to promoting.
Far too usually, we see corporations delay the method to a degree the place it seems to be 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 huge responses, Proper?
Incorrect.
The fact is that the majority corporations that run vendor choices have devoted team members who manage the method. That’s a mistake that can 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.
Comply with these tips to generate responses that may enhance your possibilities of success.
Picture by Drazen Zigic on Freepik
