Don't Wait for RFPs - Start Proposals Early

As service contractors, we’ve probably spent more than our fair share of late nights rushing to complete a Request for Proposal (RFP). And may have worried about the errors that made their way in at the last minute, as much as the information we left out.

Those sleep-deprived, caffeine-stoked nights happen too often because we wait for the customer’s RFP to arrive before beginning our proposal. You’re probably asking “How can we start before the RFP arrives?”

That’s our Revenue-IQ article.

Regards,

Chris Arlen, President, Service Performance

The Pain in Proposals

The fact is by the time RFPs arrive we’re already behind. With due dates typically two weeks from the receipt of the RFP, we’re forced to jam more work into our already busy schedule, such as:

• Visit sites & cost the job—redoing pricing at the last minute!
• Fit our price into customers’ formats—forcing square pegs into round holes!
• Cut & paste answers to RFP questions—and no time left for our compelling proposal!

2 Myths That Hurt Proposal Success

We don’t give ourselves the time we need for our “best proposal effort” because of two myths.

Myth #1: RFPs Tell Us What We Need to Know to Win

RFPs don’t tell us about customers’ problems, their goals, or how we can improve their business performance, cost effectiveness, or profitability. In short, RFPs don’t tell us what we need to know to win the contract.

Myth #2: Stock Answers = Business Proposal

If we believe responding to RFPs with stock answers is the same as presenting a business proposal we’ll end up waiting for the RFP to arrive. Wrong!

Cutting and-pasting answers to RFP questions makes us fully compliant with bid requirements. However, we’re no closer to winning the contract.

When we have an office support person answer RFP questions, we’ve delegated our proposal to someone who has probably never met the customer, are unaware of the customer’s situation, and more than likely lack operational experience and technical expertise.

Contracts are won by presenting a compelling business proposal. We must analyze, design and place our proposal within responses to RFP questions.

2 Types of RFP Questions

RFPs require us to answer questions, but if you’ve seen more than one RFP you’ll recognize questions come in two types.

Type #1: “Qualification” Questions

These questions seek to qualify your firm and are easy to identify. They’re the ones customers’ should have asked before inviting us to bid, such as:

• Years in Business?
• Number of Employees?
• Annual Revenues?

Type #2: “Application” Questions

Any question that’s not a “qualification” question is an “application” question by default. In these questions customers ask what they’ll get from us, they look like:

• How will you ensure contract requirements are met at my 3 Miami locations?
• How will you control quality in our class 100 cleanroom and distribution centers?
• What will you do at our Indianapolis site to manage employee turnover?

Our Proposal answers “Application” Questions

Customers don’t ask us to provide our proposal outside of the RFP questions. So where does our proposal exist? It’s in our responses to “application” questions. This is the only place customers find out what they’ll receive from us exactly.

Customers buy what we’re going to do for them, at their sites. They don’t buy the number of offices we have, how many employees we have, or how many years we’ve been in business. They only buy what we’re going to do for them.

Our proposal tells a customer specifically “who” is doing “what”, “when”, “where” and “how”. We show a customer how we’re going to solve their unique problems, help them achieve their goals, and deliver their desired business results.

This is what customers buy, this is our proposal—and we can develop our proposal before the RFP arrives.

How-To Start Proposals before RFPs arrive

For us to start our proposal before the RFP arrives, we should be fairly certain we’re on the bid list and the bid is going out in the next 60 days (we don’t want to work on something too far down the road). Those conditions met, we can prepare to answer “application” questions by developing our proposal now.

Here’s what we can do before the RFP arrives:

Analysis before Design

First we analyze the:

• Bid opportunity, decision making process & competition
• Decision makers—their roles, experience, goals & agendas
• Customer’s business & RFP context

Outline Solution & Draft Components

After our analysis, we design our service proposal in outline form. Our program must solve customers’ problems and achieve their goals. It’s essential we show how our service proposal improves customers’ performance and/or lowers their costs.

As our proposal takes shape in outline, we can fill in some detail of the components. Remember, it’s fair for us to propose new things, even if we’re not providing them elsewhere. The RFP has asked us to propose a solution. We’re doing that right here.

Design from the Future

To add detail to our proposal, try this exercise. Imagine six months into the future, we’ve won the contract, everyone’s happy, and we’re making tons of money. From that future vantage point, turn and look at how we got there. Answering these questions will help design our proposal.

• What exactly did we do during start-up that created our flawless transition?
• What did we do differently with training, quality, and safety that made our customer & employees love us?
• And how did we customize operational procedures & technologies to make all that money?

Summary

If we start proposals before the RFP arrives, we’ll have the time we need to develop winning proposals. We’ll also sleep better at night, and our staff will thank us profusely. Here’s a summary:

• If we’re confident a bid is going out in the next 60 days and we’re on the bid list—start now
• Analyze the opportunity, decision makers & customer’s situation
• Create a customer-specific service solution in outline & block in components
• When the RFP arrives, answer “application” questions from your proposal
• Remember, answers to “qualification” questions are what they are
• Good luck. Win contracts. Get some sleep.

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