I could give you a very lengthy step by step process of evaluating submitted RFP/RFQ/RFI's for response.

What it really boils down to though is I don't respond to these unless I took part in writing or structuring it in the first place.

When I look back over the years and weight the time I spent in lengthy, articulate, 10 copies of covered and bound 3 lb. responses I can chalk up roughly 500 hours for zero dollars. And, in nearly 50% of these very demanding opportunity requisites they don't go to anybody. The deal just dies, reduced to 1/10 of the proposed amount or it's back-doored.

In most cases an RFP is only fulfilling a requirement to secure 'x' number of bids/quotes and then it goes to the intended individual/group with proof that they've complied with some mandated process.

Ken Beam, The VAR-City -- "Channel Start-Up Specialists since 1995" Phone: 972.240.8793 or kbeam@thevarcity.com

I use the hardware store drill approach.

Imagine you're a hardware store sales person and a customer walks in the door and says - "Hi, I need a drill". What they're really saying is - "Hi, I need a hole."

Your job as the sales person is to point out that it's not the drill (list of specific items in the RFP) that they really need and as an expert in the field you're duty bound :) to take them where they can find the perfect hole (solution to their problem).

Now that you've distinguished yourself as the only respondent who knew enough about the problem to have a better way of attacking it, your solution (will frequently) give you access to the back door I mentioned earlier.

In some ways it's a Hail Mary, I prefer to think of it as a validating differentiator when the circumstances call for it - surprisingly, that's more often than you may think.

RFPs come from a number of sources within and without the organization and frequently the authors are penning requests for more and better sameness without realizing that there is a better way; or, sometimes it's to stay within what they know and are comfortable with.

For my software vendor clients who are using a reseller channel I make sure that we have a partner portal full of standard cookie cutter RFP responses. Sometimes we'd invite a partner to participate along with us and we provide support to their completion and submission efforts.

Maybe someone else will be able to give you a better process that's worked for them. I'd like to hear that myself...

Ken

Ken Beam, The VAR-City -- "Channel Start-Up Specialists since 1995" Phone: 972.240.8793 or kbeam@thevarcity.com

Imagine an iceberg divided into four levels. The top is ready to buy now (may issue an RFP). The next tier down is going to buy soon. The next level is made up of those who will buy eventually and the bottom level is those who will never buy.

Everyone wants to sell to the shopper (respond to the RFP).

Those in the final stages of the buying cycle are not your best prospects for three reasons:

1.They have raised their hand, so now all of your competition gang-tackles them.

2. Their buying criteria are well established and someone else may have helped. You certainly did not.

3. The resulting buyer’s market leads to intense price cutting and you end up with a loss or a bad deal.

If you want to sell at a premium

If you want to sell at a premium you won’t succeed if you rely on the sales opportunities that come to you; RFP’s and public solicitations. Your customer contacts cannot be purchasing agents and vendor managers. Once a formal, bureaucratic purchasing process kicks in, the original business purpose becomes secondary and the focus becomes process and price. You are dealing with professional buyers who intentionally mislead vendors, who want to keep you at arm’s length, and who emphasize price. If you engage on this battlefield, you end up becoming a very different kind of company. You can’t focus on quality or solutions; your mental focus is on jumping through the purchasing hoops, cutting cost, and building relationships with people who will never treat you with respect.

Hunter vs. Vulture

A reliance on inbound calls yields similar results. When they call you, it might be a hot lead. But often it’s a “fact-finder” who is “just doing research.” It’s never the senior people who call, so you begin the relationship at a low level. In the end, you might be denied access to the people you most need to talk to in order to serve them best. You might also be invited to the beauty contest to help justify the purchase of your competitor’s product.

So, if you can’t pursue the most apparent paths, how do you find the sort of relationship and opportunities you want and deserve?

Premium providers need to be hunters. It takes a proactive, outbound effort to find the types of customers and relationships you want.

Taking the scary, uncomfortable steps and making the extra efforts are what position sales reps, and companies, in that coveted premium spot.

“The hard way is the easy way and the easy way is the hard way.” - Buddhist saying.

I'm not sure what a 'viable' RFP is or means?

Does it mean that you have to respond to one a quarter, win one a quarter and respond to as many as possible so that you have a viable chance or what exactly?

Is this structured as a MBO or as a commissionable sale with bonus involved for taking time away from selling?

If it's an MBO, then I'd go ahead and collect the assigned MBO reward. If it's commissionable , I'd ignore it and go about the business of selling and hitting your numbers.

I realize that that's a little bit of a harsh response, especially to the MBO minded sales manager/CEO who created this time consuming low return exercise for you; but, as Steve points out, if you're not an influencer in the authorship or an RFP factory you might as well have a quota for snipes in a bag.

As a past sales manager I'd review each RFP coming in and make the decision to respond or decline myself - not take my sales people off point to do that.

Back to Steve again, it's a matter of organizational structure and optimal functionality.

If I understand your screen name Klozer as intended - isn't that what you should be doing? Now, if your name was just Kwalifer...:)

Ken Beam, The VAR-City -- "Channel Start-Up Specialists since 1995" Phone: 972.240.8793 or kbeam@thevarcity.com

Klozer - I love your screen name by the way.

If I wasn't as clear as I should have been - I have only 1 rule for a 'viable' RFP - I influenced it.

If that's not the case - I might try to influence it. We tend to think of an RFP is a strictly non-negotiable process. In reality it's often (I'll say almost always) negotiable.

But in no case do I bid it, unless I influenced it.

Instead - invest the hours put in to a losing cause into prospecting and creating a deal.

Those who don't do that think they have an RFP problem - but it's more likely they have call reluctance.

Since you have a sense of humor - I'll note that there is only one letter difference between CLOSER and LOSER.

RFP Rules:

1. Respond if you have the inside track.
2. Attempt to get the inside track if you don't have it.
3. No-bid if you can't achieve the inside track.

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