5 Techniques to Help You Win that RFP. (Forget the Font.)

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What makes an ideal RFP?

Responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) generally is a lengthy and painful course of. And but, it’s change into a essential a part of gross sales.

Everybody who responds to an RFP has an image of their thoughts of what the profitable submission appears like.

Will it’s me or another person who wins this deal? What makes one of the best response? Is it the font?

(Trace: it’s not the font)

I’ve seen lots of of proposals over time. And whereas there’s no actual science, there are some repeatable methods that may enhance your odds of profitable.

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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 number 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 profitable. All the time attempt to clarify your solutions. When you don’t meet a requirement, clarify why.We get it, you wish to spend as little time writing as doable. Assuming you’re not already utilizing an RFP automation device, that is sensible. However contemplate how a lot effort your buyer places into crafting the proposal doc. It might 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 writer. Each reply doesn’t should be a college-level dissertation. There’s somebody on the opposite finish of that submission who has to make sense of your solutions. So hold 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 assist [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, 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/clarification” part so ensure that to make use of it. Even when they don’t, you possibly can 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 solution to hold your buyer engaged in the course of 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 profitable technique, and extended episodes of silence can damage your deal.Asking your prospect questions all through the method can’t solely hold you within the dialog, you need to use these as alternatives to disclose details about the aggressive course of. Clarifying questions on necessities can be essential to writing a profitable response. Don’t assume it makes you look “weak” – the fact is most respondents won’t meet each requirement for a venture. Getting readability on what’s really vital to the customer can significantly enhance your odds of profitable.Listed below are some examples:

“Why did you ask this explicit requirement, is it one thing you’re seeing from opponents?”
“How vital is that this requirement? Do you know you will get higher outcomes with XYZ?”
“ABC is on our roadmap. How do you suggest we reply to this query?”

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5. Handle buyer objections preemptively in your response

Among the finest issues you are able to do is to make use of the responses as a way of objection dealing with.Each RFP is actually an asynchronous gross sales dialogue in written kind. Fake you might be having a dialog and the client 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 client can ask your opponents. For laborious necessities you don’t meet, ask the client why these necessities are vital. Clarify alternate options and supply buyer proof for a way they will go about the issue along with your answer.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 RespondingIt is a frequent piece of gross sales recommendation: “Don’t reply except you recognize 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. Nevertheless, declining to answer a possibility isn’t a method. It’s best to be capable of shortly decide in case 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 purpose why you shouldn’t reply
Ready till the final minuteEarly chicken will get the worm. You don’t wish 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 completed shortly will assist you to get again to promoting. Far too typically, we see corporations delay the method to some extent the place it appears like they’re submitting a rushed e book report on the final minute.
Assuming nobody reads the docNobody’s REALLY going to learn these huge responses, Proper?Unsuitable.The truth is that almost all corporations that run vendor alternatives 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.”