I’ve been a big fan of Steve Clark since I started reading his stuff a while ago, but his latest post “What To Do When The Prospect Just Wants You To Bid” is great advice for anyone that sells anything where RFPs are part of the process. Enjoy the lesson. Thanks Steve.
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John, excellent reference. I’m feeling much better about not responding to an RFP that was due today. The temptation to reply is great, but most RFPs require a dozen hoops to jump through that can often be avoided when you build a relationship with a client. As mentioned in the article, rarely are RFPs truly weighed side-by-side beyond price, which as we all know, is rarely a good basis for the final decision.
John,
There’s an = missing from your link tag ‘href”http’. No worky.
Steve has an interesting perspective. My experience working for a 5000-10000 employee biotech company starkly contrasts his view. I have participated in several projects which have included RFIs and RFPs. We sent detailed RFPs to a variety of vendors. Failure to respond, or responses of the type advocated by Mr. Clark removed the vendor from consideration. We analyzed all of the RFPs and did side by side comparisons. The devils were in the details. RFPs which failed to meet our requirements removed those vendors from contention, narrowing the field to 2-4. Only those final 2-4 were invited to provided presentations, and be considered for demos.
Pricing only came into play if we:
A. arrived at a point where two or more vendors met our requirements comparably, or
B. the vendor we selected on the merits was too expensive
Admittedly, not all companies are as comfortable ranking cost below features and timeline, and not all companies put out RFPs as detailed as ours. However, I doubt we’re at the forefront in either regard. Refusing to submit an RFP, no matter how well articulated that refusal is, will probably just get you removed from consideration.
So, my suggestion as a “Prospect” is to weigh heavily who the “Prospect” is and how much detail is in the RFP.