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Request for proposal executive summary: Example, template & tips

Selling & Enablement

Even for the most experienced proposal manager, writing an effective request for proposal executive summary can be a challenge. After […]

August 24, 2023

Category: Tag: RFP best practices

Request for proposal executive summary: Example, template & tips

Selling & Enablement

Even for the most experienced proposal manager, writing an effective request for proposal executive summary can be a challenge. After all, it needs to be concise, clear and compelling. At the same time, it must convey your deep understanding of the buyer’s unique needs while perfectly capturing how your organization helps them meet their goals and delivers value.

Certainly, it’s no easy feat when you’re staring at a blank screen, feeling the RFP submission deadline approaching minute by minute. So, to avoid facing that pressure, I always recommend checking out a request for proposal executive summary example or two to give yourself a head start.

In this post, we’ll define an RFP executive summary (sometimes called a proposal executive summary) and share how it differs from a cover letter. Then we’ll outline best practices for writing an executive summary for an RFP as well as how to leverage RFP software to make the process faster. Finally, I’ll offer an RFP executive summary example, samples and templates for inspiration to help you get started.

Proposal executive summary basics

What is a proposal executive summary?
Why create an executive summary for a proposal?
Who writes the executive summary?
When should you write an RFP executive summary?
The difference between an RFP executive summary and a cover letter

How to write a proposal executive summary

Best practices for stand-out executive summaries

RFP executive summary examples

Proposal executive summary template

Proposal executive summary basics

What is a proposal executive summary?

A proposal executive summary is a document that provides a high-level overview of a vendor’s bid, proposal or offer. The executive summary for a proposal is usually just a few pages long and precedes the proposal itself which is much longer and contains lots of in-depth information.

Think of it like a book jacket that includes a teaser blurb. An effective proposal executive summary helps the reader decide if they want to dig in and read more about the vendor’s offer. It contains a synopsis of the buyer’s needs and objectives as well as the vendor’s proposed solution and experience.

The proposal executive summary may also be called an RFP executive summary, RFP executive brief, an executive summary of an RFP or an RFP response executive summary. All of these terms can be used interchangeably.

This short but powerful document also provides additional context for the buyer or decision maker to consider. The intention is to inform and persuade the executive. Most of the time, executives only read this brief instead of the whole RFP, so it has to be right on the money.

Bid Perfect, a proposal consultancy, offers this insight:

“The people who will read your executive summary will be expecting it to summarize the main, compelling elements of your bid, how it meets with their specific objectives and why they should select you as their supplier of choice above all others.”

Why create an executive summary for a proposal?

There’s no way around it, reading an RFP response isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time. Indeed, due to the in-depth nature of RFP questions and responses, it is unrealistic to expect that an executive will have time to read each 50-page proposal from front to back. Despite this, often executive stakeholders are key decision makers.

Luckily, the executive summary of a proposal provides a solution. Because it is typically contained on one or two pages, the summary enables busy stakeholders to understand the vendor’s offer and RFP response in mere minutes.

Beyond saving time, the RFP executive summary gives you the opportunity to address an executive’s concerns that may not have been covered in the RFP questions. Indeed, the reason an executive buys a solution often differs from the reasons that a production team (sales, marketing, IT, etc.) is interested.

Executive teams have big-picture, strategic goals while production teams have daily workflow improvement goals. For example, when we work with sales teams their main objective is to save time and respond to RFPs more efficiently. However, an executive is more interested in how Responsive increases win rates and revenue.

With that in mind, the executive summary of your proposal presents an opportunity to differentiate your organization from your competitors. It is the perfect place to express how your business helps the executive (and organization) meet their goals.

Who writes the executive summary?

Generally, the proposal manager writes the RFP executive summary. However, that is not always the case. Indeed, in small- to medium-sized businesses, sales or marketing may write the proposal executive summary.

Regardless of who is the primary writer of the executive summary, just like with the proposal, it’s a group effort. Be sure to involve anyone who has the best knowledge of the prospect’s needs, the proposal win themes and the proposal content. Many members of your team will contribute to or review the executive summary.

Typical creation and approval process for the proposal executive summary

Proposal coordinator or manager: Begins the process using an executive summary template for proposals
Sales, marketing or business development team: Ensures the proposal summary aligns with win themes and customer needs
Subject matter experts: Contributes to and verifies accuracy
Marketing – Polishes content and ensures brand alignment
Executive approver: Reviews the messaging, signs and approves the final RFP executive summary

When should you write the executive summary?

At what point in the RFP response process should the executive summary be written? Well, it depends on who you ask.

Some argue that writing the executive summary of the proposal at the beginning of your proposal timeline helps guide your messaging and process. Conversely, others recommend waiting until the end of your proposal process to create the executive summary for your RFP response. And still others believe it’s best to write the proposal summary as you go.

As you might imagine, this topic is hotly contested among proposal professionals. The difference in timing delivers different benefits:

1. Starting with the proposal executive summary

APMP teaches that writing the entire first draft of your RFP executive summary at the beginning is best. By writing the summary at the beginning, you can incorporate customer insights gained from your discussions to bid or not to bid as well as any win themes that have been identified in the capture management plan.

2. Writing the RFP executive summary as you go

Another option is building your proposal executive summary in tandem with your RFP response. Bid Perfect suggests that the executive summary of your request for proposal should be a living document. Consequently, edits are gradual and continual as the team works on the proposal: “We believe that there should be no fixed time for writing it but that we are always writing our executive summary throughout the life of the bid preparation phase.”

3. Creating the RFP executive summary as your last step

Finally, Boardroom Metrics recommends writing the RFP executive summary at the end, saying,

“… write it at the end, once all the other work has been completed on the response. That way you will have access to all the thinking that’s been done on preparing the request for proposal – thinking on the issuer, their needs and your solution.”

Ultimately, each of these approaches works and only you can decide which of the three is best for you. Consider your organization’s unique RFP response process and determine which strategy fits.

What’s the difference between an RFP executive summary and a cover letter?

At first glance, it may seem like the executive summary and an RFP cover letter are the same thing. Afterall, they both precede the full RFP response and take only one page. In addition, often, the RFP issuer doesn’t establish requirements or parameters for either document. So it’s easy to see why the two get confused. However, each document has a unique purpose and requires a different approach.

Executive summary vs. cover letter

Request for proposal executive summary

To put it simply, the executive summary is a high-level overview of your proposal. Its purpose is to enable the reader to quickly understand key elements of the proposal. Think of it as a blurb on the back of a book. Without having to read the entire thing, anyone can read the executive summary and understand the highlights of your proposal.

RFP response cover letter

On the other hand, the RFP cover letter is more like a greeting and introduction. Consequently, it can be slightly less formal than the executive summary. A great cover letter will give the reader a positive first impression of your company and encourage them to dig into your full proposal.

An effective RFP executive summary will:

Help a busy executive or stakeholder get up to speed
Predicts the benefits the customer can expect from your partnership
Summarize the most important parts of your proposal
Offer additional insight on key differentiators

A compelling cover letter will:

Be addressed to the evaluator(s) and set the stage for the proposal
Express an understanding of the business and their needs
Convey your desire to be a true partner and why you’re a good fit
Create a genuine, human connection

Despite their differences, when well written, both the executive summary and cover letter can help make your proposal more memorable. However, it is important to remember that neither document is a sales pitch about your business. Indeed, both should be customer-centric and benefit focused.

Which comes first, the proposal executive summary or cover letter?

Another common question that comes up when discussing proposal executive summaries and cover letters is which comes first when presenting your final RFP. Again, the answer to this question depends on who you ask. One easy way to decide is to ask, ‘If a decision maker only reads one of these two pages, which would you pick?’ In most cases, we believe the answer is the executive summary.

How to write an RFP executive summary

One effective strategy for writing an executive summary breaks down the content into four sections: needs, outcomes, solution and evidence. Developed by Dr. Tom Sant, the author of Persuasive Business Proposals, this approach goes by the acronym NOSE. Your executive summary should address these four areas:

Needs: Spell out your understanding of the prospect’s challenges
Outcomes: Confirm the results they expect to achieve
Solution: Explore how you solve the problem
Evidence: Build trust by sharing results from customers with similar needs

According to Dr. Sant, by organizing your executive summary to align with NOSE, you’ll address the main three questions executives ask:

Does the proposed solution meet the need?
Is it worth the investment of resources and time?
Can they really deliver?

Many salespeople make the mistake of focusing more on “summary” than “executive.” Remember that your proposal executive summary shouldn’t be a table of contents for the RFP response. It should speak to the executive perspective.

RFP executive summary best practices

Now that you have all the basics down, let’s dig into some best practices for your request for proposal executive summary.

Make your message customer-centric

Similar to your RFP response, the focus of the executive summary should be the customer. As you write, keep them in mind. Make sure that you address their criteria, needs and goals. Hone in on the specific things they indicated are a priority and explain how your solution delivers value to those areas.

Your message should resonate with executives and stakeholders alike. If possible, tell a memorable and influential client success story that brings your value to life. Alternatively, you can convey your strategic vision for your partnership. In addition, clearly and succinctly reiterate the key points and differentiators in your proposal.

Use the recipient’s actual name whenever possible. It makes recipients feel important and personally attended to when they see their name on the front page. Additionally, aim for a 3:1 ratio of recipient company name versus your company name.

Use dynamic verbs and active voice

Sadly, the most popular title for an executive summary is “Proposal for Prospect Company.” Use the title or subtitle as an opportunity to capture the executive’s attention. “Increasing lead-generation…,” or “Visualizing revenue forecasting…,” or “Streamlining cloud storage…” or whatever it is that your solution is going to do for them.

And, just like in your RFP responses, remember to use active voice whenever possible. This practice makes your RFP executive summary more direct and impactful.

Express empathy and understanding

Use your proposal executive summary to convey your understanding of the company’s needs — remember the ‘N’ of the NOSE approach above. Work with the sales and business development teams to gather this information.

As you enumerate the prospect’s objectives, limit your list to between three and five points prioritized by importance. If your list is longer you risk making later bullets seem trivial. As you articulate your understanding in the proposal executive summary, you relieve any concerns an executive approver may have as the holder of the purse strings.

Be brief

Be concise and make a big impact using as little space as possible. Review each sentence critically. Does it convey something new, relevant to the reader and memorable? The RFP executive summary isn’t the place to get into the details of every aspect of your offer. It should be easy to scan and understand.

Remember, the reviewer is likely reading a summary from every prospective vendor trying to keep them all straight. Your brevity will not only make your executive summary more memorable, but the reviewer will appreciate it.

Leverage your knowledge library

The content library in your proposal management platform doesn’t just have to be for RFP responses. You can also store executive summary content in the same way. We all know the feeling of satisfaction when we perfectly articulate a value proposition or find a clever way to point out a differentiator. Don’t miss an opportunity to use that awesome content in your next RFP response. Use tags and categorization to save sections of text for future executive summaries.

It’s worth noting that if you use RFP software, you can automate much of your executive summary construction. You can use a template for consistency, gather the responses you need and leverage the Responsive AI Assistant to summarize your content.

What used to take hours, you can now accomplish in minutes. However, don’t forget to remove any customer information before saving it to your knowledge library. And just like your RFP or proposal templates, always remember to customize and review before sending.

Make sure it can stand alone

Write your executive summary as if the reader has limited knowledge of the original RFP or your corresponding proposals. The document should be easy to understand on its own.

Outlining high-level benefits is key. Remember that the executive summary may be the only thing that some decision-making stakeholders read. So make sure you make it count.

Follow directions

This may seem basic, but it’s not uncommon for procurement teams to disqualify vendors that didn’t follow instructions. For example, we’ve seen some RFPs that include executive summary guidelines like page limits, topics to be covered or format. If instructions are provided, be sure that you’ve read them carefully and follow them closely — a proposal compliance matrix can help.

Proposal executive summary examples

Want to see an executive summary for an RFP example? You’re not alone. As with most writing, starting is the hardest part. If you find yourself frozen, staring at a blank page check out these RFP executive summary examples to help.

Simple RFP executive summary example

This proposal executive summary example is one that we have used ourselves. You’ll see the approach we use when creating an executive summary for an RFP we’ve answered. The customer wanted a solution that would improve and automate their manual RFP response process, deliver value quickly and grow with them.

You’ll see in this executive summary for an RFP example that we addressed each of the customer’s needs. In addition, we touched on several of our key differentiators. To conclude, we support our statements with a proof point and a statement of what the customer can expect when they partner with us. You can jump to the next section to download this example as a template.

Creative extended proposal executive summary example

This imaginative RFP executive summary example plays out a sample scenario between fictional companies called “Paradocx” (the prospective vendor) and “ACME” (the buyer). If you’re familiar with Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, you may recognize a few of the themes in this example. Additionally, this example follows the NOSE approach described above. As you read along, see how the proposal identifies the needs, outcomes, solution and evidence.

Download this example in PDF.

RFP executive summary template

Executive summary template for a proposal

You can download this RFP executive summary template for a proposal in Word and customize it to meet your needs. In addition, the request for proposal cover letter template provides suggestions in the comments with additional guidance so anyone can quickly create an impactful executive summary.

Additional RFP executive summary examples and resources

The value of a proposal executive summary

We answer a lot of RFPs here at Responsive. And, we have a saying, ‘A proposal by itself is unlikely to win the deal, but a bad proposal can certainly lose it.’ The same can be said for an executive summary.

It’s been my experience that very few organizations or individuals get any training on writing effective RFP executive summaries. Hence, there’s often a lot of inconsistency from one sales person to the next — which makes it difficult to identify what’s working. That’s one area where the Responsive platform shines. With dynamic templates, simplified collaboration and content governance, you can create consistent, data-driven RFP executive summaries in minutes.

Of course, every executive summary of an RFP is a little different. But with the right process and tools, you’ll be far more likely to be successful. And, as your experience grows, expands and improves, so too will the quality of your executive summaries.

Originally published November 3, 2021 — Updated August 24, 2023

How to use a proposal compliance matrix: Tips, template and examples

Product & Best Practices

When it comes to RFPs, simply following the instructions and providing all of the requested information can give you a big advantage. If you think that sounds deceptively simple, you’re right. As RFPs become more complex, proposal managers must take care to respond thoroughly to each question. At the same time, they work to build a compelling narrative and highlight differentiators ⁠— all while ensuring that the proposal meets multiple requirements stated in the RFP. When all is said and done, the path from the RFP requirements to the resulting proposal may feel like a tangled web of information. Fortunately, creating a proposal compliance matrix serves as a map to keep you on track.

When missing a single requirement can mean automatic disqualification, compliance is crucial. So, you must sift through every line of the RFP to identify, manage and ensure compliance with each RFP requirement. The proposal compliance matrix enables quick cross-referencing between the information requested in the RFP and the corresponding responses in the proposal.

In this blog, we’ll cover the proposal compliance matrix. First, you’ll learn what a proposal compliance matrix is. Then, we’ll walk step-by-step through how to create and use one to ensure your RFP responses meet every requirement. Finally, you can view real-world examples to help you get started.

What is a proposal compliance matrix?
How to create and use a proposal matrix
Proposal compliance matrix template and examples

What is a proposal compliance matrix?

A proposal compliance matrix is a grid-style tool used by proposal managers to identify, track and meet each requirement in a complex request for proposal (RFP). It may also be called an RFP compliance matrix, compliance traceability matrix or proposal matrix. No matter how it’s referred to, the matrix helps readers understand exactly how the vendor’s proposal aligns with the buyer’s requests.

What’s the purpose of a proposal compliance matrix?

To understand the value of the proposal compliance matrix, you must consider the buyer’s perspective.

The RFP has likely been issued by a procurement manager or department head seeking a solution to a problem. They know there are a lot of factors to consider and they need to be certain they’re choosing wisely. Accordingly, they invest time creating an RFP that organizes their needs and ensures objectivity.

Then, the buyer issues the RFP to a number of vendors who respond with their best offer. Because reading each proposal in detail is labor-intensive, the proposal evaluator performs an initial review. In this review, they quickly check each proposal to verify it meets the requirements stated in the RFP. Unfortunately, if a proposal doesn’t adhere to all of the submission guidelines, minimum criteria and content requirements, it may be disqualified .

After all of the time your team invested, missing a single requirement could mean that no one even ends up reading your proposal. It may seem harsh, but the buyer doesn’t have time to waste and they don’t want to partner with a business that exhibits no attention to detail, poor reader comprehension or an inability to follow instructions. With the stakes this high, you can’t afford to miss anything ⁠— which is why the proposal compliance matrix comes in handy.

The grid-style format lists each customer requirement, where it is stated in the RFP and where it is addressed in the final proposal. Indeed, this enables the proposal manager to track progress and quickly verify that all the necessary information is included.

Who uses them?

Generally, the proposal manager assigned to the RFP creates the compliance matrix and manages any updates to it. Contributors and SMEs may also use the proposal matrix when writing their responses. In addition, reviewers use it as a checklist during the final proposal review to verify compliance before submission. Consequently, it is helpful to save the RFP matrix in a shared, centralized location so that each member of the proposal team can refer to it as needed.

Benefits of using a proposal compliance matrix

Know every need before you bid

Most RFPs are long and detailed, composed of paragraphs of text and dozens of questions. Because requirements are often scattered throughout the document, and not always specifically notated as requirements, they can be easy to miss. Therefore, consolidating the information to create a scannable list makes the customer’s expectations easier to understand and evaluate. With a comprehensive set of needs, your team can confidently determine if you’re a fit and decide to bid or not to bid.

Additionally, the matrix helps organize the results of the RFP shred process into a checklist to help you track your needs. RFP software automates this process with content analysis.

Prepare a complete plan

As you plan the proposal process, gather your team and assign tasks, the RFP compliance matrix can help. For example, you can use it as a guide when you create the proposal timeline and when you fill out your RACI matrix, assigning each requirement to the appropriate people.

Write relevant responses based on the stated requirements

Subject matter experts (SMEs) are always short on time, so it’s important to provide the information they need without distracting them with unnecessary details. Luckily, they can reference the proposal compliance matrix to quickly understand the customer’s needs.

For example, an RFP software buyer may specify that they require Boolean search functionality in the introduction of the RFP. Unfortunately, without a proposal compliance matrix, a subject matter expert may not think to include that detail, if it isn’t mentioned again in the particular question that asks them to describe search capabilities.

Furthermore, if the SME wants to see if there is additional helpful context before they write their response, they can use information from the matrix to save time. It enables them to jump directly to the section and paragraph in the RFP that discusses the requirements assigned to them.

Create a roadmap for reviewers

Finally, once the proposal is complete, it undergoes final review and approval. The proposal compliance matrix can be used as your checklist to ensure that each requirement is clearly addressed before submission.

How to create and use a proposal compliance matrix

Ultimately, the point of the proposal compliance matrix is to check the RFP, line by line, for each of the customer’s requirements. This process is often referred to as shredding the RFP. You can shred the RFP using RFP management software or perform the process manually.

RFP compliance using proposal software

As technology advances, proposal software becomes more skilled at performing the RFP breakdown. Indeed, proposal automation can save time and shred an RFP in seconds. However, it can only go so far and proposal managers are still needed to verify, evaluate, and interpret the results.

How to create a proposal compliance matrix manually

Alternatively, shredding the RFP and creating a proposal compliance matrix takes more time, but is easy once you know what to do. All you need is a spreadsheet and your RFP.

Read through the RFP line by line. As you find requirements, add them to the first column of the spreadsheet in the order that they appear in the RFP. Then, as you read through the RFP, you’ll be able to spot requirements by looking for words like shall, will, must or should. In addition, include any questions that appear in the body of the RFP. Finally, check for information requests that use verbs like describe, list and explain.

For each requirement you identify, note the section, page and paragraph where it appears in the RFP. Then, use the next two columns to record our ability to comply (F – fully comply, P – partially comply, N – do not comply) as well as where the response to the requirement is located in your proposal (section, page and paragraph).

As you can imagine, it quickly becomes a lot of information. But, if you want to track more proposal data, adding columns to the compliance matrix is easy. For example, you could use the proposal matrix to manage task assignments or make notes for other team members. In addition, you may also add columns with information that helps SMEs write their responses, including win themes, differentiators or customer hot buttons. Indeed, some proposal teams use a column to draft or summarize their responses as well.

If the manual approach isn’t for you, consider automating the process. A robust response management platform should:

Digitally shred RFPs using predetermined keywords
Format it in a spreadsheet
Understand and track the RFP requirements

RFP compliance matrix best practices

To get the most out of your RFP compliance matrix, there are a few things you should know.

1. Create your matrix at the beginning of the proposal process

The proposal compliance matrix should guide you as you write the proposal outline and create your responses. If you wait until the end to create it, you’ll miss out on a lot of benefits, and possibly cost yourself a lot of unnecessary time and effort

2. Match the language used by your customer

Avoid confusion by using the exact language and terminology found in the RFP. Resist the urge to paraphrase or reword requests. If clarification is needed, use a notes column to collaborate with your team.

3. Continually update the proposal matrix

As you create your proposal outline and subsequent proposal drafts, the sections of your proposal may shift. Update the response location column of your matrix to reflect any changes.

4. Share your matrix with the proposal evaluator

While the proposal compliance matrix is typically created by the vendor for internal reference only, it can be helpful for the proposal evaluator as well. Indeed, it can serve as a cheat sheet and map to your proposal for them.

In fact, some procurement managers include a proposal compliance matrix template and require the vendor to fill it out and include it with their response. Alternatively, you can always proactively provide it. Just remember to remove any internal notes or comments before attaching it to your proposal.

Compliance matrix templates and examples

Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) proposal compliance matrix template

APMP provides a wealth of resources for proposal managers including this proposal compliance matrix template. You can download the Excel file and customize the matrix to meet your needs.

Technical compliance matrix example

This proposal matrix example is from the Department of Administrative Services. They require participating vendors to complete it as part of their submission to streamline the evaluation process.

IT support services – Proposal compliance matrix example

Created by The Federal Proposal Experts (FPEX), this is a good example of what you might expect a public sector RFP compliance matrix to look like.

As a part of their RFP process, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority requires that interested vendors complete this RFP compliance matrix. Instructions request that vendors provide an explanation for any requirements the vendor is unable to meet or deems not applicable.

When it comes down to winning RFPs, complete compliance can make or break your proposal. So, whether you invest time to manually create your proposal matrix or use RFP software to automate the process, attention to detail always pays off.

If manual processes seem a little daunting, ask how Responsive’s matrices might make your life a whole lot easier.

RFP best practices — Content and process tips

Selling & Enablement

There’s nothing more frustrating than spending hours writing, editing and collaborating with SMEs only to find out you didn’t win. Collectively, your business invests hours into each proposal. So, if your hard work isn’t paying off, it may be time to brush up on RFP response best practices.

RFP best practices can be broken down into two focus areas: content and process. Content is what your proposal says to the prospect and how you say it. The RFP process is the steps needed to create the proposal. Both are essential to create a winning proposal.

First, I’ll explore RFP content. Starting section by section, I’ll share how to achieve the goal of each element of an RFP response. Then, I’ll offer guidelines that ensure your content follows RFP response best practices as well as winning response examples.

Next, I’ll cover RFP process best practices. I’ll review the RFP response process steps and tips for how to improve. Finally, I’ll conclude by exploring common challenges that come up during the RFP response process and how to overcome them.

Table of contents

RFP best practices for content
- RFP section-by-section guide
- Winning RFP content tips and examples
RFP response best practices for processes
- RFP response process steps
- How to improve your RFP response process
Common RFP response roadblocks and how to overcome them

RFP best practices for content

RFP section-by-section guide

Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of each section, let’s start with the golden rule of request for proposal best practices: It’s all about the customer. In each section and in every response, keep the customer in mind.

Remember, these incredibly busy people have a problem to solve. Therefore, if they feel like you’re wasting their time, you’ve already lost them. So, as we work through each RFP response section, remember these guidelines:

Stay focused on the customer’s problem and the solution you deliver.
Keep it short and fluff free ⁠— for the customer, the RFP isn’t an invitation for you to give a sales pitch, it’s a fact-finding mission.
Stick to the project scope and remove any information that isn’t immediately relevant, save the upsell for later

RFP cover letter

The goal
Make a good first impression, create a human connection and let the customer know you truly understand their problem.

How to do it
Share your enthusiasm about the prospect of being a part of their future success. Then, restate their known objectives. Finally, paint a picture of how your solution solves their problem and makes their job easier. Make it all about them.

If you’re ready to write a killer cover letter, explore more in this RFP cover letter guide.

Executive summary

The goal
Give a high-level overview, summarize the most important parts of your proposal and prove you’re qualified to meet their needs.

How to do it
Research. Do your homework to ensure your executive summary addresses the customer’s biggest concerns. Find out why they’re issuing the RFP. Did their last provider fail to deliver? Is their business growing? The more you can speak directly to their needs, the greater your chance of winning the project.

Remember, your summary needs to provide enough information to stand alone if it’s the only piece of the proposal an executive sees. However, it also must be short enough to read in a couple minutes.

Want to see what a stand-out executive summary looks like? Check out this RFP executive summary guide for examples.

Project implementation plan and schedule

The goal
Help the buyer picture themselves as your customer and prepare them for the next steps in the buying process.

How to do it
Be specific. Your project implementation plan and schedule sets expectations. For example, establish milestones and address any concerns the customer expressed. In addition, provide a full project plan outline from purchase to go-live date. Use the RFP timeline the buyer provided and set milestones assuming a start date almost immediately after the RFP’s final selection announcement.

It is also helpful to share key contacts and staff the customer will work with from subject matter experts to project managers. Finally, include what you’ll need from their business to ensure a successful engagement. For example, current process documentation, training timelines, user roles, administrator input and so on.

Contract terms

The goal
Ensure a speedy contracting process that benefits both you and the customer.

How to do it
In this section of your request for proposal response, get your ducks in a row so the contracting process goes smoothly. For example, share what you’ll need to execute the contract and include who will be involved. Then, outline the approval process and required documentation. Consider preemptively providing your standard SIG assessment or security questionnaire as well as terms and conditions.

In addition, offer an overview of how you’ll continue to support the customer after the contract is executed. Include information about their customer success manager, any available self-service tools and who will supervise the delivery of contract terms.

If possible, provide very specific details — how often will someone check in, what will be covered and how feedback is addressed? Remember, it’s all about them. Make them feel confident that you’re in it for the long haul and prepared to be a true partner to them.

Customer references and case studies

The goal
Provide concrete, third-party evidence of the results they can expect.

How to do it
Share the positive return on investment you’ve achieved for customers similar to your prospect. Of course, don’t make them just take your word for it. Also include metrics and powerful quotes provided by happy customers. If possible, offer to connect them with a current customer for a reference call. Certainly, there’s nothing more persuasive than hearing candid feedback from a peer.

Winning RFP content tips and examples

Beyond hitting the goals for each RFP section outlined above, winning RFPs have great content. I’ve reviewed content from countless winning RFP response examples and they all have a few things in common. I’ve collected these themes and created a list of RFP best practices and examples below.

Insert the customer into your answers

Remember, it’s never about you. Your audience doesn’t care how great you are. They only care about how you can make their lives easier and improve their profitability. All of your answers should support the argument that you will make them more efficient, effective and empowered.

In addition, don’t just explain what you do, but also why it’s important. This focus will help you write an “About Us” and “Background” statement that will make prospects pay attention.

Original RFP response:
Our company improves efficiency and cost savings.

Winning RFP response example:
XYZ solution empowers ABC company to optimize efficiency and maximize savings.

Keep it simple and skimmable

Your evaluators are pressed for time. Write clearly and succinctly. Use proposal formatting to make it scannable. For example, headings, subheadings, call-outs, and bullets make your proposal more approachable. And, remember to keep it non-technical and simple so your responses can be read and understood by anyone.

Original RFP response:
With XYZ solution, which optimizes internal and external collaboration and communication processes, automates RFP management, improves workflows and empowers reporting, our current customers like ABC Company are able to not only respond to complicated RFPs, security questionnaires and due diligence questionnaires for a comprehensive proposal management experience.

Winning RFP response example:
ABC Company will leverage XYZ solution to:

- Improve internal and external collaboration
- Automate complex RFPs
- Manage workflows and view reports
- Respond RFPs and questionnaires
- Centralize procurement and proposal functions

Include visualizations

Charts and graphs quickly convey a more powerful message than a spreadsheet full of data. Use visualizations to help customers better understand your projected impact on their business.

Original RFP response:
XYZ solution’s customer submitted 83 proposals in 2018. More than twice the number completed by their competitors.

Winning RFP response example:
XYZ solution’s customer submitted 83 proposals in 2018. More than twice the number completed by their competitors.

Review, revise then review again

Typos, style inconsistencies and abrupt changes in grammatical tense or tone can be incredibly distracting for your reader. Consequently, it’s important to review your responses and make sure they all work together and sound consistent.

In fact, try reading your responses out loud. It will help you catch a ton of errors or awkwardness that spell check won’t. A blog from Proposal Reflections offers five things to watch for (and remove) from your proposals including: long sentences, passive voice, empty words, nominalizations and incorrect words. Follow these guidelines to make your content stronger, more concise and more persuasive. The post also offers this example:

Original RFP response:
Our COTS solution saves the Government time and money.

Winning RFP response example:
Our COTS solution provides the Government with life-cycle savings of $250,000 in software development costs.

Note: The Responsive platform’s leading response management software includes a GPT assistant that leverages the latest AI tools to optimize your RFP responses for readability, comprehension, simplicity, passive voice and more. Learn more here: Responsive integrates GPT.

RFP response process best practices

Every RFP response process follows the same basic steps:

Review RFP: Understand the customer’s requirements, objectives, goals, key deadlines and evaluation criteria.
Assess suitability: Evaluate your organization’s capacity, align your expertise with customer needs and determine project alignment with business goals.
Assemble the response team: Identify key contributors and stakeholders, assign roles and determine responsibilities.
Develop a win strategy: Analyze competitively the landscape, define your differentiators and establish a project plan.
Build your proposal: Gather past answers, collaborate with SMEs to create new responses and customize your proposal content.
Write executive summary: Introduce your company, highlight your value proposition and offer an overview of your strengths.
Review, proofread and submit: Ensure compliance with RFP requirements, review for accuracy and clarity and submit prior to the deadline.

How to improve your RFP response process

Perfection is unattainable. There’s always room for improvement, even within teams who have tightly refined their RFP process. For example, a highly-skilled and efficient two-person team can respond to one or two RFPs per quarter when working manually. However, after implementing RFP response best practices and RFP software, the same team can successfully respond to 16 simultaneous RFPs in the same time frame. Hopefully these tips will help you achieve the same kind of results.

Only answer RFPs you can win

One of the most important (and most neglected) RFP response best practices is the qualification or a bid or no-bid decision step. Far too many teams answer every RFP that comes their way. Unfortunately, that means spending time answering long shots and RFPs you’re not qualified for, while potentially missing or neglecting better opportunities.

RFP qualification considerations

What was your level of involvement prior to the RFP being issued?
If you’re just hearing about the opportunity thanks to the RFP, your chances may be slim. Indeed, odds are definitely better when sales or presales has developed a relationship with the prospect. Alternatively, you may have already responded to a request for information (RFI), which is also a good sign.

Is your solution a fit?
At minimum, it needs to meet the mandatory requirements. Everyone’s agile. Everyone’s flexible. Issuers already know that. Accordingly, you need to be able to prove that you have a tried and true solution.

Does your price match the prospect’s budget?
Of course there’s always give and take when it comes to pricing. However, don’t let that distract you from carefully evaluating the opportunity in terms of dollars and cents. The issuer expects your bid to include everything they need within their budget. So, can you do it and still make the project profitable?

Is it a strategic fit?
RFPs take a lot of time and effort. But, onboarding and supporting a customer that doesn’t align with your business or product development strategy takes more. There are few things more frustrating than submitting and winning an RFP only to find out that the partnership isn’t a strategic fit for you or the issuer.

Do you have bandwidth?
Too often, this consideration gets pushed to the side. It’s completely understandable to want to respond to more RFPs.

In fact, we found that 72% of companies plan to respond to more RFPs year-over-year. But, simply responding doesn’t mean your team has the time and attention required to write a winning RFP response. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity.

Create a content library

If you have to dig through emails, past RFP responses and documents to find answers to questions you’ve seen over and over again, it’s time for a new approach. After all, once you’ve curated and perfected your content using the tips above, you’ll want to use it as often as possible. Indeed, it saves so much time, building an RFP content library is a cornerstone RFP response best practice.

Your content database should be the single source of truth for building RFP responses that are efficient, consistent and accurate. To start, gather content from past proposals. Then, update it to ensure it is flexible enough to be easily customized or used in its generic form. It should all have a consistent voice to reduce editing and review time.

An RFP content library needs a structure that helps with searching. You can organize RFP content using tags, collections and custom fields. Additionally, it’s helpful to organize content to match the structure of the RFPs you receive. What sections do you always see?

Common RFP sections

Company overview
Experience and staff biographies
Features, functionality and differentiators
Training, implementation, delivery and support
Security and data policies
Case studies and customer results or references
Reports, terms and policies

If you’re not using RFP software, organizing your files and documents this way will help reduce the need to chase down or recreate content for every new RFP.

Know your team (and their strengths)

Stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs) within your organization are essential to creating compelling content. But, getting in touch with the right people at the right time may be a challenge — especially if they don’t know who you are or what you do. Building relationships is an important part of curating an efficient and effective RFP process.

The better you know your resources, the better your response will be. Get to know the people behind the proposal. Keep track of each person’s area of expertise, preferences and availability — and then respect it.

RFP software integrates with many apps and channels. So you can approach busy SMEs in the way that works best for them. For example, maybe you have an SME who hates writing. Call them up. As they talk you through the answer, you record it and save it to the content library. Putting in the legwork to build relationships with your resources will pay off at crunch time.

Create a project plan

While RFPs are a team sport, they need a captain. Someone has to own the process to hold contributors accountable to ensure you meet your deadline. If you have a full-time proposal manager they’ll take charge. If not, the process will likely be managed by a sales or marketing team member. Regardless, you need a plan to get everyone on the same page.

Initiate a kickoff meeting for each RFP that includes all key team members. During this session, you’ll discuss your timeline, roles and responsibilities, win strategy, expectations and next steps. Surface any scheduling conflicts, content gap concerns or issues with deadlines to avoid surprises.

Then, as you progress through your plan, regularly share progress updates, changes and dependencies to improve team visibility.

Repeat, review, optimize and expand

The great part about adopting RFP best practices is that they’re designed to be repeatable. As you implement improvements it’s also important to review results. As you become more efficient, you’ll find more ways to identify gaps, tighten communications, anticipate outcomes and ensure success.

Additionally, once you’ve mastered RFP best practices, you can get even more value by applying them to other routine information requests. For example, these principles can be applied to RFIs, requests for quotations (RFQs), security questionnaires and due diligence questionnaires (DDQs).

Common RFP response roadblocks and how to overcome them

Even when you meticulously follow RFP best practices, the process may not be smooth. Here are some issues proposal teams frequently encounter and how to overcome them.

The customer isn’t asking the right questions.

The challenge
The customer missed something key in their RFP. Unfortunately, the gap in information makes it difficult for you to win or might result in the customer selecting an incomplete solution that’s not in their best interest. Either way, it’s worth mentioning. But how do you tactfully make sure the customer has all the information they need without being a bother?

Work through the roadblock
Procurement professionals are skilled at finding the best vendor for a project. However, they’re likely not an expert in the nuance of your particular industry, good or service. Instead, they use stakeholder requirements to customize an existing RFP template.

This process often leaves gaps in knowledge and results in an incomplete RFP. It also puts you in a tough position of trying to explain additional value you deliver that the customer doesn’t understand and didn’t ask about.

Typically, at the beginning of the RFP timeline, there’s a period to allow for vendor questions. This is a good time to raise the concern. Simply include it in your questions. For example, you can ask: “Have you considered unaddressed factor? Is that an area of need for ABC Company?” Alternatively, you could say, “Many of our customers ask about unaddressed factor, would you like us to include information about how XYZ solution solves this challenge?

Time consuming back-and-forth with subject matter experts

The challenge
One of the hardest parts of creating a request for proposal response is coordinating with your subject matter experts (SMEs). They’re usually very busy people. And, while they’re experts in their field, they likely all have a different writing style. So, how do you make RFP responses from a dozen different sources look consistent and sound cohesive?

Work through the roadblock
Most SMEs are just as excited about winning new business as you are, but they can’t read your mind. Unfortunately, they won’t know intuitively what to cover just by reading the RFP question.

So, it’s an RFP best practice to be clear about what you need. SMEs are usually happy to provide answers that cover customer hot buttons, written in the company’s preferred proposal format ⁠— they just need to know what that is. It’s usually as simple as providing your SMEs with a company style guide for faster editing.

In addition, make sure you search your RFP content library before asking an SME to weigh in on a question. There’s nothing more frustrating and alienating to a busy SME than answering the same question over and over again. If you find an applicable knowledge record, send the response for review. After all, updating or customizing a response is a lot faster than writing from scratch. Certainly, this is a situation where RFP software that centralizes internal collaboration is an advantage.

SMEs are a key part of your proposal team. So, bring them into the fold and make the importance of their role clear. Include SMEs in proposal kickoff meetings, regular content updates and annual process reviews. Even if they can’t make every meeting, putting in the effort to keep them involved will help them feel invested.

The RFP clearly favors a specific vendor

The challenge
You recognize your competitor’s language in the RFP. It seems like they are the incumbent vendor or are heavily favored. You suspect their capture management team helped craft the RFP. To have a fighting chance, you’ll need to overcome an unfair preference with education and awareness.

Work through the roadblock
Some RFPs aren’t fair. That’s the unfortunate truth. You know your competitors and for the most part, everyone uses the same tactics to try to win new business. For example, we all know how much easier it is to write a winning RFP response when your team helped craft the RFP itself.

If you notice the RFP favors a specific approach or if phrasing is overly specific, that’s a good indication of an outside influence. Use your competitive intelligence to counteract their preconceived notions. Without naming the competitor, explain why your product or approach better addresses their needs.

Alternatively, just ask. Reach out to the RFP contact and look for more background information. Is there an incumbent vendor? If so, why has the project gone back out to RFP? What would sway the decision maker, or what is the competitor lacking that would make the decision easy? Ultimately, addressing the lack of transparency head-on will help you make a well-informed bid or no-bid decision.

The RFP response has a quick turnaround

The challenge
In the world of RFPs, time is typically your biggest adversary. Your proposal timeline can only be compressed so much while still maintaining RFP response best practices and manually completing the RFP makes submitting responses on time difficult.

Work through the roadblock
One of the best ways to fast-track your proposal process is to invest in RFP response software. Not only will it automate your responses by suggesting answers to previously asked questions, but it will also empower you to:

Search and find past proposal content
See who wrote the content and when it was written
Review the revision history
Verify when the content was last reviewed and updated
Check how often it’s been used

Too many teams spend all their time writing answers but never save or organize them. If your team can’t find and reuse past RFP responses, collaborate on content and easily see team responsibilities and next steps, you’ll end up constantly reinventing the wheel.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, RFP best practices help everyone involved in the sales and proposal process work toward a singular goal ⁠— to win new business. And, for proposal professionals, there is no greater feeling than hearing that your team submitted a winning RFP response.

By following these winning RFP response best practices you’ll start to see all of your writing, editing, collaborating and waiting pay off.

Accelerate your RFP for asset management response process

Product & Best Practices

When your financial institution receives a new RFP for asset management, is it viewed as an exciting opportunity? Or, is it just one of a dozen (or more) RFPs waiting for completion? Many financial services firms report that the number of RFPs from institutional investors has increased dramatically in the last few years. And, as organizations continue to focus on maximizing value while minimizing risk, there’s no end in sight.

For some firms, answering every incoming asset management RFP has become an impossible task. Consequently, they are forced to prioritize the best opportunities and ask their RFP teams to find ways to work more efficiently. The outcome isn’t ideal for the firm or the prospective client. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

In this post, I’ll offer insight into why the RFP for asset management workload increased. In addition, I’ll highlight the challenges facing investment firms. And finally, I’ll provide helpful tips to empower you to respond more efficiently and effectively.

Contents

The current state of RFPs for asset management
RFP challenges facing asset management firms
3 ways to accelerate your asset management RFP responses

The current state of RFPs for asset management

So, why are asset management RFPs piling up? It comes down to a combination of factors.

More RFPs more often

RFPs have always been a part of institutional investing. But now organizations send more RFPs to more firms per mandate. In fact, an article from Institutional Investor notes that the number of RFPs fielded by managers rose by 13 percent between 2017 and 2018.

Because the market is so competitive right now, investors use the RFP process to evaluate existing relationships as well as explore new services. However, the increased volume of RFPs means that firms must find new ways to stand out from the crowd while managing more work. Ultimately, more RFPs is good news ⁠— if you can keep up.

Demand for customized financial services

It’s no surprise that organizations that leverage their assets to pursue strategic business goals want partners who understand their needs. These organizations are no longer satisfied with run-of-the-mill service from big-name investment firms.

Indeed, the high demand for customized institutional investment services leads to longer asset management RFPs with more complex questions. Not only that, but we’re seeing buyers of these services become more knowledgeable and savvy than ever. The result is that each response in each RFP for asset management must be customized, complete and dependable. That level of detail takes time.

As the article from Institutional Investor discusses the shift saying:

“… the increase in manager evaluation documents is partly due to a shift in asset allocation among investors that emphasizes more complex asset classes and solutions, such as multi-asset funds. But it is also driven by allocators and investment consultants [are] paying more attention to the risks they’re taking.”

Emphasis on risk management

Finally, as mentioned in the quote above, the last factor influencing the volume of RFPs for asset management is the industry-wide focus on risk management. RFPs enable institutional investors to ensure compliance and transparency in their asset management firm selection. However, within the selection process and throughout the relationship they must also verify that the firm won’t put the business at risk.

So, in addition to completing RFPs to win new business, investment firms must also complete individual due diligence questionnaires (DDQ) from each existing client each quarter. Questions asked within the DDQ are similar to those found within an RFP for institutional business. For example, the DDQ will likely request updates on total assets under management (AUM), investment personnel changes and any changes in policy.

Unfortunately, DDQs are often just as repetitive and time-consuming to complete as an RFP. Because of the overlap between RFPs and DDQs, the same staff often answers both documents using their knowledge library. While these tools effectively identify risks for the client, they certainly increase the workload for the investor relations or client services staff who answer them.

RFP challenges facing asset management firms

While some firms have added dedicated RFP staff, others have their investor relations or client services teams manage incoming RFPs and quarterly DDQs. With the increased workload, team members who serve as proposal coordinators face a number of challenges.

Prioritizing RFPs and deciding to bid or not to bid
Meeting fast turnaround times and quick deadlines
Creating a consistent and repeatable RFP response process
Finding previous answers to RFPs and DDQs
Verifying that previous answers are accurate and compliant
Coordinating with subject matter experts (SMEs) to create new proposal content
Managing RFP workflows and approvals

3 ways to accelerate your asset management RFP responses

Regardless of how many people work together to complete proposals, every firm can benefit from a faster RFP response process. Here’s how to answer all of those RFPs for institutional business in less time and win more.

1. Build a better knowledge library

Using previous RFP responses is a quick way to save time when answering a new RFP for asset management. While businesses want customized answers, there are many similarities in the types of questions they ask. Instead of searching through old proposals individually, create a centralized knowledge library to store questions and responses.

Knowledge management is one of the many skills that make a great proposal manager. In fact, creating and managing a knowledge library is one of the fastest and most effective ways to improve efficiency. Whether you collect questions and answers in a Word document, spreadsheet or RFP software (more on this later), you’ll be able to find what you need more quickly.

In addition to cataloging the content itself, consider adding metadata to help categorize knowledge records. For example, segmenting records by region, client industry and topic provides a quick way to find all of the relevant information.

Remember, more content in your knowledge library means less back-and-forth with SMEs. It’s much easier for them to review and update answers than it is to create from scratch.

RFP for investment management examples

If you’re not sure where to start as you begin to build your knowledge library, check out these RFP for asset management examples for inspiration. Each of them provides sample questions to help you start creating an RFP content library.

2. Maintain a team mentality

Successful asset management RFP responses require input from many stakeholders and subject matter experts. Together, this proposal team works together to create winning proposals. However, the members of the team are all busy people, and coordinating with them via email can be a challenge.

To work efficiently and effectively, everyone involved in the RFP process must understand the importance of the project and be invested in the outcome. To encourage a team mentality, hold a kickoff meeting to get everyone on the same page. Share your proposal timeline with the team to ensure they understand the RFP process and their role in it.

I also find that creating and referencing a RACI matrix throughout the project helps to clarify the proposal workflow and responsibilities. Additionally, keep your team engaged in the process by asking for feedback, regularly reviewing proposal content, holding debriefs and celebrating success.

3. Adopt RFP software

RFP software for financial services firms seamlessly manages all aspects of RFPs for institutional investment and DDQs. I’ve had the opportunity to work with many financial services professionals that have benefited from proposal management software, like Responsive (formerly RFPIO). The platform brings your knowledge and team together into a single, centralized workspace and offers tools to improve the RFP process.

RFP software empowers asset managers to:

Improve efficiency

Keeping up with the competition means answering more RFPs, faster. RFP software solutions empower proposal teams through the entire process.

Proposal automation ⁠— RFP software speeds the proposal process with RFP automation. Simply import the RFP for asset management or DDQ and the system will identify questions you’ve answered before. Then, it will suggest relevant answers, so your team spends less time answering standard questions.

Workflow and collaboration ⁠— All of your team’s work on your proposal happens within the RFP tool. The proposal coordinator can create workflows and collaborate in one place. For example, RFP software makes it easy to assign new questions to SMEs, collaborate on responses and request approvals. It moves the process out of email and siloed systems to create a single source of truth.

Dashboards and reporting ⁠— Keeping the proposal moving forward can be a challenge. However, the RFP management system provides at-a-glance insight from real-time dashboards. Each member of your team can quickly see what they are responsible for and when it’s due.

Ensure consistency and compliance

When your team moves quickly, it’s hard to ensure that RFP responses are compliant. RFP software protects your firm by improving consistency and ensuring oversight.

Knowledge management ⁠— As I mentioned above, knowledge management is crucial to an efficient RFP process. Luckily, RFP software makes it much easier to collect, categorize and find previous response content from investor relations, compliance and analyst teams. Leverage tagging, account hierarchies and an easy-to-use search tool, to ensure the right content is always at your fingertips.

Regular review cycles — With dozens of DDQs due each quarter, it’s crucial that the knowledge library is kept up to date at all times. RFP software makes keeping track of updates simple. Just assign the knowledge record to the responsible person and set a recurring review cycle. Then, the system automatically sends a notification. When the records are updated, metadata is automatically attached including the date of the change, who updated it and how often it has been used. Now anyone using the knowledge base can quickly verify that the record is current.

Permissions, audits and approvals ⁠— Undoubtedly, your proposals contain detailed and sensitive information. The RFP system protects this data with secure permissions allowing users access to only the information they need. In addition, it logs changes to content so tracking edits is easy.

Preparing for the future of institutional investment

As competition within the financial services industry continues to heat up, your firm must leverage every advantage possible to stay ahead. That means finding creative ways to answer more RFPs for asset management without compromising quality or compliance. To prepare for the future plan to leverage knowledge management, harness the power of your proposal team and RFP software to gain an edge and ensure continued AUM growth.

Create winning RFPs in 5 easy steps

Product & Best Practices

Want to start winning RFPs but the response process gives you a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach? You’re not alone. Every proposal writer knows what it feels like to spend hours searching through spreadsheets, emails and old RFP bids for answers. After all, they know they’ve answered this before! All too often, when they finally locate the content, they discover the answer is outdated.

Then, you feel guilty for interrupting a subject matter expert to get critical proposal content. Meanwhile, you know they have their own pressing concerns. All of this to complete a bid that has no guarantee of winning new business … Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way.

By following the five tips listed below, you can simplify the proposal process and create winning RFPs that land your organization on the shortlist.

5 tips to crafting RFP bids that win

Identify and understand your ideal customer
Define your RFP process
Assign proposal tasks early
Be genuine
Highlight how you are different

1. Identify and understand your ideal customer

Responding to every RFP that comes in the door doesn’t increase your chances of winning new business. In fact, it wastes time and resources.

For example, if you don’t have an existing relationship with the issuer, experts say your chances of winning are very low. And, every second you spend chasing a low-probability opportunity is time you’re not focused on the deals you’re more likely to close.

So, stop going after deals that aren’t a good fit for your company. Focus on winning RFPs that support your business goals. The best way to do this is to use a bid or no bid process.

2. Define your RFP process

Once you’ve decided to bid on a project, determine the most efficient way to complete the proposal.

If you don’t have an RFP team or proposal coordinator, don’t worry — a lot of companies don’t have those roles. Just make sure to clearly define ownership with a RACI matrix and responsibilities in the RFP process. That way everyone knows who is involved, what the expectations are and when the deadlines are.

If possible, give yourself 72 hours or so to proofread and add the final touches before submitting the bid. This will also give you time to ensure the responses carry the same voice and tone, which can take work when multiple stakeholders provide content.

3. Assign proposal tasks early

Start assigning tasks as soon as you receive the RFP. Whatever you do, do NOT procrastinate. Remember, if you have to engage subject matter experts, proposals are lower on their priority list so it may take some time to get the answers you need.

Giving them as much time to answer questions as possible will help them balance their priorities and help create winning RFPs. In addition, it prevents you from scrambling to add their content at the last minute.

4. Be genuine — Customize canned answers

If you use canned responses, the people who score the submission will see right through it. Instead, you should provide customized responses that directly address their most pressing concerns.

So, how can you give your team more time to customize answers? Great question! Stop reinventing the wheel with every RFP response. It’s imperative you develop a centralized repository of proposal content you can quickly access and tailor to each RFP.

This can be daunting, I know. But it’s absolutely worth it. Start by compiling answers from recent, successful RFP bids. You’ll know the content is up to date because the bid is recent, and you’ll know it’s compelling because you won the bid. Then, create a list of the most frequently asked questions and start collecting answers.

You may need help from some of your team with this step. Don’t hesitate to ask. They’ll likely be happy to help knowing this will prevent them from having to answer the same questions over and over again.

5. Highlight how you are different, but don’t give away your secret sauce

Keep it simple. Provide value through substance, not superfluous detail. For example, a public relations firm might want to detail how their industry contacts and relationships can help a potential client get the exposure and press they’re looking for.

They won’t, however, want to list those contacts to prospects — it provides little value, can potentially undermine the sale and may even sour those critical relationships.

To learn more about how Responsive RFP software can help you create even more winning RFPs, schedule a free demo.

Can a RACI matrix improve your proposal process?

Products/Features/Solutions

Over my career in software, I’ve participated in a lot of projects from large-scale rebrands and implementations to relatively minor version releases. Some of these projects have gone poorly, and some have been seamless and successful. Regardless of the scope of the project and my role in it, I’ve noticed that many that have been successful have used a RACI matrix.

The RACI matrix organizes the team and keeps projects on track. It’s incredibly beneficial when responding to RFPs, security questionnaires and due diligence questionnaires. Indeed, it ensures that everyone involved in the response is on the same page from beginning to end. In this post, I’ll provide an overview of the RACI matrix, the basic steps to get started, a RACI matrix template and some pitfalls to watch out for along the way.

Contents:

What is a RACI matrix?
How to create a RACI project management matrix
Should you use a RACI chart for project management?

What is a RACI matrix?

A RACI matrix (sometimes called a RACI chart, RACI diagram or RACI model) is a project management tool used to clearly assign the specific roles and responsibilities within a proposal project. Specifically, RACI is an acronym for roles within the process. It charts out who is Responsible, who is Accountable, who is Consulted and who is Informed.

Using a grid to create a RACI chart helps team members understand the project and players at a glance. A plan with a RACI diagram of project resources can help better forecast completion timelines. At the same time, it also eliminates confusion and delays caused by uncertainty about who should be doing what within the project. In the RFP process, the RACI matrix establishes who must be involved in which project life cycle stages, from subject matter experts to stakeholders.

RACI role definitions

Responsible (R)

The person or people who will do the work required to complete a task or make a decision. Most projects will require multiple people to be responsible for items and steps throughout the project.

Responsible role examples in RFP response process:

A subject matter expert (SME) is the person responsible for creating new response content
The salesperson may be responsible for tailoring proposal content to the client’s needs

Accountable (A)

The person who owns the work, reviews it and signs off when a task or decision is complete. When two consulted stakeholders have different opinions, the person who is accountable makes the final call. Each task should only have one person designated as accountable.

Accountable role examples in the RFP response process

A proposal coordinator who receives the RFP from sales and facilitates its completion
The salesperson who manages the proposal themselves and coordinates with SMEs
A marketing team member who creates the proposal and works with other parties
The business operations team member who works to complete the proposal and ensures it aligns with business goals

Consulted (C)

The person or people that need to provide input before a specific task is started or finalized. Each task or decision may require multiple people to be consulted. Outlining expectations for those needing consultation ensures they are ready to provide input and won’t create a bottleneck in your process.

Consulted role examples in the RFP process

Legal team members may need to discuss compliance and contract details
An IT team member or the CSIO can provide input about security or technical capabilities
The finance team may need to offer insights about requested financial terms

Informed (I)

The person or people who should be in the loop and informed throughout the project. Their input is not needed on the task, but they do need to know the output and receive regular progress updates.

Informed role examples in the RFP process

Executive stakeholders may need visibility to the sales and proposal process
Business operations or finance may want regular status reports to create forecasts

Benefits of using a RACI matrix

A RACI matrix provides additional benefits beyond outlining the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the proposal process. When all stakeholders and participants involved agree to the roles before the project begins, it creates a quick reference point that helps keep your team aligned. It also increases the likelihood that your project will be on time, complete and successful. Another benefit is that including the RACI matrix in your onboarding information can help new employees quickly understand the structure and process. Surely with all these benefits, it’s worth a try.

How to create a RACI project management matrix

Once you have a clear idea of the different roles, you’re ready to implement the project management RACI matrix. Here are the basic steps to follow.

Identify all the tasks and decisions you need to complete.
List out everyone who will participate in the project.
Create your matrix. Typically, the number of tasks and decisions will be greater than the number of people participating in the project. If this is the case, you’ll want to list your tasks in the rows of the Excel chart and your involved people in the columns.
Go through each task and assign roles. Make sure to only assign one A per task and at least one R, C and I.
Socialize your matrix with your stakeholders, incorporate their feedback and finalize the project plan. It is key to get sign-off from all stakeholders, making sure they fully understand roles and expectations.

RFP response RACI matrix example

Let’s see it in action. In this example, a software company is responding to an RFP. The proposal is being managed by a dedicated proposal manager. An account executive owns the client relationship. The CISO must contribute proposal content. To protect the business, the legal team must have visibility to the project. And finally, business operations must be aware of how the project contributes to business goals.

Note that every task has at least one A and one R, but not every role is involved in every step.

RFP response RACI matrix template

Creating the RACI matrix isn’t complicated, but it can help to start from a template. Here’s an RFP RACI matrix template you can download.

If you want to take your RACI matrix even further or implement it across a number of teams, check out Hubspot’s free tool.

5 potential pitfalls to watch for when using the RACI matrix:

1. Responsibility confusion

Even with the RACI diagram, there can still be some stakeholders that are either confused or don’t respect the boundaries of their roles. The most common confusion I’ve experienced is between the consulted and informed roles.

Nothing slows a project down more than someone who is designated as informed providing input as though they must be consulted. The best way to avoid this delay and conflict is to be very clear at the beginning of the project. Let each person know exactly what is expected from them and then remind them of their roles when sending out project updates.

2. Too many tiny tasks

While outlining tasks and being specific is important, including too many subtasks and dependencies in your RACI matrix can be counterproductive. If your task list is too granular, it can be hard to keep the attention of your stakeholders when reviewing the proposal for sign-off.

3. Information overload

With all the moving parts of a project — especially a big project — the RACI chart can be hard to follow. Group your tasks into project phases and your stakeholders into teams. This will keep your chart easy to digest and quick to consult throughout the project. Try adding color coding for an easy-t0-understand visual element.

4. Unbalanced workloads

The RACI matrix is not meant to be a one-man show. For instance, if one person manages too many Rs and As, they become overwhelmed. As a result, you may not get the necessary perspectives and the project may be derailed. Instead, spread the work out to the appropriate team members and help avoid a scenario where one or two people are putting in all the effort.

5. Too many opinions

If your discussions seem to go around in circles, your matrix may have too many Cs across the board. While consulting is necessary, if you consult multiple team members for every task or decision, you can easily get bogged down in unnecessary back and forth.

Think hard about who really needs to be consulted and ask yourself a few questions. Do they have knowledge that is crucial to this step of the project? Are they an expert in this particular area? Will the project be at risk if their advice is not considered? If you answer no to these questions, consider updating your matrix and changing these people to informed instead of consulted.

Should you use a RACI chart for project management?

So, can a RACI matrix ultimately improve your proposal process? If you’ve ever walked away from project kick-off or weekly stand-up not knowing who was doing what, or if your projects get behind because the wrong people get involved and the right people aren’t consulted, a proposal RACI matrix might be a good tool for you.

To create a more efficient process, you might consider Responsive RFP software. You’ll save hours over manual processes and make lives easier for those who are Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed.

Brand storytelling in RFP responses

Templates & guides

What do Dr. Suess, Toni Morrison, and winning RFP responses have in common? They all tell their stories in surprisingly similar ways. A great story follows an arc. It draws the reader in, moves the story forward in an emotionally engaging way, and provides a satisfying conclusion.

You might think that comparing RFP responses to great works of fiction is going a little too far, especially because a quality RFP response is proofed and fact-checked to ensure complete accuracy. But fiction, nonfiction, or business proposal, it doesn’t matter.

Why using brand storytelling delivers a better RFP response

A study by neuroscientist and tech entrepreneur Paul J. Zak, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, found that regardless of the medium, storytelling that captures emotions signals oxytocin—the love hormone—in the brain.

But wait, you aren’t trying to make people fall in love with your company, are you? In a sense, yes. Odds are that your company is one of many that can meet a prospect’s needs. So, how do you make your proposal stand out? How do you make a customer want to do business with you?

You differentiate yourselves by appealing to the readers’ emotions in the hope that you’ll awash their brains in the love hormone. It’s important to note that oxytocin also signals trustworthiness and motivates cooperation, which are both critical factors in closing business deals of all sorts.

“I advise business people to begin every presentation with a compelling, human-scale story. Why should customers or a person on the street care about the project you are proposing? How does it change the world or improve lives? How will people feel when it is complete? These are the components that make information persuasive and memorable.” Paul Zak

Examples of companies that use storytelling to connect with their customers

Nearly every B2C ad you read or see attempts to emotionally connect with you. Apple wants to “share the joy.” Subaru wants to “share the love,” and Patagonia will help you help save the environment.

But what about B2B examples? How can a business document make a reader “fall in love,” or at least emotionally connect with your company? Straddling that line between professional and oxytocin-producing content takes some skill, but these two companies get it right:

Salesforce

Salesforce is the top customer relationship management platform in the world. Tracking customers through sales cycles might not exactly trigger love, so Salesforce took another approach. Their story is as much about their customers’ stories as their own.

KPN is a Dutch telecom company. While their customer success story includes the pain points/solutions specifics you’d expect to find, their customer quotes use emotional trigger words like “happier” and “excited.”

You’ll find emotionally engaging words peppered throughout their customer success stories. Salesforce helped T-Mobile’s customers feel “crazy about its service” and gave American Water “peace of mind.”

You get the idea. You don’t have to pivot away from your main selling points to insert some emotion. If you feel your story could be more engaging, tell your customers’ stories as part of yours.

Amplifi

Is there anything that evokes a sense of warmth and comfort more than the yeasty, buttery smell of freshly baked bread? What about a freshly baked data strategy? Are you hungry yet?

In one blog post, Amplify, a data management company, does a brilliant job of connecting these two disparate subjects to tell a story about creating and following roadmaps, just as you should follow every step of a recipe when baking bread.

In another, the author compares data management to alchemy and even TNT. In short, if data is well-managed, it can turn into metaphorical gold, and if not…boom!

While Amplifi doesn’t rely on emotional statements like “happier” or “excited,” they use clever metaphors to take readers on an emotional journey through the world of data management.

Best practices and examples for writing competitive RFP responses

We probably don’t need to mention that RFP response storytelling is not about making up characters and plotlines. Your job is to use the company’s story to sell a product or service. Write for your audience, not award committees or even yourself.

The academic journal Psychology and Marketing published a study called “Brand narratives: Content and consequences among heritage brands.” The study authors interviewed brand managers, analyzed heritage brand websites, and tested their findings with consumers to pinpoint what customers wanted to see from a seller’s story.

While it is true that their study focused on B2C organizations, it’s always good to remember that human beings spearhead every step in a B2B purchasing cycle.

So, what resonated with consumers?

Founding date – Interestingly, it didn’t seem as though a long history was important, but consumers still wanted to see how long a company has been in business. Most RFPs ask for the founding date.
Your unique approach or method – How are you different from your competitors? How does your product or service relate to your company’s core values?
Linking the past to the present – Even if yours is not a heritage brand, link your vision or product to the past. For example, if your product uses a modern solution, such as artificial intelligence, give a brief history lesson of the challenge before your company addressed it using AI.

The study also examined common storytelling elements that don’t resonate, such as:

The founder’s story – The buyer wants to go into business with your company, not its founders.
Your business’s struggles – Readers like success stories. They don’t want to know that your company almost folded in its first year, even if it rose like a phoenix. They definitely don’t want to know about your cultural or product-related struggles.
Where you were founded – Today’s business world is nearly borderless. Your California location, for example, will mean very little to a company in Europe.

Now that we have the very basic dos and don’ts, it’s time to further break down response stories.

1. Tell your why

As every middle school journalism teacher will tell you, there are six elements to a good story: who, what, where, when, why, and how. It’s the same with RFP response.

“Who,” as we mentioned above, is about your company, not your founder (with an exception we’ll talk about in a moment).

“What” is the product or service. “Where” is less about your location than the product or service (e.g., Where will onboarding take place? Where are your products manufactured?). “When” should outline deliverable dates. “How” is pretty self-explanatory, but what about “why?”

“Why” is an opportunity to genuinely resonate with your audience. Perhaps your company began because your founders were once in the customer’s shoes, or they saw a need that they were in a position to fill.

It might be tempting to include “why” when responding to a question about your company’s founding date or one that asks about product specs, but you’ll run the risk of annoying your customers by using valuable space for what they might see as superfluous information in those contexts. Also, you might have character and space limits.

Unless the RFP offers organic opportunities to present your “why,” save it for the cover letter.

RFP response example:

If, for example, a company wanted to improve efficiency. Here at RFPIO, we might say something like:

“We understand your desire to improve efficiencies in your organization. We founded RFPIO for that very reason. Our platform helps you take back time to spend with your customers, family, and of course, on yourself.”

2. Show you’re human

Individuals and company decision-makers all want to feel good about their buying decisions. Highlight the good that your company does.

RFP response example:

At RFPIO, we’re proud of our workplace ideals and culture. But simply patting ourselves on the back might seem inauthentic. We let our employees speak for themselves. In our RFP responses, we often include something like:

“RFPIO is committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. Our employees voted this year, and we were honored as a Comparably Award winner for Best Outlook, Best CEO for diversity, and Best Leadership team.”

3. Share a testimonial

Who better to speak for your company’s quality and customer service than your customers?

RFP response example:

We might, for example, use the words of Brian Z. of LinkedIn:

“Hundreds of hours saved in responding to questionnaires and RFPs. RFPIO offers very competitive cost savings over most of the larger RFP software providers. The same functionality at a fraction of the cost of the big guys. Customer support is top-notch — all questions or requests for help are addressed within the same day (or within 24 hours at most). Great, direct support from the management team — no call centers, no outsourced product support. You get assistance from people who helped build the product.”

4. Customize answers with specific deliverables

When an RFP asks about deliverables, the customer wants more than just a timeline. They want to know that you understand their needs. If you sell a product, how long will it take for the customer to receive it? If you sell a service, what is the onboarding process? Sure, it’s easy to answer these questions with dates or predicted time from purchase, but remember, you’re telling a story.

RFP response example:

Let’s pivot from RFPIO for a moment. Perhaps your company offers SEO services. Rather than simply listing timelines, say something like:

“At ____ SEO Consultants, we value partnership with our clients. First, we’ll meet with your content strategists to help devise a plan to leverage your strengths and highlight your values. On average, we will deliver a detailed SEO strategy within X months.

By month X, we will begin weekly strategy meetings with content writers and key stakeholders. Implementation will be ongoing but expect your first results within X months.”

5. Be succinct and real

Most products or services are relatively dry. If you’re in tech, things can get rather *um* technical. If you sell a product, you might have to explain its manufacturing or logistics.

Odds are, the procurement person looking at your proposal has high-level knowledge of what they are seeking, but their eyes might start getting bleary if you go into too much detail, especially technical detail. Avoid jargon as much as possible.

RFP response example:

If, for example, the RFP asks about your approach to project management. Rather than describing your methodology or Gantt chart, say something like:

“Our project management team is agile. We tailor our proven process to each client’s unique needs with the main steps remaining consistent: build, test, and deploy to deliver value.”

6. Make life easier for the issuer

Reviewing a (long) proposal is a tedious enough process, don’t also make the issuer do extra work digging to find answers. Rather than directing them to an attachment or a URL to find the answer they’re looking for, answer their question within the proposal itself. In addition, you can always provide an attachment to expand on your answer or offer supporting evidence for it.

RFP response example:

“We practice secure application design and coding principles. Engineers are required to undergo security training for security awareness and secure coding.

We use third-party services to perform vulnerability/application security scans annually.

The most recent penetration report is attached to this package: .”

7. Elaborate when appropriate

You don’t want to be too wordy or provide unnecessary information, but there are instances where a bit of elaboration is valuable. Sometimes you have to read between the lines to determine what the customer needs. Rather than just providing the most direct answer to the question, try to understand what the buyer is actually trying to learn. If a more detailed response fits better, go for it.

RFP response example:

The customer may want to know how you communicate new features to clients. Sure, you could respond with something like, “Upcoming platform enhancements are communicated to customers via email. You can also access them from the Help Center.”

Yes, that answer is succinct, but does it set you apart from your competitors? Maybe they asked that question because their current vendor doesn’t listen to suggestions or communicate new features. Instead, try something like:

“Our roadmap is heavily influenced by our customers through a feedback/enhancement request feature within the application. Customers can interact with one another’s requests, as well as with the development team. Their comments, voting, and status reports all influence future enhancements.

We then communicate enhancements to our customers via email release announcements. This email will have the major highlights from the release, a document outlining all the release details, and a link to the release details that can be accessed 24/7 in the Help Center.”

8. Say no with style

No one likes to pass up a business opportunity, but there are times when your company won’t be the right fit, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Rather than responding to an RFP and misleading the customer into believing that yours is the right solution, tell them “no” but do it the right way.

A well-composed “no” response might help open doors to future opportunities with the issuer.

RFP response example:

Imagine the customer is looking for a specific integration you don’t currently offer. Instead of a simple “No, we do not integrate with that tool,” say something like:

“Currently, the solution does not integrate with XYZ tool. However, a potential integration is on our 6-12 month product roadmap. We would love the opportunity to partner with you in identifying the best path forward to build an XYZ tool integration.”

More RFP examples and response resources

While we’re on the subject of storytelling, part of RFPIO’s story is that we also respond to RFPs, so we have several experts within our ranks who are always willing to offer sage advice.

RFPIO’s website and blog have multiple resources to help you craft a bid-winning story, such as:

Sample RFP response cover letter

A great cover letter is short and sweet but also informative. Click here for tips and tricks for writing the perfect cover letter. Kelly Barnard, RFPIO’s Response Management Strategist, even included her go-to example.

Winning RFP response examples using storytelling

Are you hungry for more storytelling examples? Click here.

Free RFP response template

Hubspot has a fantastic RFP response template. Click here.

Modernize your RFP response process and complete more winning bids with artificial intelligence

None of these best practices are worth much if you can’t complete each potentially winnable RFP or find time to customize them when you do. To get to the point where you can actively put this advice into practice, you need RFP software that takes care of the more tedious and time-consuming parts of the process.

RFPIO’s advanced response technology includes features that help you create better, faster, more winning responses:

Business intelligence – RFPIO’s advanced analytics and reporting capabilities let you use data to drive your business decisions.
Content Library – RFPs aren’t known for their originality. You’ve probably answered most questions before. RFPIO’s AI-enabled recommendation engine finds the best preapproved content, leaving you the option to accept, edit, or reject its suggestions.
Import and export – Whether an RFP comes as a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or through your CRM, you can import it directly onto RFPIO’s platform.
Standard and customized templates – RFPIO lets you create proposals using your favorite templates or one of ours.
Customization – As they say, every picture tells a story. Add tables, images, and rich text to visually narrate your response.
Integrations – RFPIO integrates with the most popular productivity and sales enablement tools.

Related: Create proactive proposals at scale with proposal automation software

Create rich narratives that will help you win more business, spend more time in front of customers, and live your life. With RFPIO, you can make that happen. See how with a free demo.

How to impress with your RFP presentation

Vendor Assessment

You just got the word ⁠— you made it to the shortlist. You’re ready to celebrate your new status as a finalist when you suddenly remember the RFP presentation. If the thought of it makes your mind race and your stomach drop, you’re not alone.

The RFP presentation, sometimes called the oral proposal presentation or RFP finalist presentation, is a live presentation of your proposal. It’s a make-or-break element of vendor selection that can solidify your position and seal the deal. On the other hand, if it goes poorly, the RFP presentation could blow your lead.

This blog will explore what you need to know about RFP presentations, tips to help you prepare and common RFP interview questions.

Contents:

What you need to know about RFP presentations
5 tips to prepare for your presentation
RFP interview questions you should expect

What you need to know about RFP presentations

After completing a lengthy RFP and evaluation process, you might wonder why a business would need to conduct RFP presentations. What more could they possibly need to know? While holding RFP interviews of shortlisted suppliers isn’t universal, it’s essential for some projects. For instance, in government, creative, construction, technology and other large-scale projects, the RFP presentation is the last step of the evaluation process.

What they’re looking to learn from the RFP interview

The RFP process is designed to help businesses select the right partner. In some cases, written answers can’t paint the full picture of what a vendor or supplier can offer. In addition, for long-term partnerships that result in close working relationships, some intangible elements are also important.

The RFP interview can reveal:

Team chemistry
How well do your key players communicate with one another and work together?

Experience and expertise
Can your subject matter experts answer in-depth questions from key stakeholders?

Culture fit
Do your companies value the same things? Will you be able to work well together?

Commitment and passion
How much does earning the business mean to you? Are you prepared and enthusiastic?

Types of RFP presentations

Preplanned or on-demand RFP oral presentations

When it comes to the RFP process, oral presentations are either planned or requested only if required. If the presentation step is a standard part of the customer’s RFP process, the original RFP should clearly outline the RFP presentation timeframe and expectations.

For example, the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange issued guidelines for RFP presentations with their RFP. The guidelines offer specific topics and scenarios that the presentation should cover. In addition, it notes how the presentations will be scored.

Check the example out here: Maryland Health Benefit Exchange RFP presentation guidelines

Alternatively, the customer may request ad hoc presentations if the RFP evaluation and scoring doesn’t produce a clear winner. These on-demand presentations are less common, but do happen from time to time as a tiebreaker ⁠— so be prepared.

RFP presentations in person or via video conference

When you’re asked to create an RFP presentation, it will either be in person or via video conference. Due to the growing availability, popularity and affordability of high-quality video conferencing, traditional in-person presentations are becoming less common. Though some businesses will still invite in-person presentations for large-scale, strategic projects. Regardless of what form the RFP presentation takes, it is key to make a human connection.

5 tips to prepare your RFP presentation

1. Start by asking the right questions

As soon as you’ve been notified that you’re a finalist, it’s time to prepare. Before you start though, you’ll want to gather some key information. Reach out to the RFP contact and ask these questions.

What are the top reasons why you were selected as a finalist?
Are there any specific concerns or scenarios the customer would like to be addressed in the RFP presentation?
Which stakeholders from the customer’s business will be a part of the presentation audience?
Which of your competitors also made the shortlist?
How long will each presentation be and how will they be scored?
What is the timeline and process after the final presentations?

2. Have a leader, but be a team

Whether you present in person or via video, having a primary point of contact is wise. This should be the person with the most knowledge of the customer’s needs. Generally, they should provide the bulk of the presentation.

After the presentation, there will likely be an interview portion. This is where your team can really shine. Invite subject matter experts and team leaders to answer these questions. Not only will the client appreciate hearing directly from the experts, but it also allows you to showcase your team. In addition, consider including others that will work closely with the customer like an account manager or customer success manager.

One of the benefits of bringing additional team members to the presentation is improving your chances of sparking a connection with the evaluators. Mark Denton, Founder and Principal at Content & Context, a brand and communications marketing firm advises:

“Every client team is made up of different personalities, and you never know who from your office might have a communication style, personal background, or sense of humor that resonates with one of the decision-makers. Bringing more people to the table increases your chances for scoring big on these intangible factors.”

3. Practice keeping your talking points customer-centric

In the same way that the RFP cover letter, executive summary and proposal focus on the customer, so too should your RFP presentation. Talking about yourself and your own goals is an easy habit to fall into, but resist! Remember to put the customer’s needs, concerns and goals at the center of your presentation.

As you prepare, consider:

How do your differentiators make you a good match for the customer?
What unique experiences give you insight into how to help them achieve their goals?
Why should the customer care? What benefit will they see?

Practice delivering your oral proposal presentation to your team. Have members of your team play the role of the customer and ask, “So what?”

4. Build trust and don’t guess

When you consider what a customer is trying to learn from RFP interviews, it really comes down to one thing ⁠— trust. As a finalist, you know you’ve said the right things and now you have the opportunity to show the customer why they should believe in your business.

In a LinkedIn post, Kyle Majchrowski, a construction project executive who has sat through many RFP presentations recounts the most memorable. The story features a construction superintendent who relays an anecdote about accidentally setting fire to a site. Admittedly, this story isn’t something you’d normally volunteer during an interview. However, the man managed to use it to impart a lesson learned, relay a commitment to the customer and build trust. Majchrowski summarizes saying:

“The young man owned his mistake. He displayed vulnerability in front of a prospective client. He also, without a prompt, told us what he learned and how he has applied it since. Fourth – he earned our trust.”

As the customer begins asking questions, be open and honest. If you don’t have an answer at hand, don’t guess. Certainly, you don’t want to undo the trust you’re working to build with a poorly timed, incorrect answer. Just let the customer know that you’ll get back to them. Better yet, let them know who on your team has the answer and offer to connect them directly for an in-depth talk on the subject.

5. Outline next steps and follow up promptly

In your presentation, include information about what comes next in the process. Generally, if you can help your customer imagine themselves working with you, it makes them much more likely to want to. Consequently, it’s a good idea to outline what the customer’s next steps are, who they will work with and how quickly they will see value.

Also, remember to follow up with any additional information that was requested promptly. Ideally, you should get back to them within 24 hours. If you can’t have a definite answer that quickly, send a note restating their question and letting them know that you’re working to get the most complete and accurate answer possible.

Common RFP interview questions

You may find that the RFP interview asks fairly common vendor questions. Alternatively, they may ask questions as they come up throughout. Either way, this list of RFP interview questions will help you be prepared for whatever comes.

Why are you interested in working with us?
What is your biggest differentiator? Why are you better than the competition?
How will you provide us with superior service and ensure we meet our goals?
What previous experience do you have with a similar company? What did you most enjoy about that project?
Who will we work most closely with?
What will you need from us to be successful?
How much of your service and process is outsourced to other parties?
Tell us about a time you made a mistake.
What process is in place to resolve challenges?
How do you determine success?

When it comes to the RFP presentation, it’s important to remember that the end is in sight. With the right preparation you will be well on your way to winning the business. And of course, Responsive RFP software makes collaborating with SMEs and creating presentations easier than ever.

How to use a proposal compliance matrix: Tips, template and examples

Product & Best Practices

Contents:

What is a proposal compliance matrix?
How to create and use a proposal matrix
Proposal compliance matrix template and examples

What is a proposal compliance matrix?

What’s the purpose of a proposal compliance matrix?

To understand the value of the proposal compliance matrix, you must consider the buyer’s perspective.

Who uses them?

Benefits of using a compliance matrix

Know every need before you bid

Additionally, the matrix helps organize the results of the RFP shred process into a checklist to help you track your needs. RFP software automates this process with content analysis.

Prepare a complete plan

Write relevant responses based on the stated requirements

Create a roadmap for reviewers

How to create and use a proposal compliance matrix

RFP compliance using proposal software

How to create a proposal compliance matrix manually

Alternatively, shredding the RFP and creating a proposal compliance matrix takes more time, but is easy once you know what to do. All you need is a spreadsheet and your RFP.

If the manual approach isn’t for you, consider automating the process. A robust response management platform should:

Digitally shred RFPs using predetermined keywords
Format it in a spreadsheet
Understand and track the RFP requirements

RFP compliance matrix best practices

To get the most out of your RFP compliance matrix, there are a few things you should know.

1. Create your matrix at the beginning of the proposal process

2. Match the language used by your customer

3. Continually update the proposal matrix

As you create your proposal outline and subsequent proposal drafts, the sections of your proposal may shift. Update the response location column of your matrix to reflect any changes.

4. Share your matrix with the proposal evaluator

Compliance matrix templates and examples

Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) proposal compliance matrix template

APMP provides a wealth of resources for proposal managers including this proposal compliance matrix template. You can download the Excel file and customize the matrix to meet your needs.

Technical compliance matrix example

This proposal matrix example is from the Department of Administrative Services. They require participating vendors to complete it as part of their submission to streamline the evaluation process.

IT support services – Proposal compliance matrix example

Created by The Federal Proposal Experts (FPEX), this is a good example of what you might expect a public sector RFP compliance matrix to look like.

Final thoughts

If manual processes seem a little daunting, see Responsive in action to explore how content analysis tools automate the proposal compliance process.

Bid or no-bid decision guide: Save time & improve RFP win rates

Selling & Enablement

For organizations focused on growth, answering every RFP is tempting. After all, each one represents an opportunity to win new business and generate revenue. However, not every RFP is created equal. And in some cases, responding to an RFP may not be the right move for your organization. So, how do you know the best way to spend your time? How do you separate promising RFP opportunities from those that are unwinnable or unwise? The answer is to add a bid/no-bid analysis step to your RFP response process.

The RFP response process requires an enormous investment of time and resources. Naturally, it would be best if those efforts were only focused on responding to RFPs that your business is sure to win. While there’s no way to ensure you win every RFP you respond to, you can quickly improve your win rate and save time by making a thoughtful bid or no-bid decision.

In this post we’ll discuss why carefully deciding to bid or not to bid is so important. Then, we’ll share three approaches to help you make a confident decision. In addition, we’ll offer key questions to ask and bid or no bid checklist examples. Finally, we’ll explore how to share your decision to bid or not to bid with the buyer along with letter templates to help you get started.

Table of contents

Basics and benefits of using RFP go or no-go analysis
3 strategies for conducting bid/no-bid analysis
- Basic: The core five bid/no-bid questions
- Intermediate: True or false checklist with template
- Advanced: Bid/no-bid decision matrix with examples
Next steps: Letter of intent or decline to bid
- Letter of intent to bid
- Decline to bid letter

Basics and benefits using RFP go or no-go analysis

Bid or no bid defined

The process of evaluating whether to bid or not to bid goes by many names but is primarily referred to as the bid/no-bid or RFP go/no-go decision. Simply put, in bid and proposal management, the RFP go or no-go process is a way to evaluate internal and external factors to determine if an organization should bid on an opportunity.

Benefits of holding go/no-go discussions

Responding to RFPs can win new business and help your organization grow, so why not just respond to all of them? Here are a few reasons why carefully considering which RFPs to bid on is important.

Lighten proposal team workloads and avoid burnout

Creating a winning proposal takes a lot of thought and time. So, creating a proposal for every RFP will inevitably result in wasted resources, a low win rate and an overworked, undervalued proposal team. In fact, a recent survey by Mairi Morrison with Strategic Proposals revealed that 62 percent of proposal professionals feel that their workload and volume of work are their greatest stressors.

A more selective and precise go/no-go process could significantly relieve the burden on proposal teams and prevent burnout. Bob Lohfeld, the CEO of Lohfeld Consulting Group has more than 30 years of experience in proposal management. In a Washington Technology article Lohfeld discusses the importance of RFP go or no-go decisions and believes they are the best way to improve your win rate saying:

“It is far quicker than hiring better people, improving poor proposal processes or investing in capture and proposal technology. In fact, making better bid decisions brings about an immediate improvement in win rate and, as an added bonus, lowers your annual cost of proposal development.”

Invest time wisely and improve win rates

Certainly, working strategically, improving your win percentage and reducing the cost of creating proposals is always important. However, making smart bid decisions becomes absolutely crucial when faced with big revenue goals. Despite this, many businesses seem to suffer from the fear of missing out when it comes to RFPs. Consequently, they spend resources and chase opportunities that aren’t a good fit. Lohfeld reframes the decision like this:

“Contrary to popular belief, the key to making good bid decisions is not picking the deals in your pipeline that you are going to win, but instead, it is discarding the deals that you are going to lose.”

If you knew you were going to lose, you wouldn’t waste your time preparing a proposal. Accordingly, the bid/no-bid process is about weeding out unlikely deals so you can better focus on the most winnable opportunities. Furthermore, a strong go or no-go evaluation process enables you to better forecast revenue and use available resources to your best advantage.

3 strategies for conducting bid/no-bid analysis

From business to business the RFP evaluation process will be different. However, this guide will help you create a go/no-go analysis that’s as simple or complex as your business requires. Certainly, the more objective you can be, the more accurate your decisions will become.

Basic: The core five go/no-go questions

The simplest and most straightforward way to determine if you should bid or not is to answer these five questions. Each question focuses on a factor that should be considered before proceeding.

Big picture: Does this opportunity align with your business’s long-term goals?
Capability: Is your business equipped to fulfill the RFP requirements? Can you meet the RFP deadline?
Profitability: Will the project be profitable?
History: Do you have content from a previous RFP in your proposal content library that will make answering this one quick and easy?
Competition: Do you know who you’re competing against and can you win?

If you answer each question with a confident ‘yes’ then, go for it and happy bidding. On the other hand, if there are too many ‘no’ responses or caveats that start with ‘yes, but…’ or ‘yes, if…’ the opportunity may not be a fit.

This basic approach serves as a quick gut check before you devote time and resources to an RFP response. It is a great place to start for those new to bid/no-bid decisions. In addition, it works well for small- or medium-sized businesses where sales executives are responsible for proposal management. Another benefit of this short-form evaluation is that it can easily be conducted during a meeting with stakeholders if necessary.

Intermediate: True or false checklist

For those looking for a slightly more formal bid or no-bid analysis, the true/false checklist may be a good option. This form is still quick and easy to use, but considers the core five factors listed above in more detail. In addition, it can be customized to include the bid or no-bid criteria that’s most important to your business.

To gather your custom criteria:

Examine past RFPs and identify common themes in those you’ve won as well as those you’ve lost.
Ask for feedback from subject matter experts, business development and stakeholders ⁠— they may be aware of other factors you should consider.
Define strengths and weaknesses that would heavily influence your likelihood of winning.

Now, to add your criteria to the checklist, simply phrase it as a true or false statement where true is the ideal answer. To keep the evaluation speedy, I recommend using no more than 20 true or false statements in your checklist. Once you’ve filled it out, tally up your affirmative answers and evaluate the recommendation to bid or not to bid. Generally, if there are more than 80 percent true statements, you’re in a strong position to bid.

This go or no-go analysis works well for businesses that have one or two dedicated proposal coordinators. It provides clear guidance and justification that will help to get everyone on the same page.

Bid or no-bid checklist template

This downloadable bid or no-bid checklist template includes some sample true or false statements to help you get started. Naturally, you’ll want to customize these to meet your organization’s needs. The standard considerations are broken into several sections. In addition, you’ll find templates for your next steps including an intent to bid letter and a no-bid letter.

Advanced: Bid/no-bid decision matrix

Math and data lovers, look no further than the bid/no-bid decision matrix for all of your analysis needs. The decision matrix approach uses a number of factors, rated on a scale to make a bid or no-bid determination. In some cases, each question or factor can also be weighted based on its importance to the business.

While this approach can get a little complicated, it’s helpful to teams who must consider many varying perspectives when making a go/no-go decision. In this scenario, each stakeholder completes the go/no-go matrix and shares the resulting score. Then, you gather the results and make your final decision by averaging the scores.

Bid/no-bid decision matrix examples:

My PM bid/no-bid Excel worksheet

This worksheet from MyPM includes more than 60 questions to consider. In this case, each question has three possible answers, each with a value:

1 – Unfavorable
2 – Neutral
3 – Favorable

The spreadsheet calculates the overall average and offers a recommendation of either bid, consider bidding or do not bid.

SMPS go/no-go decision making matrix

The go/no-go matrix created by the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) is highly-detailed. For instance, each question is scored on a scale from zero to 10. In addition, within the sections there’s a detailed description of what each score means. Not only that, but the worksheet also allows you to complete the scoring from your competitor’s perspective and see how you stack up. Certainly, this will give you a good idea of your chances of winning.

A note about these tools

Remember, these checklists and worksheets are tools to help you make informed decisions. As such, they should evolve as your business needs and goals change. Regularly update the go or no-go criteria as you identify trends and better understand what works. If you use RFP software to respond to RFPs, explore how you can use the platform to accurately track workload considerations, win themes and more.

Next steps: Letter of intent or decline to bid

Now, you have your decision. What’s next? If the opportunity is a great fit, you’re good to go! Use an intent to bid letter to share the news with your buyer. Then move forward to the next step in your proposal timeline. Conversely, if you don’t plan to bid, you should notify the customer of your decision. Either way, we’ve got you covered.

It’s a go: Send a letter of intent to bid

Now it’s time to get down to business. But, before you start drafting your winning proposal, take a few minutes to send your prospect an intent to bid letter.

While typically not required, this handy little note lets the buyer know you’re excited to partner with them and you’re hard at work writing a perfect proposal. It also helps you stand out from the crowd, shows your thoughtfulness and high regard for them as a potential customer.

It’s a no go: How to respectfully decline to bid

We get it. This is awkward. No one likes rejection and it feels like a role reversal to tell a buyer that their RFP wasn’t a fit. At the same time, you want to be sure you maintain a good relationship for any future opportunities. So, here’s how you do it.

Write a no-bid letter

Communication is one of the most important things in a customer relationship. Accordingly, the decline to bid letter lets the procurement team know what to expect from your organization.

It is especially helpful for the issuer to know if you’re participating when the RFP has a small vendor pool. At the same time, the notice gives the customer the opportunity to follow up with you (and potentially offer helpful insight) before the RFP closes. In addition, sending the update will also save your inbox from unnecessary clutter as the RFP process moves forward and the customer sends new information to vendors still in the running.

When writing your letter, remember:

Be as brief as possible.
Offer insight about your decision, but stay positive.
Provide your contact information for future opportunities.
If you have an existing relationship with the customer, follow up with a phone call as well.

Final thoughts on the RFP go or no-go process

As you develop and implement your RFP bid or no-bid process, remember that no two RFPs are the same. Often, the difference between deciding to bid or not could come down to timing, staff availability, customer expectations, competition and so on. By adding a formalized go or no-go decision step to your RFP process, you can boost consistency, track success and better optimize in the future.

RFP strategy: How to grow your business with RFPs

Revenue generation

Does your business have an effective RFP strategy? When it comes to RFPs, organizations generally take one of two approaches. Either they respond to every RFP they receive, or they ignore them completely and opt out of the process. Unfortunately, neither option could be called strategic. One wastes time and the other ignores potential opportunities.

In the middle of these two opposite approaches is an RFP strategy that will improve your chances of winning while ensuring your time is used wisely. With some consideration, time and helpful tips you can discover how to use RFPs as a tool to grow your business.

In this blog, I’ll define what an RFP strategy is. Then, I’ll explore the flaws in common approaches to RFPs and why they work well. Finally, I’ll offer some tips to help you make your RFP strategy a success. With these things in mind, you can build a process that saves time, optimizes your proposals and empowers you to win more business.

What is an RFP strategy?
Why common approaches to RFPs don’t work
5 tips to make the most of your RFP strategy

What is an RFP strategy?

So, what exactly is an RFP strategy? An RFP strategy is how your business receives, reviews and approaches requests for proposals. In addition, it clearly defines goals and expected outcomes. Finally, an RFP strategy serves as a guide for decisions to bid or not to bid.

Factors to consider when creating your RFP strategy:

How many RFPs do you respond to in a year?
What is your RFP win rate?
On average, how much time does an RFP response require?
Typically, how much value does an RFP opportunity represent?
What percentage of revenue is a result of successful proposals?

These questions will help you define the role that RFPs play in your business. With that information in mind, you can start to build your RFP strategy by considering the results that could be achieved with small changes to your current approach.

RFP strategies are often part of larger business development initiatives. For instance, Viewpoint, a computer software, created an RFP strategy for business development. According to Mark Vignolo, Viewpoint’s Manager of Sales:

“I’m not entirely sure that we are unique, but I can tell you that we definitely see our share of RFPs. One of the things I’ve mentioned during the sales process is, when somebody gets a 1000-question RFP, nobody’s happy to receive that.

But when an RFP comes in, you can’t say no. Really, it’s the gateway to getting involved in the sales process.”

With the goal of growth in mind, they adopted RFP software to streamline their process and enable their existing staff to leverage their proposal content library and collaborate more effectively. Their typical response time went down by 20-30 percent.

RFP strategy example

To illustrate, if Viewpoint were to define its RFP strategy, it might look like this:

Our company uses RFPs to win new business. The goal of our strategy is to increase both the number of RFPs we respond to as well as our win rates. We will do this by increasing our team efficiency as well as improving the quality of our RFP content.

We receive RFPs directly from customers as well as through RFP databases and open bids. We increase efficiency by 20-30 percent by leveraging RFP software to automate RFP responses, ensure consistency and collaborate with subject matter experts (SMEs) and stakeholders.

If successful, business secured from RFPs will represent 30 percent of new revenue, a 15 percent increase over last year.

Why common approaches to RFPs don’t work

It’s no secret that RFPs are not well-loved. As mentioned above, businesses frequently adopt an extreme all-or-nothing policy when it comes to responding to RFPs. If either of these approaches sound familiar, it may be time for a better RFP strategy.

The shotgun approach: Answering them all

If you answer every RFP, you may find yourself thinking, “Why do I need an RFP strategy? It’s simple, an RFP comes in and we answer it. Then, we wait to find out if we won.” This reactive approach is unpredictable, chaotic and inconsistently rewarding. In fact, not being selective often results in a low RFP win rate, a burned-out proposal team and a whole lot of wasted time.

The problem is that businesses that answer every RFP often don’t calculate the cost of the time spent creating a proposal. Subsequently, they neglect to weigh their investment with the likelihood of winning.

Not only does answering every RFP mean that you’re wasting time, it likely also means that your RFP responses aren’t customized to the buyer’s needs. The results? At best, you don’t win the RFP. At worst, you make a bad impression and the potential customer remembers you for all the wrong reasons.

The take-my-ball-and-go-home approach: Opting out of the RFP process

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the second common approach to RFPs ⁠— not participating at all. Unfortunately, it’s a common situation: the deck was stacked against you. You’ve spent time researching, collaborating and crafting an RFP response, honing it until it was pure perfection, only to discover that there was no real chance of winning. Lo and behold, your work-of-art proposal was merely rounding out the required trio of proposals in a farce of due diligence.

Some businesses that have run into this situation one too many times, simply refuse to answer RFPs altogether. While it’s an understandable reaction, refusing to engage altogether means the business misses out on genuine opportunities for which they might have been the perfect fit. These organizations limit their potential for growth, miss out on insights that could be gained from RFP data and force customers to work outside of the proven RFP process ⁠— it’s an approach that few can afford long term.

If neither of these options sounds ideal, you’re right. There’s a better way, and it starts with defining an RFP strategy.

5 tips to make the most of your RFP strategy

1. Adopt a proactive RFP approach

When it comes to receiving RFPs, many businesses just wait for them to arrive in their inbox. However, if you’re looking to grow your business, being proactive pays. After all, you can’t respond to an RFP if you don’t know it exists.

Encourage client-facing team members to ask questions about potential customers’ procurement process. Do they plan to issue an RFP? If the answer is yes, offer to be a resource for them as they create their RFP. For example, Cegid, a business management solution, created The ultimate guide for building an RFP for talent acquisition in 3 steps.

Because they offer this guide, they deliver genuine value for their customers. In addition, they position themselves as a leader in the industry and stand a good chance of receiving the subsequent RFP, packed with questions they wrote themselves.

2. Pair your RFP strategy with capture management

Capture management is the process of gathering insight, building a connection with a potential customer and strategizing how to win RFPs that are upcoming. The goal of capture planning is to put you in a favorable position long before the RFP is issued.

Using a capture management plan as a part of your RFP approach for particularly valuable opportunities increases your chances of success. If you’re interested in learning more about how to create a capture management plan, check out this blog: Capture management: The plan to win.

3. Be picky about which RFPs you respond to

As you create your strategy, improving your RFP win rate will likely come up. One of the fastest ways to give it a boost is to simply decline to bid on opportunities that aren’t a good fit or you’re unlikely to win.

The decision to bid or not to bid should be based on five factors:

The big picture: Does this opportunity align with your business’s long-term goals?
Capability: Is your business equipped to fulfill the RFP requirements?
Profitability: Will the project be profitable?
History: Do we have proposal content from a previous RFP in our knowledge library?
Competition: Do you know who you’re competing against and can you win?

Remember, if you decide not to bid, it’s a good idea to clearly communicate your intention with the RFP issuer. In some cases, the issuer will respond, asking you specifically to provide a proposal and offering additional insight that might sway your decision. Not only that but the extra courtesy and communication will make you memorable and ensure you’re not excluded from future opportunities.

4. Adopt RFP software to improve the RFP process and collect data

When it comes to execution of your RFP strategy, you may find yourself in need of a little help. RFP software centralizes the proposal process and streamlines it with RFP automation. When responding to RFPs, an RFP management system allows you to quickly access past proposal content, confer with SMEs and track proposal progress. Additionally, it enables greater collaboration, improved efficiency and data collection. It’s truly a game-changer.

Speaking of data, if you’re not already tracking your RFP data including your win rate, start now. The benefits of capturing RFP data are numerous. Tracking your win rate is the best way to understand how you’re winning, why you’re winning and how to win RFPs more often. Additionally, with RFP data you can optimize your proposal process, predict RFP trends and quantify the value you deliver to your business.

5. Share your strategy with the business

RFPs inevitably require participation from people across your organization. So, it is helpful to define your team and bring them into your plan. A well-documented approach helps to guide all departments that interact with the proposal process from sales to legal. Certainly the better they understand the process, the more likely they are to participate effectively.

Finally, share your success stories. It’s not uncommon for SMEs and stakeholders to circle back with the proposal coordinator to ask, “Whatever happened with that big RFP we worked on?” While you may not need a full debrief for every opportunity, it’s important to close the loop. Celebrate wins and share lessons learned from lost opportunities. Always use the knowledge to continue optimizing and improving your RFP strategy.

Final thoughts

A well-defined RFP strategy can streamline your proposal process, help you win RFPs and make your team more efficient. Subsequently enabling you to respond to even more RFPs and win more business. As time goes on, the benefits compound and your RFP strategy will continue to pay dividends.

RFP response resource guide

Selling & Enablement

If you ask any salesperson about their ideal lead, you’ll likely hear that the perfect prospect is a confirmed buyer with clearly identified needs and pain points.

Hmmm, that sounds an awful lot like companies that issue RFPs.

An RFP, or Request for Proposal, is a document issued by buyers seeking bids for products or services. Every RFP includes a detailed description of the customer’s needs, and unless someone pulls a plug somewhere, the ultimate goal is to buy.

Confirmed buyer ✅
Needs and pain points clearly identified ✅

If that’s not enough to demonstrate the value of RFPs, here are a few statistics:

The average sales win rate is around 3%
The average sales-qualified lead (SQL) win rate is 6%
The average RFP response win rate is 45%

Still, most companies see RFPs as nuisances, which shows in their work. More than half of customers say the RFP responses they receive are sloppy and riddled with grammatical and spelling errors.

So, when did these enormous revenue-generating opportunities become the business equivalent of pop quizzes that no one studied for?

What is an RFP response?

RFPs and proposals are often confused. An RFP is a request from a potential customer that goes to multiple vendors. Depending on the request, an RFP generally asks for a proposal, which includes pricing, product or project details, information about the bidders’ companies, deliverables, and so on.

RFX is the parent category of several types of response request. Some examples include RFQs, or requests for quotes, which means the customer wants to see the pricing and little else.

Another is the RFI, which is a more formal way of collecting information. Often, companies use RFIs to create preferred vendor shortlists and may pair them with RFPs.

An RFP asks for things found in both RFQs (pricing) and RFIs (information). So the RFP is like a combo of the RFQ and the RFI. Many people use RFP as a more general term instead of RFX.

Components of an RFP response

The components of an RFP vary. However, first and foremost, it starts with what the customer wants. The document may ask for the following:

Answers to the questions asked
Sample contracts
Financials
Quotes or a cost estimate

RFP response examples

RFP proposals are sales documents, but that doesn’t mean you can send a customer a bunch of sales collateral with a price quote and call it a proposal.

If you’ve ever had a conversation with someone who endlessly talks about themselves, you know how annoying that can be. It’s the same with RFP response. Instead of responding with boilerplate answers about what you can do for the customer, take the effort to learn about them and how you can best partner with them.

And while you’re thinking about your prospect, the response should be organized and readable. You don’t want a customer to have to work to find answers. Instead, they want to be able to easily compare competing proposals from bidders.

Even though it might be more laborious on your part to put the response in the format they request, they’re asking that format for a reason, and not complying could take you out of the running.

The ideal proposal tells a compelling and engaging story for the reader. It’s informative and inclusive of the customer’s needs. A well-written response will stand out, as will a disorganized one that lacks thought and effort.

An RFP response typically should include the following:

Cover letter – Explain the type of information that is included in the proposal
Executive summary – Summarize the proposal and why the customer should choose your company
The response – Answer the RFP’s questions
Additional information – Include applicable case studies, company history, your recommendations, etc.
Attachments – Include exhibits, documents, samples, reports, contracts

For more specific examples, read here.

How to respond to a request for proposal

An effective RFP response is never haphazard. Like any project, it should be organized with clear deliverables and stakeholder assignments. Strategic response management software such as RFPIO takes much of the work off the response manager’s shoulders by documenting and clarifying responsibilities and integrating with existing tools such as Salesforce, Slack, and dozens more.

Of course, project management software is a time- and resource-saving tool, but it can’t replace human beings. A systematic and organized response management system should include these human-managed steps:

Step 1 – Determine whether you are the right fit

It might be tempting to respond to every RFP, regardless of whether your company’s solution is the best fit. For example, the prospect may need a product or service only a large enterprise company can provide. In that case, why waste your resources and risk the chance of wasting your prospect’s time?

This isn’t necessarily a hard and fast rule. RFPIO’s CEO and co-founder, Ganesh Shankar, recently spoke with another CEO whose company strategically responded to RFPs they knew they wouldn’t win as a way to get their brand in front of the customer for future needs and to strengthen existing relationships. The keyword here is “strategic.” Perhaps coordinate with your marketing department to determine the best approach to brand awareness.

Step 2 – Set up your process

Your subject matter experts (SMEs) are vital to your RFP response process. However, if you have yet to choose your SMEs before the RFP is in your hand, you will use up time finding the person in your company that holds the answer. Remember that the clock begins ticking the moment you receive the document.

According to many of the RFPIO customers I speak to on a regular basis, timelines are getting shorter and shorter each year. Companies expect faster turnaround times. You should know your process before receiving your RFP.

While RFPs vary, there are certain elements you will almost always see. For example, you will likely see questions about your company’s overview, history, product or service features, and so on. Know who you can rely on to answer your standard questions, or better yet, have the answers to these questions in your Content Library, so your SMEs will only have to review existing information.

Step 3 – Break down the components

In school we were told that “on time is late and early is better.” It’s the same with RFP response. A late response will almost always be discounted, but beyond that, it could sour the customer to your company for future opportunities.

A late response might cause a customer to question whether you value them and wonder whether you can meet your promises if you win the bid.

An RFP may be hundreds or even thousands of pages long. You must have a complete picture of what is requested and how you should approach it. You should first determine your timeline and work backward from there. Assign team roles, responsibilities, and timelines by breaking down the components.

Step 4 – Determine what you’ll need to include

Once you have determined your timeline, it’s time to determine what the customer is asking for.

How do they want the response to be formatted?
What questions do they need answered?
What exhibits or attachments do they need?
What additional information, such as financial statements or contracts, do they want to see?

How to improve the RFP response process

Workplace processes have never been more advanced. Messaging apps have all but replaced, or at least minimized, the use of email and phones. Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms track customer interactions from initial lead through their entire lifecycle. Project management software turns distributed and siloed workforces into collaborative teams.

Why? Well, automation works.

89% of companies report that their businesses grew last year, thanks to automation.
92% say that automation frees employees to focus on more critical and complex tasks.
About one-third of businesses report achieving a 100% or more ROI in the very first year after investing in automation.

Unfortunately, companies still need to prioritize automating their response processes.

84% of companies use inefficient RFP processes.
44% of proposal managers use no response software.

That’s not to say software is required for an efficient response process, but it certainly helps–a lot. Nor does RFP software replace jobs; it simply enables employees to focus on generating revenue.

Automate manual tasks

As I said, RFP software isn’t out to steal anyone’s job, but you know those annoying manual tasks like chasing people down for their deliverables or trying to keep track of which documents and question and answer pairs need reviewing? Automation takes care of that for you.

If you are a response manager or oversee a response department, you have a lot of control over what’s automated and what’s not. In a moment, we’ll discuss the sorts of tasks you might consider automating. But first, what are the goals of an efficient response process?

The goals of an efficient process include the following:

Automating manual tasks
Keeping content up to date and accurate
Optimizing time management
Collaboration

To reach those efficiency goals, consider automating:

Processes involving multiple stakeholders
Time-consuming tasks that don’t add value
Anything that might help with compliance
Anything you feel you are reinventing each time
Tools and templates
Answers to frequently asked questions

Up-to-date content

Let’s drill down a bit and talk about one of my favorite features of advanced response automation, the Content Library.

Depending on how long your company has been in business and how often you audit your content, you could have hundreds of thousands or more records–many, if not most, of which are never used.

I get it. Reviewing content isn’t much fun. Fortunately, as with your home, once you do that deep clean most of the rest is just maintenance.

So, where do you start? A regular review of content. My colleague and friend Monica Patterson recently published a super informative blog post on this topic, but in a nutshell:

Review the content you use the most – This step is relatively easy because most used content is generally up to date. However, you still want to run it by your SMEs, including every regularly reviewed Q&A pair, document, attachment, or exhibit.
Review the content you don’t use — Don’t automatically archive never used content. First, ensure it’s no longer relevant and doesn’t have customer-specific or periodic use.
Schedule regular maintenance reviews – Establish a regular cadence of looking at content, so you don’t have things that are so out of date that you have to find a new answer.

Having the cadence that works best for your subject matter experts is essential, which means having a relationship with your SMEs to establish a mutually agreed-upon time. If not, it will cause them more work in the future.

Optimize time management

When you receive a massive RFP, it’s intimidating unless you optimize your time management plan in advance. RFP response time management tactics include:

Understanding the scope and timeline of the project
Determining who to ask for clarifications
Defining roles within your team and engaging SMEs
Repurposing and reusing content where applicable
Tracking and monitoring deliverables and time spent

Better collaboration

Response teams and sales teams have a whole lot in common. Every employee in your company should have the same goal: to make the company more profitable.

But for revenue-generating departments, such as sales and RFX response, it’s all about winning business. Unfortunately, in many companies, the two departments are siloed. When responding to an RFP, it becomes even more challenging when the response team is siloed from the SMEs they need to consult.

While collaboration is possible using email and communication tools, response project management is hardly their forte. Response software that contains collaboration tools allows response managers to track and review progress and content across multiple channels, ensuring accurate and timely responses.

Key performance indicators for the RFP process

Boards of directors, C-suites, and everyone else in leadership positions want to see quantifiable results. As for the RFP response process, they want to see:

The types of projects you work on
Time and resources spent
Time to completion
On-time and late submissions
Win rate

Some KPIs don’t boil down to just numbers. To best measure the efficiency of your process, survey your team and implement a project post-mortem to identify areas where you can make improvements.

How to choose RFP response software

Before choosing software, take time to understand your process. If you don’t understand what you need, even the most advanced tool will not fulfill every requirement, and you could choose the wrong vendor. Look for agile, scalable software that seamlessly integrates with your existing sales enablement and communication tools.

Make sure that the software company is flexible, listens to customer feedback, and does things with it.

Why you need RFP software

A shared Google or Word document doesn’t exactly lend itself to group collaboration. First, the document could have many pages, and a multiparty editing process is sloppy and difficult to track at best.

In a siloed, distributed workforce, RFP software is a single place to go—a single source of truth. It enables you to gather answers to questions, exhibits, and documents. The software is a place where everyone sees the one correct answer. It’s also a place where everyone can work together without causing the RFP coordinator to pull their hair out.

Essential features

An advanced RFP response platform is a partner. It shares your goal of quantifiable and qualifiable results with the resources and bandwidth to manage multiple users and projects. Look for several features, including:

A content management system that serves as a single repository for all company knowledge and documents
End-to-end project management, including in-depth tracking capability/activity log
Response recommendation engine
Customizable analytics
Tech stack integrations
Scalability
Ability to import different formats
Ability to customize parameters

RFPIO is your partner in proposal management. To accomplish what RFPIO does would require a full-time assistant 100% of the time, and that’s for just one RFP. Teams rarely have just one.

Building response functionality onto sales enablement software would be very expensive and include features you probably won’t use. You want software for response teams and response management. RFPIO offers:

A best-in-class Content Library – A single company repository for Q&A pairs, company knowledge, documents, exhibits, and other attachments.
Advanced project management – Built-in analytics, advanced in-app collaboration tools, project tracking, role assignment, and clarification.
AI-powered Recommendation Engine– RFPIO leverages machine learning to recommend answers.
Integrations – RFPIO seamlessly integrates with more than two dozen of the most popular business applications, including Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft Office, Hubspot, and more.
Scalability – RFPIO’s unique project-based pricing model fosters collaboration by providing access to unlimited stakeholders on each response. The system grows with your needs and scales back during slower times.
Ability to import different formats – With RFPIO, you can import from Word, Excel, other documents, and even PDFs.
Customizable parameters – Track project metrics in a way that makes sense to you, including by vertical, company size, product line, project type, project stage, number of questions, project value, and so on.

Common challenges of the RFP response process

RFP response involves a lot of moving pieces. RFP response is a collaborative process that requires input from multiple and diverse experts across the organization. Yet, more than half of companies work in silos.

Additionally, not every company has dedicated SMEs, so you could be fighting competing priorities. And then there’s the good old problem of time. Timelines are getting shorter. Things pop up–like PTO, life in general, and, unfortunately, pandemics.

You should also set aside time to update the content library; otherwise, you’ll spend more time in the RFP process, as it’s faster to validate content is accurate than to track down the SME and have them update content you know isn’t up-to-date.

Then, of course, departments compete for their part of the annual budget, and sadly, some companies don’t want to, or can’t, invest in software for small teams, even though response teams pack powerful revenue-generating punches.

Case study

In my dealings, I’ve found that RFPIO is mission-critical software, but the proof is in the pudding. Celtra, a creative management platform organization, had a broken RFP response process. Their content was siloed, and workflow and collaboration needed optimization.

The result was rushed responses and a poor success rate. After researching the response management industry, they chose to work with RFPIO. They found:

They value the support and educational content, especially around best practices.
They appreciate the industry-leading integrations and clean user interface.
Now they’re responding to twice as many RFPs in less than one-fourth the time with fewer than half the people.

RFP FAQs

If you have questions about RFPIO or the general response process, you can contact us anytime. Here are some of our most frequently asked questions:

What is an RFP? – Organizations issue requests for proposals (RFPs) to enlist bids for specific products or services from multiple vendors.
What is included in an RFP? – RFPs are highly detailed and contain in-depth project descriptions, background information, specific requirements, deadlines, and so on.
Why do organizations issue RFPs? – Organizations issue RFPs to obtain detailed bids to compare and contrast before purchasing.
Who responds to an RFP? – Responding to RFPs requires input from multiple stakeholders throughout an organization. Many organizations have dedicated response teams, while in others, sales teams steer the process.
How does RFP software help the process? – Advanced RFP software helps ensure quality and on-time response with time management capabilities, collaborative tools, tech stack integration, scalability, a flexible pricing structure, and a robust content library.
Does RFPIO work with our existing processes? – RFPIO seamlessly integrates with the most popular business applications, and our import/export capabilities ensure that both response teams and customers receive the format that works best for them.
Do we need to purchase multiple licenses? – RFPIO has a pricing structure that is rare among SaaS companies. Instead of a fixed number of licenses, RFPIO charges by active concurrent project, enabling access to unlimited users.
How secure is RFPIO? – I could bore you listing our security certifications and protocols, but let’s just say that our platform is secure enough for Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Adobe, and VISA.

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RFP management best practices

RFP automation: What it is, how it works, and best practices

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Category: Tag: RFP best practices

Contents

Proposal executive summary basics

What is a proposal executive summary?

Why create an executive summary for a proposal?

Who writes the executive summary?

Typical creation and approval process for the proposal executive summary

When should you write the executive summary?

1. Starting with the proposal executive summary

2. Writing the RFP executive summary as you go

3. Creating the RFP executive summary as your last step

What’s the difference between an RFP executive summary and a cover letter?

Executive summary vs. cover letter

Request for proposal executive summary

RFP response cover letter

Which comes first, the proposal executive summary or cover letter?

Suggested order of RFP documents

How to write an RFP executive summary

RFP executive summary best practices

Make your message customer-centric

Use dynamic verbs and active voice

Express empathy and understanding

Be brief

Leverage your knowledge library

Make sure it can stand alone

Follow directions

Proposal executive summary examples

Simple RFP executive summary example

Creative extended proposal executive summary example

RFP executive summary template

Executive summary template for a proposal

Additional RFP executive summary examples and resources

The value of a proposal executive summary

What is a proposal compliance matrix?

What’s the purpose of a proposal compliance matrix?

Who uses them?

Benefits of using a proposal compliance matrix

Know every need before you bid

Prepare a complete plan

Write relevant responses based on the stated requirements

Create a roadmap for reviewers

How to create and use a proposal compliance matrix

RFP compliance using proposal software

How to create a proposal compliance matrix manually

RFP compliance matrix best practices

1. Create your matrix at the beginning of the proposal process

2. Match the language used by your customer

3. Continually update the proposal matrix

4. Share your matrix with the proposal evaluator

Compliance matrix templates and examples

RFP best practices for content

RFP section-by-section guide

RFP cover letter

Executive summary

Project implementation plan and schedule

Contract terms

Customer references and case studies

Winning RFP content tips and examples

Insert the customer into your answers

Keep it simple and skimmable

Include visualizations

Review, revise then review again