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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 management

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 respond to an RFP like an all-star champ

Selling & Enablement

Organizations issue requests for proposals (RFPs) because they have a need that cannot be fixed internally — a big need — one that will cost lots of money. This isn’t calling a plumber to fix a clog. It’s soliciting bids from multiple contractors for complete remodels, or to construct full-on additions. So, they send out a request for proposal. Now, to win that business, you need to know how to respond to an RFP.

Admittedly, RFPs can be challenging. So, we’re here to explore how you can master the process, create compelling bids and (hopefully) win. First, we’ll explore common obstacles you may face when you respond to an RFP. Next, we’ll offer the key steps for how to respond to an RFP as well as best practices. And finally, we’ll offer insight on how technology like RFP software makes responding a lot faster and easier. Let’s dig in.

Obstacles in the RFP response process

The scale of an RFP can be huge

RFPs contain up to thousands of questions and requests for specific content. If your company has a solution to the problem put forth by the issuer, then you respond with a proposal that includes all the answers and requested content. Depending on the size of the RFP, it can take you hours, days, or weeks to prepare a response. As long as you submit your completed RFP response by the deadline, your solution will be considered.

Competition is fierce

The issuer compares your RFP response with all of the other RFP responses received from your competitors. Sometimes, the lowest price wins. Other times, the best solution wins. Sometimes, it’s both…or neither.

Success requires more than paperwork

Much of the time, the winner results from the best pitch — an umbrella term that includes the RFP response, relationships built with sales and subject matter experts (SMEs) during the process, pricing, reputation and a variety of other factors. Then there are the times when winners are selected based on prior or existing relationships between the two organizations.

No matter what the deciding factor between an RFP win or loss, the ultimate truth is that you have to compose an RFP response to have a chance. Why not put your best foot forward?

How to respond to an RFP

1. Qualify the bid

Is this worth going after? Starting off with a bid or no-bid discussion gives you an opportunity to evaluate your win probability. Essentially, building a proposal is like investing in your future. Every investment requires close scrutiny.

2. Understand requirements

What do you need to get it done? This ranges from the type of content, to who produces it, to who is responsible for signing off on the final proposal. The list can be extensive, but it must be comprehensive to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

3. Answer repeat questions

Pull from your content library to fill in answers to repeat questions. If anything needs to be reviewed by a subject matter expert, be sure to get their eyes on it before submission.

4. Note due dates and tasks

Whose expertise do you need? After you determine the requirements, identify all the milestones. There’ll be due dates for content, reviews, edits and approvals. The trick is to respect everyone’s time while driving the process forward.

5. Assign questions for review

Who needs to sign off on this content? Generally, you’ll have multiple approvers to sign-off on content related to sales, product, support, legal, branding and so on.

6. Review and polish

Make sure you’re telling YOUR story. Add visuals or other supporting content to help convey your message. If you have the good fortune to have a dedicated proposal team, look to them for proposal formatting guidance. If you don’t have a proposal team, look to your marketing team. Ensure your proposal is in a clean, easy-to-read format. Or, even better, put it into a branded template.

7. Proofread

Don’t let poor grammar and typos be the reason you lose the bid.

8. Submit to issuer

Push send with no regrets.

The Benchmark Report: Proposal Management

Learn about the state of proposal management, and see what teams need to do to be successful moving forward.

Read the report here.

Best practices for responding to an RFP

Whether you have a dedicated team of stakeholders from each department or you assign a new team for each project, what matters most is that everyone in the organization recognizes that they have skin in the game.

RFP wins, proactive sales proposals and fast turnaround on questionnaires equate to revenue and may determine whether the company grows, shrinks, or offers an extra percentage point in next year’s retirement fund match.

Build the right team

Proposal managers lead the proposal team. Proposal managers may think of themselves as the director of a motion picture. After that “Directed by” end title flashes, another three minutes of credits roll by.

The proposal team I’m referring to is made up of the individuals you rely on for a variety of roles:

Prospect and customer interaction – Customer-facing teams have their fingers on the pulse of competitors and customer needs.
Subject matter expertise – Many RFP questions require detailed answers, and for those you should turn to the people who know the most about their particular area of expertise.
Brand messaging – Consult with marketing before submitting your response to ensure that you are on brand.
IT support – Can your company support the issuer’s needs?

… and all of the others who are vital to creating a winning proposal.

Even a one-person proposal department needs input from internal or external SMEs to build a high-quality response.

Only respond to RFPs you can win

As part of your bid-qualifying at the beginning of your RFP response process, add a go/no-go checkpoint to ensure that you only respond to RFPs you can win. Whether it’s a scheduled team meeting or a checklist, you need to answer:

Is the RFP the right fit for your organization and solution?
Do you have a comprehensive solution that addresses all of the challenges presented in the request?
Does your pricing match the budget?
Do you have an existing or prior relationship with the issuing organization?
Do you have any insight into why the RFP has been issued?
Can you meet the submission deadline?

Basing the answers to these questions on data rather than anecdotal evidence will help validate the go/no-go step as well as your role as a proposal manager. The Responsive platform’s AI-powered analytics tools provide that data.

Respect contributors’ time

If you want SMEs and other stakeholders to feel a sense of ownership for their proposal responsibilities, then you have to respect their time. RFP responses will suffer if contributors end up working after hours and weekends, rushing to meet deadlines. Get their buy-in ahead of time on deadlines and time required for reviews and approvals.

Document your process

A documented RFP response process will anchor your team during the most chaotic times. It’s up to you to own the process, but RFP software will make it easier to automate, execute and monitor processes from beginning to end on multiple projects running simultaneously.

Conduct a win/loss review

The win-loss review gives your team an opportunity to close the loop. Internally evaluate what worked and what didn’t.

Did you win? Why? How can you repeat it for future proposals?

Did you lose? Why? How can you avoid it in future proposals?

Include the whole proposal team in a wrap-up summary, but make the extra effort to work hand-in-hand with sales enablement so they can bring in the customer perspective.

Let technology do the heavy lifting

Remember earlier when I said the RFP response process is cyclical? The win/loss review will inform your new go/no-go step, increasing your predictive accuracy of which RFPs you can actually win. It helps to have RFP software for a win-loss review because you have everything that went into the response—the planning, communication, content and the actual response—in one place.

Software is the single most effective way to overcome lack of time, experience and other resources. It’s the difference maker that will help you respond like a boss. With only 43 percent of organizations using RFP-specific technology, there’s a huge opportunity for you to get a leg up on competitors.

How Responsive can help

Responsive RFP software makes it easier to collaborate with an extended team and leverage the power of technology. With automated processes for scheduling, collaboration and completing wide swaths of massive RFPs using our industry-leading Content Library, you can blaze through the first pass of a response faster than working without RFP software or with less advanced software solutions.

You create more time to spend customizing the responses that really matter and focus on differentiating yourself from the competition. And that’s only the beginning!

Using software at every step in the RFP response process

Here’s a quick overview of how Responsive RFP software helps during each of the seven steps of RFP response:

Qualify the bid — Check data from past similar RFPs. What took weeks without RFP software may only take hours or minutes with it. All things being equal, is this RFP winnable?
Understand requirements — Let the tool create a checklist of open items based on what remains after the automated first pass conducted at intake by your Content Library.
Answer commonly seen questions — Responsive RFP technology consolidates all your previous Q&A pairs into an intelligent content library, so you can automatically respond to repeat questions in just a few clicks.
Assign due dates and tasks to key collaborators — Assign each RFP question or section as a task to individual collaborators from the project dashboard in Responsive. They’ll then receive a notification from where they’re already working (e.g., email, Slack, or Teams).
Assign questions for review and approval — Simplify the review and approval process with automated reminders and cues across multiple platforms.
Polish — From intake, work within a branded template and support answers with approved content that’s always up-to-date according to the SME in charge of that content.
Proofread — Still important, but working with already-approved content will decrease how much you have to proofread.
Submit to issuer — Push send from Responsive or your integrated CRM.

We recently created a Proposal Management Benchmark Report where we found that organizations using RFP software already managed 43 percent more RFPs than those who do not use RFP software. If you’re looking to speed ahead of the field in RFP response, then gain traction faster with RFP software.

I’ll just leave these other tidbits right here…

Recognize SMEs and salespeople at quarterly meetings. Salespeople are competitive and like to be recognized for winning.

Implement formal kickoff meetings for RFPs. Make them quick and include pre-reading materials in the invitation to hit the ground running. Some organizations combine this with a go/no-go checkpoint.

Hold 15-minute daily standup meetings or calls as you approach the RFP deadline. Focus on status reports and action items.

Commit to professional development time. Join this LinkedIn group, the response management Slack community, or connect with APMP. This is especially valuable for small shops, where it can be hard to build a network.

If this has inspired you to investigate RFP software, then request a Responsive demo today!

What is an RFP?

Selling & Enablement

RFP stands for request for proposal, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a plea for help, a clue to problems that need solved, and an opportunity to build pipeline. This article will take you from asking, “What is an RFP?” to knowing how to use RFPs to drive revenue in less than 1,500 words. Buckle up.

First, an assumption: If you came here because you want to know what an RFP is, then I’m guessing that a high-value target has decided to issue an RFP to find a solution to a problem you feel strongly about solving. When that target finally understands that you’re the answer to their problem, then you’ll pick up a sizable chunk of business. Now you just have to play the RFP game.

(Just in case you’re here because you want to know how to issue an RFP, check out this article instead.)

What is an RFP opportunity?

There are essentially two types of RFP opportunities: solicited and unsolicited. Solicited means that you’re invited to play the game. Unsolicited means you have to crash the game. You have a better chance to win when you’re invited.

That reminds me. There’s a fair bit of jargon in the RFP world. Here’s a short glossary of some common terms you’ll encounter often, including in this article:

RFP issuer: The organization that sends out the RFP. They have a problem, and they’re willing to pay someone to solve it, within certain parameters.
RFP responder: You.
RFP response: How you answer the RFP.
RFP proposal: Your response to the RFP.
RFP Q&As: Most RFPs present a number of questions that responders must answer. This section makes up the lion’s share of your proposal.
RFP win: You were selected by the issuer to solve their problem.
RFP loss: Happens to the best of us.

Back to more on “What is an RFP opportunity?”…While you can still win an RFP if you submit an unsolicited response, the odds are against you and you need to take an honest look at whether or not it’s worth it to respond.

RFP responses are not easy, even when you’re invited to partake. If you’re lucky enough to be alerted to an RFP on the day it’s issued, then you’re likely looking at a 3-6 week window to compose your response. Rarely are you so lucky. Sometimes it’s brought in with notice of a week or less, putting you on a tight deadline. The number of hours you’ll have to commit to building a proposal during that time will be determined by, among other things, team participation, content relevance and access, and how much you have to rely on manual processes to complete the response.

Now that you understand what an RFP is and the opportunity it presents, you need to put yourself on a path to respond only to those RFPs that you can realistically win. If this is one of your first RFP responses, then it could be a rabbit hole of unknown depths. Insert a go/no-go milestone before you go ask Alice. It involves asking yourself the following five questions:

What was your level of involvement prior to the RFP being issued?
Is your solution a fit (now, not at some squishy date in the future after you’ve had a chance to adapt it to what the problem calls for)?
Does your price match the RFP issuer’s budget?
Will winning the RFP be a strategic fit for your organization?
Do you have bandwidth (to complete a competitive proposal, not to deliver your solution)?

As part of the RFP response process, you should have an opportunity to ask the questions necessary to fill in the gaps for your go/no-go milestone. Best-case scenario? Your sales team has already laid the groundwork for all of this with the issuer and it’s just a matter of taking their learnings and making them actionable.

It’s a “go.” Now what?

It’s a process deal. Doesn’t that take the pressure off?

I won’t get into the nitty gritty of the RFP process here (you can do so here if you’re ready to start now), but I will touch on the value of efficiency. Even if this is your first RFP, you’ll want to go into it as prepared as possible to save you and your team some pain and give your organization its best shot at winning.

Break down your efficiency goals into three main categories: project management, content management, and proposal quality. Before you start checking boxes under these categories, you need a team. Part of that team has likely already formed. The salesperson at the tip of the spear will be your subject matter expert (SME) for issuer-related questions and perspectives. The rest of the team will come together based on your review of the RFP. What questions need answered? Who has the answers? Who has the design and technical chops to build the proposal?

After you identify potential team members, dig into their availability and try to build a schedule to complete the response by deadline, preferably before deadline to give yourself some buffer. Then schedule a kickoff meeting with all team members to get their buy-in to process details for the following:

Project management: You’ll be the lead for collaboration, assigning tasks, and driving the schedule.
Content management: You’ll need content creators, content reviewers, and a storage system for a content library (if you’re gathering all this valuable info for an RFP, you’ll want to save it for repurposing; even if this will be your only RFP response of the year, the info will be useful for business proposals, answering prospect and customer questions, and training new hires).
Proposal quality: Answering RFP Q&As won’t be enough. You need to personalize the proposal to make it stand out.

Remember, the issuer is using the RFP process to identify its optimal vendor. They’re inciting competition, so you need to play to win. Second prize doesn’t even get a set of steak knives.

Beef up your sales pipeline

Now that you’ve discovered RFPs and the opportunities they can offer, you may want to evaluate how they can help you achieve your sales goals. 69% of B2B salespeople do not have enough leads in their pipeline to meet quota. Pursuing RFPs can build up pipelines fast: Globally, $11 trillion of revenue is won through competitive proposal processes (i.e., RFPs) every year.

Obviously, you’re not going to win every RFP. We found the average win rate to be 45%. However, RFP opportunities can cost as much as 5X more than traditional sales opportunities, which makes your process and your sales tech stack your best friends when it comes to response efficiency.

Automate to dominate

The optimized sales technology stack is a hot point of conversation these days. With so many RFP automation software solutions, it’s easy for sales teams to overspend on solutions they barely use. A recent Harvard Business Review article cites a survey where 62% of B2B companies were not satisfied with their sales technology return on investment. It also found that:

“The winning companies in our analysis were 1.4 times more likely to fully deploy sales technology tools and 1.9 times more likely to fully integrate them…By taking the time to embed these technologies properly into its sales processes, the [SaaS] company was able to increase revenue growth by 200 basis points within a few weeks.”

RFP automation offers a massive competitive advantage for responders. It saves time, improves proposal quality, and helps companies create their best work by activating their company knowledge. Companies with RFP-specific technology responded to 43% more RFPs in 2020 than those without a designated RFP tool. “With RFPIO, I would say we have increased our win rate by 15%,” said Grégory Saive, IBA global director of sales support and tender management,

But it has to be the right RFP software for your sales tech stack. It has to be able to manage your entire response process — from building proactive proposals to answering prospect and customer questions on the fly and responding to questionnaires — while integrating seamlessly with the other applications you rely on, such as your CRM, communication, and cloud storage solutions.

What’s next? Demo.

We started with “What is an RFP?” and made it all the way through to the value of RFP automation. Once you win one, you’re going to want to win more. Since I’m almost at my promised 1,500-word cap, I’ll wrap it up with a tip on your next step: Schedule a demo. It’s the fastest and easiest way to find out if RFP automation is right for you. Even if it’s not, you’ll get some valuable response tips from our process experts.

How to build a business case for a full-time RFP content manager

Product & Best Practices

Like trying to navigate the Suez Canal in high winds and poor visibility, you can manage a proposal program without an RFP content manager, but is it really worth the risk? Without one, eventually your response management process–and revenue stream–will get clogged by subpar content.

An RFP content manager owns the comprehensive content management strategy for your organization’s proposal development. The person in this role will interface with subject matter experts (SMEs) and other key response stakeholders (e.g., proposal managers, sales managers, support managers, etc.), remove redundancy in your content library, ensure all content is clean and proposal-ready, and report monthly to the executive team to help demonstrate their value.

Even though it’s fairly obvious that there’s so much an RFP content manager can do for an organization, it can still be frustratingly difficult to justify the need for one with upper management. Hopefully, some of the information in this article will help you change mindsets from a “nice-to-have” approach to a “have-to-have” business imperative.

The biggest benefit of an RFP content manager

Your proposal team can stop splitting their time—already a scarce resource—between trying to respond to proposals AND managing content. When this shared-responsibility approach is attempted, everyone’s attention is fractured, and as soon a new proposal comes in the door, content management screeches to a halt. Proposal always takes precedence over content in a shared-responsibility scenario. Eventually, trust in content will be lost (as well as the bid), leading to resentment between teams. Imagine the finger-pointing if the Ever Given had two captains at the wheel when it went sideways.

Content is a pain point for everyone involved in a proposal. Managing the tag structure alone is a full-time job. With a full-time RFP content manager in place, you have a designated individual whose primary responsibility is to convert content from a pain point to a competitive differentiator. It also frees up the proposal team to respond to proposals as they come through the door. It will be the RFP content manager’s responsibility to interface with the proposal team in real-time to prioritize incoming Q&A pairs.

Business Case: The Numbers

The reason that RFP content managers are surrounded by a “nice-to-have” aura is because upper management doesn’t have a clear picture of the opportunity. There are many ways to surface the value that an RFP content manager will bring to your organization.

Numbers are hard to argue, even for the most budget-conscious CFO. A successful RFP content manager will enable all teams that develop client-facing proposals with “clean content,” which saved Microsoft an estimated $2.4 million. Then there’s the company that doubled its RFP win rate after hiring a full-time RFP content manager and discovered that, “When the entire team has access to the best content available, everyone is better off.”

Also, dig into your RFP win rate and percentage of revenue numbers to estimate how many more RFPs can be completed with an RFP content manager on board. Something to consider…we found that organizations with dedicated proposal professionals–which you’ll have when your new RFP content manager relieves the proposal manager of content management duties—submitted almost 3.5x more responses in 2020 than those without. Other numbers from our study that are relevant to your business case include:

Companies with a designated RFP solution are 32% more likely to have strong content moderation procedures in place (i.e., they have the tools and time for content management).
90% of companies with designated RFP software prioritize content moderation to build trust among proposal stakeholders.
The average RFP win rate in 2020 was 45% at an average deal size between US $1-3M (i.e. increase how many RFPs you respond to, increase your revenue).

Another key number is that a dedicated RFP content manager can reduce Q&A pairs in your Content Library by as much as 40-50% by removing duplicates and combining similar responses. I once had a Q&A pair with 43 versions of the answer. Each had its own flavor and no one could decide which was correct. Eventually, I trimmed it down to six. This was part of a 9-month undertaking to pare down the whole Content Library from 5,600 to 2,200 Q&A pairs! No way that happens on a part-time basis.

Ensuring Content Library purity will help your proposal team complete RFx’s more quickly and more accurately. I have a client who refers to this as “productivity density”, meaning you can complete more proposals, more accurately, in the same amount of time. It will provide the same benefits to those teams building proactive proposals, such as sales and customer support.

Business case: Being respectful of stakeholders’ time

An essential value offered by RFP content managers is their ability to protect SMEs’ time. Your content manager won’t just work with your SMEs, they’ll build relationships with them and truly partner with them. They’re invested in content just as much as the SME is, and they will want to work together to accomplish content updates and cyclical reviews.

Say an SME takes 10 minutes to review a Q&A pair. If you send them the same question in 14 ways, then you’re asking for 140 minutes of their time. Trim that down to two or three, and you’ll develop trust with SMEs in the content and in the proposal process.

There’s a numbers play here, too. It starts with identifying how much your SME’s time is worth down to the minute.

For example, say the average annual salary for an SME is $100K. That breaks down to about $0.38 per minute, or $3.80 per review of a Q&A pair (assuming it takes them 10 minutes to review). By reducing their review from 14 pairs to three pairs, you’re saving $41.80.

Now let’s extrapolate that savings out to annual production. After a content manager has trimmed redundant, outdated, and trivial content, you may well be left with 3,500 Q&A pairs instead of 6,200. That’s a 45% reduction. If you have six SMEs, they now only need to review about 600 Q&A pairs each, which means they can spend lots more time bringing value to your customers in their role.

This is also generating roughly $10,000 in savings for your company that can help you build a case for funding the content manager position.

Your numbers will vary, of course, depending on SME salary, average time reviewing Q&A pairs, and how many pairs an SME reviews annually. But this shows how you can hang tangible cost savings on a prospective full-time RFP content manager. Perform similar exercises to calculate cost savings for proposal managers, salespeople, customer support specialists, and any other personnel involved in generating proposals.

Business Case: Improve Content, Improve Proposals

Of course, we cannot forget the main reason you want an RFP content manager: content. They’ll be responsible for its proposal readiness 24/7/365. That includes:

Making sure tagging is accurate and redundancy eliminated.
Ensuring you don’t have client names or details in your content that could be submitted to a different client (a huge benefit to the entire organization when it comes to things like corporate and financial content).
Performing white-glove reviews for all content so that the proposal builders who use it (e.g., proposal, sales, and support teams) can do so in RFP software without hesitation.
Meet monthly with the proposal team to identify gaps and edits.
Identify content used most frequently to prioritize it for updates and reviews.

The positive byproducts of their content focus will spread across your organization. Onboarding will be easier because the right content will always be located where it’s supposed to be. Brand management will be easier to monitor and update. Upper management will have greater visibility into content and proposal management thanks to the monthly reports delivered by the RFP content manager. By the way, you don’t need one for every line of business, especially if you have a response management platform like Responsive. The RFP content manager can do upfront legwork with multiple lines of business and then manage the processes of content development and auditing for all of them!

Remember, any proposal is only as good as its content. All the polish in the world cannot cover up inaccurate, poorly written, out-of-date, or irrelevant content. Respond to more RFPs, win more RFPs, earn more revenue. The fastest way to respond to more RFPs is by adding a full-time RFP content manager to keep the machine humming. Otherwise, your proposal development pipeline might end up being backed up into the Red Sea.

To learn more about how to build your case, check out my full webinar (below).

Benchmarks and future-proofing for RFP teams

Products/Features/Solutions

How is technology aiding the request for proposal (RFP) response process? To find out, we surveyed members of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) to gain insight into current and future trends in proposal management processes across 10 industries.

The resulting data has been compiled and analyzed for you in our Benchmark Report: Proposal Management.

The clash of trend and reality

For any proposal to have a chance, it has to illustrate how your solution solves the issuer’s specific problem, and it has to speak to proposal reviewers and decision-makers alike. This requires your organization to focus on responding only to the requests that you think you can win. It also helps to have dedicated proposal writers experienced in developing content that appeals to your target audience.

Both of these considerations clash with two trends identified by our research:

The need to respond to more RFPs
A resistance to increasing headcount

The research shows that many organizations understand that they need to respond to more RFPs in order to play the odds and generate revenue. With RFP opportunities averaging between $1M and $3M (according to RFPIO data), each one has the potential to make a significant impact.

But how can you respond to more requests, while simultaneously focusing only on the requests you have the best shot at winning?

Scale your team’s win rate with less

RFP technology enables organizations to efficiently invest time in the RFPs they go after, increasing the rate at which organizations can generate proposals. Some RFP software, like RFPIO, even enables data-driven analyses of the characteristics common to all the deals you win, helping you focus your time where you have the greatest possibility of success.

With proposal team headcount expected to remain at its status quo through the projected future, proposal managers will have to learn to do more with less. It also means that unless you already have proposal writers on staff, you’re less likely to hire more. You may want to buck that trend because our research also found that organizations with dedicated proposal professionals lap competitors by 3.5x.

Survey says: RFP software is an advantage

“With RFP competition predicted to increase, and teams already being challenged to do more with less, proposal teams will need to invest in technology and automation to scale their responses, enhance efficiency and maximize output.”

Fewer than half of the respondents to our survey currently use RFP software. This is surprising, considering the fact that survey respondents who use RFP software were able to submit 43 percent more proposals. Technology is transforming the proposal management landscape, making it easier for organizations to efficiently create their first proposal draft, thus giving them back the time they need to personalize responses to win effectively.

The cost of outdated proposal management

We also discovered that organizations not using RFP software instead used, on average, nine solutions to compose their RFPs, compared to only five for those with a dedicated RFP tool. For the sake of productivity, efficiency, personalization, as well as to help keep up with steeper competition for each request, organizations that want to take advantage of more revenue-generating opportunities will need to streamline their technology and automation to be effective in the coming days and beyond.

Stay in the know with RFPIO

Check out the full report to learn more about the state of proposal management, including our four recommendations for future success. If you’re one of those organizations trying to keep up without RFP technology, schedule a demo of RFPIO today. If you are already an RFPIO user looking to streamline your tech stack to increase efficiency, fill out this form to schedule time with your account manager.

Improve sales contract management with RFP software

Sales Enablement

If sales is the rock and legal is the hard place, then you’ll often find sales contract management stuck right in the middle. The constant dilemma of the sales contract manager is, “How can we propose redlines that make legal happy and mitigate business risk, but still get sales contracts done efficiently?” There are two common approaches to dealing with this dilemma.

One, you can manually execute contract management through a hodgepodge of emails, spreadsheets, document versions, and pleas for responses ASAP. This exposes your process to a host of issues, including:

Lack of continuity or redundancy in the contract review process.
Significant differences in the redlines proposed by contract management staff.
Disparate systems and processes to manage sales contract terms between departments.
Too many contracts at different stages to effectively track.
Missed renewal opportunities.
Misfiled or lost versions.
Reused contract language that is no longer accurate or is out of date.
Easily lost tribal knowledge about preferred redline responses.
Lost time waiting on SME feedback for specific clauses or Exhibits.
Inflexibility in negotiations due to fear of swamping a deal in the contract morass.

Two, you can use RFP software that will bring together the parties involved in contract review and will create consistency in redlining through a knowledge repository of legal-approved contract language. This certainly shuts down the issues that arise from the standard email process, but it opens you up to the expense of a new platform. Small to midsize businesses will need to evaluate whether they create enough contracts to justify the ROI. Organizations that derive their revenue predominantly from requests for proposals (RFPs) may want to consider another option: Using RFP software to augment contract management.

How can RFP software improve sales contract management?

Throughout my contract management career, I’ve learned that there’s a wide variance in how companies structure their contract management departments. Some are embedded in legal, some in sales or business operations. Others oversee multiple functions such as procurement, sales and RFP responses. And then there are the lone wolf departments — sometimes operated by a team of one — that focus only on contracts but depend on all other departments to contribute.

In any one of those situations, the contract management process can benefit from knowledge management capabilities in RFP software. At RFPIO, my team uses our Content Library to manage contract content and various redlining playbook language. It gives us access to pre-approved content that my team needs to complete sales contracts without having to unduly burden any other departments. We utilize a private collection in the system as a contract language repository. It increases efficiency for legal, sales, contracts, and other subject matter experts (SMEs) whom we rely on for contract management. It also helps me train new team members in a consistent review process and helps reduce the likelihood of brain drain if a member of the team leaves.

A simple process

Your RFPIO Content Library can serve the same function for contract language management as it does for RFP responses. But instead of using it as a hub for Q&A pairs you need for an RFP, use it as a hub for contract clauses that have been approved by legal or any applicable content from an SME. Other than that, just like for RFPs, you can use it for interdepartmental communication, and it will all be enhanced by an intelligent recommendation engine.

Start by approaching legal with the clauses that get the most pushback from customers. These are the clauses that require more customization. The same ones you have to email over and over again to legal and wait too long for a response. After these clauses are in the Content Library, contract management staff can reduce the content that legal needs to review (and in an iterative process, new language provided by legal can be added to the Content Library to minimize the back and forth even further!).

Create a collection that’s only accessible to the contracts and legal teams. Cordon it off so only your team can see it and maintain version control. For example, you may want to set up a “change to governing law” section. Then you can have the legally approved clause applicable to Delaware or Idaho or California or Alpha Centauri. Do the same for clauses relating to payment terms, auto renewal, notice periods, limitation of liability, warranties, and indemnification; the same applies for certificates of insurance (COIs) exhibits, data privacy agreements (DPAs), SLA response times, or whatever else appears in your contracts.

Preserve lawyers’ more expensive time

Debate value of different positions all you like. The fact is that the average lawyer will be more expensive for your company than the average salesperson, contract administrator, or proposal manager.

Also, legal likely has many other priorities that require their time, which means that addressing sales contracts will not be as important as it is to sales. With your Content Library in place, you can retain up-to-date, legal-approved content that is easily accessible by the entire contracting team, minimizing the sales contract review time for lawyers. Showing legal that you respect their time will also go a long way toward getting faster turnarounds for non-standard contract language.

Make sales look good

One of the most frustrating responses you have to provide to a salesperson is, “We’re still waiting on legal.” It impacts that person’s commission, endangers their deal, and causes unnecessary interdepartmental friction.

Avoid the big time suck of sending every contract to a lawyer by using the approved clauses in your Content Library. Sales can work faster, and they can also work smarter. Eliminating the fear of avoidance frees them up to be more flexible in their negotiations. It’s easier for salespeople to cater to prospect and customer needs if they know their contract changes won’t bog down negotiations.

Increase value of your contracts team

With an Content Library chock full of legally approved clauses and communication features that help track a project, the contracts team now has the ability to view an entire project and see what has already been answered. This can be a blind spot for many contract managers, especially if the contract team is separate from a proposal team. Now a contract administrator who can see what’s already been answered in a questionnaire or pre-RFP response doesn’t have to search around in the project’s history or shared file or email chain.

Contract teams deal with subject-matter-experts other than legal, too. Procurement may need to add customers as additional insureds to the COI. IT and/ or IS will need to weigh in on the DPA and SLA information, and Operations may be needed for product information, quantity commitments and timeline obligations. Have the pre-approved contract language set aside for access only by your contracts team and a system where SMEs can quickly review instead of create. “Is this the right clause?” requires a “yes” or “no,” whereas, “Please provide the most recent insurance verbiage,” requires more of a time commitment.

Finally, with a knowledge management system in place, you can focus contract team training on how to use discretion within the system and how to chase down only the non-standard answers.

Emerge from between the rock and hard place

Knowledge management with a solution such as the RFPIO Content Library alleviates pressure between departments in the contract review process and allows each department to specialize: sales on generating revenue; legal on compliance; and contracts on contracts.

Schedule a demo today to learn more about RFPIO Content Library.

7 tips to excite SMEs about the RFP process

People & Teams, Product & Best Practices

What’s harder? Changing, or not changing? In the 25-plus years I’ve worked with subject matter experts (SMEs) on proposals, I can attribute almost all initial pushback to resistance to change. Who wants more work if they don’t have time to complete what’s already on their plate? But the fact of the matter is that a proposal program powered by RFP process automation and a continuously updated Content Library makes changing easier than not changing.

Before I launch into how to get internal and external SMEs excited about the RFP process, I want to call out a recurring theme that echoes through all of the tips: Respect their time. SMEs already have daily calendars chock full of responsibilities, such as solving engineering issues, dealing with clients, and creating demos.

Requesting their help with responses to any RFx (RFP, RFI, RFQ, DDQ, security questionnaire, etc.) is you asking them to repurpose some of that valuable time. But you need their help to complete the RFP process. Your company needs the revenue. SMEs need the company. In the circle of your company’s success lifecycle, the greater the SME involvement and enthusiasm, the easier your job will be.

#1: Control comms chaos

SMEs already get too many emails that are easily lost or deleted. Overloading SMEs with multiple emails frustrates them because they don’t know which are the most current, especially if they’re trying to respond from an airplane, client site, or conference. RFP automation software that streamlines the RFP process provides a personalized dashboard of the most current action items. Most importantly, it gives SMEs a single source of truth to eliminate confusion, and they’ll thank you for protecting their inbox.

#2: Do the heavy lifting for them

A proposal team should be able to complete 70-80% of a response using an RFP Content Library (see tips 3 and 5). Then set up SMEs as reviewers to save time and avoid having them answer the same question multiple times.

With the right RFP automation software, you can reduce the burden on SMEs with functionality such as robust search options, marketing-approved templates, and targeted action items. One important reminder: SMEs—like many of us—are resistant to change. Any change you make—even if it’s being done to simplify their lives—has to be quick to learn and to show value. Don’t hesitate to kick off the RFP process with a quick 30-minute training session and a one-page how-to guide for easy reference.

#3: Update the RFP Content Library on a regular cadence

If you’re already using RFP automation software, then take full advantage of the RFP Content Library. When you get an answer from an SME, add it to the database immediately. SMEs will remember that they have already answered a question. They see asking them to repeat an answer as a lack of respect for their time. It’s better to have them review the answer for accuracy than to start with a blank page.

#4: Point out how they control their own destiny

If you are downselected or win an RFP, then SMEs will be first onsite, which means if there were any mistakes in the RFP response, they have to answer for them. If the new client reads that your product or service will do “X”, then SMEs are onsite having to explain why that’s not the case. Help SMEs understand that their involvement ensures a smoother transition and more positive client interaction.

#5: Sell the benefits of content audits

The more up to date the Content Library, the more your proposal team can complete automatically, and the easier SME lives will be during live proposals.

Use this carrot often, but even when you’re updating existing content in the Content Library on a cyclical basis, remember tip #2 (do the heavy lifting). SMEs are not grammar gurus, and it will be easier for them to deliver content in their language. It’s up to you or your content/proposal team to wordsmith it.

When you start a content audit, it can be daunting. Prioritize what’s used most. Don’t force SMEs to review rarely used or unused content. Have a kickoff meeting with SMEs and their managers to document the process and illustrate how you’re making it as easy as possible for them. They need to see that you have as much skin in the game, or more, as they do.

#6: Be transparent with external SMEs

With internal SMEs, I can go to their manager if they refuse to participate. I don’t have that luxury with external SMEs. Provide the same courtesies of communication and heavy lifting that you offer internal SMEs. RFP automation software should include “guest” functionality to give them access.

When you’re working with guests, make sure to give them as much notice as possible. And, when you do need their help, make it as easy as possible. Send them a short, single-page (front and back) PDF of instructions on how to use your RFP automation solution of choice. And definitely leverage the comments function so they know exactly what they need to do.

The big thing you need to pay attention to is content audits. Communicate ahead of time that you’re going to keep their content in the RFP Content Library. However, you won’t bother them to review it until their portion of the solution is proposed. They need to know that when you contact them, you’re doing so because there’s real business value potential at stake.

#7: Recognize the effort

Recognize SMEs for spending their valuable time on your RFP response! If your company doesn’t have a recognition system, then expense a $10 Starbucks card. They deserve it, and they appreciate it.

Give respect, earn respect

Remember, if your primary responsibility is to respond to a proposal, then SMEs are your most precious resource. Without them, you’re a quarterback without an offensive line…a pilot without landing gear…a tree with no roots…a musher with no dogs…you get the idea.

To learn more about streamlining your RFP process to make life easier on SMEs, schedule a demo.

3 ways technology improves the response process for remote teams

Products/Features/Solutions

Once upon a time, you had to walk around the office and ask collaborators to send you what you needed to respond to an RFP. As the digital revolution took hold, it became necessary to manage the process virtually across multiple geographies, languages, teams, and time zones.

Now that teams all over the world are learning to work remotely, RFP software has become even more important. One survey found that 47% of workers want to work from home one to four days a week, even after it’s safe to return to the office. 40% want to be remote all the time.

Because RFP response is one of the most collaborative activities an organization undertakes, proposal management teams are seeking out RFP software that helps them:

Embrace data-driven project management.
Free up strategic resources by automating administrative tasks.
Integrate workflows to capture, qualify, collaborate on, and respond to proposal requests.

What they’ve found in solutions such as RFPIO is that RFP software helps them drive the RFP process for remote teams in three key ways.

#1: Improve RFP management by breaking responses into manageable sections

The first thing you do when an RFP comes in is determine the resources and content required. How many sections are there? What sort of subject matter expertise is needed? And how do we ensure deadlines are met? When done manually, this could mean pasting sections into multiple documents, noting sections and sub-sections, and gathering content from disparate sources—a labor-intensive process for even the most experienced proposal manager.

When you upload an RFP document into RFPIO, artificial intelligence (AI) systems take over and help you auto-identify content requirements. Within minutes, you can know how many questions there are, which SMEs (subject matter experts) to involve, how many authors will be needed, and where potential bottlenecks may arise.

RFPIO also converts a one-dimensional RFP document into a dynamic, collaborative work environment where you can analyze bid requests, forecast resources, assign work, and track progress. It can be organized and quickly broken down into related question and answer (Q & A) fields. That way you don’t have to email an overwhelming source file to multiple responders. Instead, you can send collaborators only the necessary bite-sized sections that matter to them most.

Other benefits of creating a live work environment out of a stagnant document include:

Assigning tasks to responders with the most relevant expertise AND the time to contribute.
Monitoring what all authors and reviewers are working on to determine their workload and track their assignments.
Setting up and sending automated task notifications and reminders to keep collaborators on schedule. They can even be a guest working outside of the organization as an external user.
Allowing collaborators to respond directly in the task notification or reminder without the need to dig through attachments or file folders to find the content in question.
Visualizing overall progress and understanding resource costs of responding to each proposal.

#2: Save time by leveraging automation technology and centralizing content

Nobody likes spending their time answering the same question over and over again. That’s why RFPIO’s ability to automatically answer common questions is so valuable. Auto-response eliminates repetitive work and gives SMEs more time to focus on their specific areas of expertise. It’s a sophisticated feature that essentially lets proposal managers take heavy asks like…

“Hey, can you write down and define all the services that we offer?”

…and reframe them into simple questions like…

“Hey, RFPIO says these services apply to this RFP. Can you check to make sure they’re accurate?”

SMEs appreciate their time being valued. Proposal managers appreciate the fast turnaround. If you find auto-response technology tantalizing (who wouldn’t?) and want to learn more, go to the 19-minute mark in my webinar (below) for details.

Auto-response technology is made possible by a comprehensive Content Library. SMEs don’t need to take the time to provide answers to this library. It’s passively populated every time they answer a question. If you want, you can add a reviewer or moderator. Whether it’s through email, Slack, Google Docs, or individual spreadsheets, RFPIO harvests that response to build an intelligent knowledgebase. Eventually, it’s commonplace for organizations to answer 70-80% of an RFP with their auto-response technology powered by their unique Content Library.

Final RFP submissions include more than just Q & A pairs. They’ll have whitepapers, case studies, graphics, documents, and other content that needs to be easily searched, formatted, reviewed, and attached to response packets. RFPIO allows you to centralize all of that content without changing how it’s currently organized. Keep it in SharePoint, Google Chrome, CRM, Google Drive, OneDrive, or wherever, but make it searchable and retrievable through RFPIO.

#3: Make informed decisions on which bids you’re more likely to win

When you plug RFPIO in and start using it, you start amassing data. What’s working, what isn’t, win rates, time-to-completion, profiles of issuers, and much more.

For proposal managers, one valuable use of this data is to create a designated intake area for proposal requests. This achieves two goals: one, it helps you capture proposal requests; and two, it helps your company make data-driven decisions as to whether or not to pursue a proposal:

See all requests, including project details, client information, and supporting documents all in one place.
Gain visibility into the best authors for projects, how many days it will take to complete, and the estimated value based on prior outcomes.

This is an immensely beneficial feature. You can learn more about how it works at the 29-minute mark of my webinar.

Focus on the win

When RFPs come in, they can be both exciting and overwhelming. While the promise of winning the RFP should be the focus, teams often fall victim to worrying about barriers to success. Everything from how much time will be consumed to who will manage the whole process to how to manage version control problems creep to the surface. RFP software will help keep the organization focused on the excitement of a potential win.

Watch my full webinar, below, to learn more about how to use technology to improve the response process. Or, schedule a demo to find out how RFP software can help your proposal team, whether you’re remote or back in the office.

RFP automation: 14 tasks you can automate with RFPIO

Products/Features/Solutions

Talented people like yourself should spend your brainpower on strategizing, creating, and solving problems. Instead, many of us are spending too much time on tasks that can easily be automated.

As a subject matter expert (SME), your knowledge is forever in demand for your primary job responsibilities and the many other document requests that come from your team—like RFPs, DDQs, sales proposals, and security questionnaires.

You’re doing the best job that you can, but you have an inkling that there is a better way to do that job. If you investigate your RFP response process, two not-so-subtle clues will tell you when it’s time to take action and fix it:

Clue #1: You collaborate with proposal managers via back-and-forth emails and in-person meetings.
Clue #2: Your response content is lost inside a dark maze of document folders and spreadsheets.

Proposal automation tools are a packaged deal that includes project management and content management capabilities. To fix your response process, you need to automate it.

All the response management tasks you can automate

You may be thinking…doesn’t automation primarily affect low-skill, low-wage roles? Research shows that even the highest-paid occupations have a substantial amount of tasks that can be automated.

It turns out that 45% of the activities individuals perform every day can be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technologies—like, ahem…RFP automation software. This is how RFPIO automates your process to save you precious minutes and hours that add up over time.

1. Receive email notifications for assigned questions.

When it’s time for you to be involved in a new RFP project, RFPIO ships off an automated email as soon as your project manager assigns questions for you to answer. No more guesswork means you know what your involvement is from the beginning.

2. Use the auto-response feature when you respond.

The auto-response feature is a crowd favorite for SMEs. Since content is already on-hand in your Content Library, use auto-response to quickly fill in relevant content from past responses.

3. Send notifications when questions are completed.

As soon as you mark a question completed, RFPIO sends an automatic notification to your project manager or a predetermined reviewer. Now you don’t need to send all of those manual updates and your project manager easily tracks your progress.

4. Raise clarifications within the appropriate question or section.

From time to time, you request clarifications from the issuer or your project manager. When the clarifications are received, these requests are imported and automatically reflected within the appropriate question.

5. Collaborate easily with your colleagues.

You don’t always have the answer, but you know a colleague who does. Simply post a comment within a question and the collaborator receives a notification. The collaborator’s response auto-populates right into RFPIO.

6. Collaborate seamlessly with third-party vendors.

All collaborators are welcome inside RFPIO, even when they are third-party vendors. Assign a guest user to collaborate on a question or section. Their response from an email portal automatically syncs within RFPIO.

7. Find content that lives in your Content Library.

Where’s the content? Right at your fingertips in a searchable content repository. RFPIO’s recommendation engine searches through the Content Library and provides recommended content within the project/question view.

8. Receive notifications to review questions.

Since your expertise is so valuable in the response process, you review content all the time—yet another task you need to automate. As soon as an assigned author finishes their response, you are automatically notified when the content is ready for review.

9. Send notifications when you’re finished reviewing.

After you review the response content, other team members are next in line for review and approval. As soon as you’re finished reviewing, the next reviewer receives an automatic notification. No need to “play telephone” anymore.

10. Keep track of content ownership responsibilities.

Specific content in the Content Library will fall under your area of expertise, making you the proud owner of these responses. As soon as a project manager assigns you as an owner, you get an automatic alert.

11. Receive cyclical content audit reminders.

Whether you audit your content monthly, quarterly, or annually, being prompted by an email reminder is much easier than manual reminders. Set up a content audit schedule of your choosing. RFPIO automatically resets the review cycle from that point forward at your chosen schedule.

12. Import new content into the Content Library quickly.

When new, updated content surfaces, you need to add it into the Content Library quickly so you and your team have immediate access. RFPIO’s import functionality adds new content, with little configuration on your part.

13. Manage duplicates effectively with reporting.

You’re ready to cull your Content Library and all you need to do is run the duplicate report. RFPIO automatically manages content duplicates so you clean up your response content with minimal effort.

14. Analyze your content with dynamic reporting.

The Content Library report is a dynamic report that allows you to analyze your content. Instead of remembering data or drilling down to look at your data, click on this dynamic report and dive right into your content data. Now you have everything you need to be proactive with responses that fall under your domain.

A lot of the tasks you’re doing today can be handled with RFP automation. Check out how RFPIO automates and revolutionizes your process.

How response management supports your team

Selling & Enablement

Since our founding, we have been on a mission to help RFP respondents succeed. As a leader in this relatively new technological space, we’re one of the first to bring efficiency to responding teams limited by a manual approach to everyday business.

Now we are redefining the way our solution supports everyone across the organization. Though our origins are rooted in helping teams respond to RFPs, what we began to notice along the way was the many use cases for our software.

To support you and your revenue team, let’s look at the vast potential of response management software like RFPIO. You’ll walk away with a more strategic approach to response management.

What is response management software?

Response management software helps companies create, manage, and automate responses to both long-form and short-form business inquiries at any stage of the sales cycle. These inquiries can range from formal business requests issued by buyers, such as RFPs and security questionnaires, to informal questions submitted by prospects through chatbots or from customers through support tickets.

An internal knowledge base

Response management software serves as an internal knowledge base, integrating with CRMs, content management systems (CMS), and collaboration tools to capture and democratize subject-matter-expertise and content across multiple teams, business units, or companies.

With process and technology improvements, respondents are able to create higher quality responses and additional revenue opportunities.

RFP software vs. response management software

RFP software is fairly one-dimensional in that responding to RFPs is the primary use case. Response management software supports many use cases. Content can be repurposed for:

Responding to a multitude of business queries—RFX (RFP, RFI, and so on)
Statements of work (SOW)
Security questionnaires
CAIQ
Grants

Organizations who think outside the box use our solution to store anything from sales follow-up email templates to onboarding materials. Content is engrained in all of our business processes. Response management software helps you organize, store, and execute from a single source of truth.

Essentials for RFP response management software

How can you tell when a platform has everything you need to optimize your response management process?

Response management software…

Is cloud-based, so you don’t have to navigate a maze of documents and folders—and find ways to store your content.
Uses patented import technology and exports back into templates and originals files to start and finish each project smoothly.
Includes a dynamic Content Library, which serves as the hub for all of your organization’s content and company information.
Has an AI-powered content recommendation engine that makes finding your best responses easier.
Offers bidirectional integrations with your team’s favorite technologies, along with an open API, so everyone and everything is connected.
Allows you to search, select, and store Content Library content across all web pages and applications through a Google Chrome extension called RFPIO Lookup.
Brings clear and instant visibility with reports and dashboards that help you track project status and progress and discover insights to make data-driven decisions.

Example

Let’s say you are a sales manager at an enterprise technology company with a high-stakes deal on the table.

The challenge

The prospect you’ve been working with sends you a large security questionnaire, along with a DDQ (due diligence questionnaire) that you must turn around by the end of the week.

Resources are spread very thin right now. You must complete the majority of the questionnaire on your own and engage subject matter experts (SMEs) sparingly. You have several new deals in the works that require your constant attention. You’re not sure how you’ll pull this DDQ and security questionnaire off before the deadline while keeping other opportunities on the right track.

The solution

Response management software allows you to manage multiple queries at once. You can handle the entire family of possible requests during the sales process—the RFP (request for proposal), RFI (request for information), DDQ (due diligence questionnaire), or security questionnaire.

With bulk answering you knock out sections at one time then call in your SME to fill in gaps and sign off. While all of this deal is in motion, you continue to nurture other prospects using RFPIO’s Content Library to populate follow-up emails with relevant communication and high-performing sales content.

You submit everything with time to spare and keep moving other deals forward.

Use cases for response management across revenue teams

Even with the best technology, teams need to be united by a strategy to maximize the features and capabilities of their tools. We recently created a user adoption strategy to help.

If you are leading the charge with user adoption, it’s important to know the benefits of the software and how one solution can be used in multiple scenarios and initiatives. So let’s take a look at different use cases across the team:

RFX
Security questionnaires
SOWs
Grants
Onboarding
Discovery calls
Proactive proposals
Sales emails
Knowledge sharing

This breakdown will help you understand the diverse capabilities of RFPIO. If you are an existing client, you will find new ways of using the solution. If you are searching for a comprehensive content management platform, you will see the many possibilities that will exceed your organization’s response and query needs.

RFX

RFPIO can be used for any RFX documents throughout the sales process.This includes:

RFPs (request for proposal)
RFIs (request for information)
RFQs (request for quote)
DDQs (due diligence questionnaire).

Our response management solution allows you to respond to any of these documents in a collaborative ecosystem, making the process easier and efficient for your organization’s many contributors.

Security questionnaires

A security questionnaire can come in many forms:

Security questionnaires lite (standardized information-gathering questionnaires)
VSAQ (vendor security assessment questionnaire)
CAIQ (consensus assessments initiative questionnaire)
VSA (Vendor Security Alliance questionnaire)
NIST 800-171 (National Institute of Standards and Technology questionnaire CIS controls)

One thing they all have in common? They are complex and time-consuming without the right tools.

RFPIO greatly reduces completion time for busy teams, with auto-response and bulk answering doing the majority of the work upfront. This extra time allows teams to perform their due diligence with accurate responses that meet the issuer’s requirements.

After the responses are ready, teams export responses back into the original sources with clean data, eliminating the need to wrestle with editing and formatting.

Marketing content

Often, marketing teams think their involvement with response management software is limited to the RFX process. They come in at the end to perform a buff and polish, to prepare the deliverable.

Because RFPIO is a content management platform at its core, marketing teams can use the solution to store and create content—brand guidelines, testimonials, press releases, and award submissions.

SOWs

To present the scope for a highly complex project, response management software is extremely useful for SOWs. Rather than using various documents and spreadsheets to piecemeal sections together, section templates offer standard content that can be reused and customized.

From content creation to the review process, the SOW workflow is easier when everyone has one tool to operate inside.

Grants

Time is money for any business, especially a nonprofit who needs to stretch their budget and resources. With grant writing, teams strengthen their content by using the Content Library to search and select the latest stats and financials.

Often, sign-off from an executive or board of directors is needed with grants, and sequential reviewing clarifies the chain-of-command throughout this completion process.

Onboarding

RFPIO allows unlimited users, promoting wide-scale adoption throughout various departments, including human resources, support, and customer success teams. Because very little training is required, all teams can jump into the tool and customize it for their needs.

Organizations often use the solution to support their hiring efforts, as the content repository simplifies the constant need to add and update onboarding content. The same applies to support and customer success team members who need to be quickly brought up to speed.

Discovery calls

Since RFPIO offers a single source of truth, sales teams lean on the power of the Content Library every day for many other tasks outside of responding to RFX documents. An SDR can keep RFPIO open on his or her computer screen during discovery calls to find any company or product information immediately.

This ability makes sales teams nimble and confident during the discovery process. The prospect leaves the call informed and interested.

Proactive proposals

To sell within a highly competitive industry, sales teams will sometimes turn to proactive proposals to beat their competition to the punch. Minimal effort is needed to pull together a proactive proposal within our response management solution.

Sales teams use the top content feature to select the best responses, then export everything into a branded, cleanly formatted template.

Sales emails

The need for speed is perhaps the motto for any salesperson completing sales-related tasks. RFPIO Lookup recommends email content to help sales teams answer prospect questions.

When using a Google Chrome browser, this feature empowers sales to access responses across web pages and applications. They grab the information they need and include it within the email, without losing time to hunt down the answer.

Knowledge sharing

RFPIO’s Content Library serves as the single source of truth for the entire revenue team: sales, marketing, support, and customer success.

Information silos disrupt your response workflow. Foundational company knowledge ends up in a variety of documents, from visual slide decks to data-heavy spreadsheets—stored on shared drives and folders. RFPIO makes all necessary content readily available so everyone can do their best work.

Final thoughts

I always like to say: “Recycle, reuse, don’t reinvent.” Response management software allows you to put this mantra into action, so your organization spends more time on refinement and less time on repetition. With this advancement in your response process, your team will produce quality content that results in opportunities, revenue, alignment, and teamwork.

Start your year off with a strategic approach to response management. Schedule a demo of RFPIO.

How RFP response software helped Celtra create a new market

Customer Stories

Introducing your product to a new market is no easy feat. Combine that with RFP responses and you have a recipe for long days at the office.

Nick Fitzsimmons, Director of Sales Solutions at Celtra, knew that introducing automation to the RFP response process would help make collaboration easier and reduce time spent managing RFPs.

Celtra’s Creative Management Platform (CMP) helps companies efficiently create digital advertising content in-house—from creative vision to building an engaging ad experience. They worked with media giants like CNN and NBCUniversal, but recently started serving enterprise brand companies that want more control over their ad creative process.

As they built out a new market, Celtra needed the right people, tools, and processes to accomplish this without much disruption. Nick was hired to help them make that transition and build out a technical presales team. One of their first initiatives was to course-correct their RFP response process.

Siloed RFP content before RFP response software

It’s a common story. Nick and the team were managing RFP responses in various documents and platforms, which meant their RFP content was siloed. They had challenges with workflow and collaboration. There was no central place to go for visibility into the lifecycle of their RFP response process so they could make improvements.

All of these challenges led to submitting RFPs at the last minute, and they didn’t have a great success rate. Getting it right while they built out a new market was going to be crucial.

Nick had used RFP response software before, so he had some familiarity with the available tools. He conducted a lot of research, paying attention to review sites like G2 Crowd and Capterra to narrow down his choice.

RFPIO stood out as the clear winner and has been helping Celtra get their RFP response process into shape.

“The real solution here is the combination of both user-friendly software and thought leadership on business process to effectively execute on RFP responses.”

RFPIO provides education, user experience, and self service

Resources for RFP response process improvement

“RFPIO has done a great job with their educational content. Beyond just evaluating software, I’ve learned best practices around how to successfully build out an RFP response process,” Nick said. “I needed to build trust and credibility internally when we were rolling out the platform, so forming a process was key. And RFPIO’s content helped me do all of it.”

Flexible user experience and integrations

Nick was impressed with RFPIO’s clean and simple user interface. “In just a couple clicks I can manage significant updates, which saves me a lot of time.” That level of flexibility in the software was a differentiator in the evaluation process.

RFPIO’s Content Library for storing and sharing content factored heavily into his choice of response management software. “Especially the functionality to auto-suggest relevant answers– that should be a table stakes offering and other solutions don’t have it.

And the really lightweight Chrome extension, RFPIO Lookup, is the most practical way to access your Q&A content. I’m still in the process of rolling that out to the sales team but when they find out they can access content in one click from their email, that will be a game-changer.”

Options for self-service and additional support

RFPIO offers a range of professional services for companies who need some extra help rolling out the platform, managing customizations, or regularly maintaining a significant number of projects—particularly large enterprises.

For Nick, who has a background in engineering and coding software, he just wanted self-service at a sustainable price point, without paying more for technical support. RFPIO checked both of those boxes.

RFP response software saves hundreds of resource hours

“Now we can answer up to 50 percent of questions automatically, based on past responses, which has clearly made us more efficient, and the quality of our responses has improved. I’m shooting for 70 to 80 percent,” Nick said.

A new collaborative RFP response process

Nick wanted the rollout of RFPIO to be minimally disruptive to people’s lives, and show them that their level of effort would be less than before. So Nick, using some tips from RFPIO’s blog, built out a full RFP response process.

His presales team acts as proposal managers, responsible for qualifying requests. They answer as many questions as possible and then brief the applicable subject matter expert.

The SMEs complete their assigned sections and then the proposal manager reviews the full document for tone, consistency, and alignment toward the solution they’re presenting. “We don’t want it to seem like 20 people answered the RFP.” Then it’s sent over to legal for final review.

Saving resources and winning more RFPs

Nick estimates that the full lifecycle of the RFP response process used to take them three to four weeks to complete, involving 15 to 30 people, totaling around two or three hundred hours.

“Now we’re doing the entire process in a week to a week and a half with five to ten people in a combined 40 hours.

The volume of RFPs we can do has really increased too. We went from, let’s say 10 to 15 responses all in the last year to having over seven that we completed within the first quarter this year,” he said. “Our next step will be profit and loss analysis, but I am confident that we are winning more RFPs with RFPIO.

Course-correct your RFP response process with RFPIO. Schedule a demo to make way for growth opportunities.

RFP compliance: Stay accountable and empower team success

Selling & Enablement

Your expertise is in high demand. You act as the contributor, the project manager, the content creator—maybe all of the above. You’re a subject matter expert in the RFP response process and your expertise gives content substance.

Because RFP responses become part of a legal and binding contract if the bid is accepted, compliance is crucial. How do you stay compliant when collaborating on RFP responses? Learn all about RFP compliance below.

Subject matter experts, the co-owners of RFP compliance

“On good teams, coaches hold players accountable. On great teams, players hold players accountable.” Joe Dumars, an NBA Hall of Fame inductee, gives us something to think about, doesn’t he?

The best response management teams recognize that compliance is everyone’s responsibility. You, as the subject matter expert, need to see yourself as a co-owner of compliance. As long as you monitor RFP response content for accuracy before, during, and after an RFP project, approval should be fairly quick by the time an RFP reaches your compliance team.

You proactively contribute RFP responses, then manage that content through scheduled review cycles. Responses to your assigned questions must be precise, data-neutral, and internally compliant with current company policy. Additionally, responses must reflect your organizational values and be technically sound.

If you own the whole process of creating, maintaining, and auditing RFP responses, you create a robust Content Library for the whole team to utilize at any point during an RFP response project. By creating a culture of accountability, everyone can rely on each other for the right content at the right time.

Hold yourself accountable for RFP compliance in 4 steps

As a subject matter expert, your time is precious. Understanding your team’s RFP response review cycle and content audit approach are key time-savers. Knowing your chain of command and speaking up if you see problems with the process are equally important for efficiency.

Below are some suggested steps that will offer guidance as you hold yourself accountable for RFP compliance.

1. Create an RFP response process.

An effective team clearly defines its RFP response process workflow. Review cycles might change based on content needs, but individual steps and team responsibilities are all clearly defined. For example, you might have:

Authors – Responsible for answering the question and curating that content. Usually, authors are subject matter experts.
Reviewers – Responsible for the final content audit within the RFP project. Reviewers are also the final say for what content should be kept in the Content Library for future use. Reviewers are often proposal writers or on the marketing team.
Project Managers – Responsible for ensuring the Author/ Reviewer workflow is set up correctly and followed. Project managers should have a clear depiction of the project management strategy set up by the RFP software admin users—and continually use this strategy to guide the RFP project.

2. Establish RFP content best practices.

A good RFP content management team makes sure content is up-to-date and data is neutralized. They schedule regular training for SMEs to keep systems running smoothly and aligned with organizational best practices.

3. Commit to RFP content accuracy.

Accurate content is the backbone of RFP compliance. SMEs (subject matter experts) should participate consistently in review cycles and content audits. The goal is to ensure absolute accuracy for optimum proposal compliance.

4. Keep up with review cycles.

SMEs are responsible for keeping up with the review cycle of all technical content that goes out the door, including content for security questionnaires and RFP responses. Review cycles can be conducted at any interval, depending on the timeline established during the RFP response process.

How RFPIO enables RFP response compliance

In the 2019 RFPIO Responder Survey, nearly half of subject matter experts indicated the main way RFPIO has helped them with their RFP responses was by enabling them to review content for quality and accuracy instead of writing repetitive responses. Let’s explore how RFPIO enables RFP response compliance through content review cycles and audits.

Review content for RFP compliance

Through the RFPIO platform, you are notified by email when your oversight is needed with RFP response content. You simply log in, review assigned questions or sections, and check for RFP compliance with current company policies and data neutrality.

Compliance teams strengthen their impact on RFP response success by utilizing sequential reviewers. A project manager, team leader, or proposal manager will be the first set of eyes on all the content. Then you come in and review that piece for internal compliance with things like terminology and company values.

You Might Like: 9 Challenges Every SME Shall Overcome with RFP Software

Audit content for RFP compliance

By conducting regular content audits in RFPIO’s proposal management software, you help to create a robust Content Library of accurate, compliant content which is easily accessible at any point in the RFP response process. The more the Content Library is optimized, the stronger this knowledge repository becomes.

Another useful feature is the Answer Type Template, a customizable answer type that can be aligned with specific compliance pieces. Think of the Answer Type Template as your SME content auditing checklist. Data from these answers can be exported and manipulated into reports to efficiently target any compliance issues that need attention.

Fostering a culture of accountability with RFP compliance empowers your team to succeed. You’ll help protect your organization against liability and decrease RFP response completion time. When you take responsibility for compliance, you contribute to a winning team.

Schedule a demo of RFPIO to stay accountable with RFP compliance and empower your team’s success.

See how it feels to respond with confidence

Why do 250,000+ users streamline their response process with RFPIO? Schedule a demo to find out.

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Category: Tag: RFP management

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

Obstacles in the RFP response process

The scale of an RFP can be huge

Competition is fierce

Success requires more than paperwork

How to respond to an RFP

The Benchmark Report: Proposal Management

Best practices for responding to an RFP

Build the right team

Only respond to RFPs you can win

Respect contributors’ time

Document your process

Conduct a win/loss review

Let technology do the heavy lifting

How Responsive can help

Using software at every step in the RFP response process

I’ll just leave these other tidbits right here…

What is an RFP opportunity?

It’s a “go.” Now what?

Beef up your sales pipeline

Automate to dominate

What’s next? Demo.

The biggest benefit of an RFP content manager

Business Case: The Numbers

Business case: Being respectful of stakeholders’ time

Business Case: Improve Content, Improve Proposals

The clash of trend and reality

Scale your team’s win rate with less

<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16042" src="/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/new_bm_image-1.jpg" alt="" width="1667" height="417" />The cost of outdated proposal management

Stay in the know with RFPIO

The cost of outdated proposal management