Recently, our interior design firm received an RFP (Request for Proposal) to perform purchasing for a hotel renovation in the DC Metro area.  I must say that, as a small business, I am not fond of RFPs.

1. They take a significant amount of time to complete.
2. The typical conversion rate is low.  Many companies who issue RFPs already know who they want to use but are fulfilling a requirement by issuing them.
3. RFPs are formal.  As a small business, I cringe about formal interactions and would much rather develop a relationship, work with the potential client to assess needs, and then provide a proposal.  This is naturally how small businesses work best.

That being said, there are cases when responding to an RFP are necessary evils and are opportunities that should not be passed.  The best resource that I found for how to respond to RFPs and dealing with larger companies in general is Tom Searcy.  His company, Hunt Big Sales, provides consulting for small to mid-sized companies that wish to hunt larger “whales” for larger sales.  I used a lot of information from Tom’s book, Whale Hunting, as well as an e-book that is now going to be published called RFPs Suck!  How to Master the RFP System Once and For All to Win Big Business.  Here are some valuable lessons that I learned when preparing this RFP:

1. Be extremely picky.  Ensure that you should actually respond to the RFP and submit a proposal.  In most cases, you probably should not.  If you are not 110% qualified for the work that they request, you are wasting your time.  As Tom argues in his book Whale Hunting, the Inuit did not try to hunt every whale, realizing that they needed to focus in order to win.
2. Once you decide to respond to the RFP, get as much information from the issuing company as possible.  Try to meet with the people; if you have someone on the “inside” you are in a much better position.  If you don’t, your proposal is going to be a long shot because chances are, one of the other companies submitting a proposal does have an insider.
3. Be sure to answer each question posed in the RFP, preferably in the order and format that the questions are asked.
4. Deliver everything neatly and on-time.  I was fortunate enough to hand deliver and thus be able to spend time meeting with the decision-maker.  We were the only company to do that.

Most importantly, if you are completing an RFP for a big company, you, as a creative genius, will actually need to play down the creativity side.  Big companies want you to answer the question of how you are going to save them time, how you are going to save them money, and how working with you is going to be low risk.  While we each want to tout our innovation and creativity in approaching problems, these are actually scary words to a big company issuing an RFP.  Think inside the box…this might be the only time I issue those words.

If you ever have to respond to RFPs or ever want to respond to RFPs I would highly recommend Tom Searcy’s two books.

Author: Alexandra Gibson

Alexandra is the CEO of Gibson Design Management and Managing Partner of interior design firm, Gibson Design Group. When she's not busy trying to build an empire, you can find Alexandra riding a horse, giving back to the community, playing with her Scottie, McCord, or drinking a martini (preferably not all four at once).

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Tags: Hunt Big Sales, RFP, Small Business, Tips, Tom Searcy, Whale Hunting