8 Actionable Steps to a Winning RFP Response

Even though almost any brand and company nowadays is looking for some kind of marketing services, landing new clients is still a laborious task for most marketing agencies and professionals.

It often involves long strings of back-and-forth communication, involving a number of proposals and counter-proposals. But before you, the marketer, even get the chance to submit your proposal, sometimes you have to submit an RFP response first.

But before we go into how to write a perfect RFP response, let’s first define an RFP.

What is an RFP?

RFP stands short for Request for Proposal.

In marketing terms, a request for proposal (RFP) is a written document that a company or an organization posts asking for a response in shape of a formal bid from agencies for the desired marketing solution.

A standard RFP lists what the client is looking for from a service provider (let’s say, a marketing agency), including the criteria on which the RFP response and the marketing proposal will be evaluated.

Understanding the Process

Basically, an RFP provides an outline of a potential client’s specific needs and challenges. This document is sent out to numerous bidders (in our case, marketing agencies and professionals) that compete among each other by sending their own RFP response to the client.

After receiving the initial set of RFP responses, the client then narrows down the selection to a few finalists. Those that survived the initial screening are then invited to ask any additional questions.

Finally, each of the finalists submits a final marketing proposal, which is then being compared to and contrasted with other proposals until the client decides for the winning bid. Depending on the project’s scope, complexity, importance, and urgency, the entire process can take weeks or even months.

Where to find RFPs?

Sending a quality RFP response is essential, but it’s virtually impossible if you’re not aware there’s an RFP in the first place, right?

That being said, the best way of finding out about RFPs is being on the radar of the prospective clients in your industry (or the RFP management companies enterprise-level companies often hire to run the process for them).

One way of getting on their radar is by using different RFP search aggregates. Some of the most popular ones that often contain marketing-related RFPs are listed below:

• FindRFP
• The RFP Database
• RFP Zone
• Brand USA
• Onvia
• Open Minds

8 Steps to a Winning RFP Response Formula

1. Carefully read the RFP instructions

This is important for several reasons. First and foremost, you need to be familiar with the project requirements if you’re to submit a winning RFP response. You need to make sure you’ve got yourself acquainted with all the nuts and bolts of the RFP.

2. Let your RFP response mirror the RFP structure

By carefully examining your potential client’s RFP structure, you gain insight into their writing and communication style. This will enable you to write an RFP response that is more likely to appeal to your potential client.

For instance, notice whether they use bullet points or write requirements in huge chunks of text. If they’ve used bullet points to present their project requirements, then it might be a good idea to present some of your own ideas in the RFP response using bullet points.

3. Personalize your RFP response

When creating your RFP response, make sure to make it visually appealing too as images and other graphics are more likely to grab your potential client’s attention than huge chunks of text. Also, you should try to personalize it as much as possible. Perhaps try including your potential client’s logo and branding in your response.

4. Directly address any questions contained in the RFP

If your potential client has raised certain questions in the RFP, they did it for a reason. More importantly, they expect to see an answer in your RFP response.

Your potential client wants to make sure you can handle their project requirements. No better way to assure them than to address their main questions and concerns. There’s no point in talking about 20 of your previous successful projects if you don’t answer a single question related to the one in question.

Make sure that your answers are legible, understandable, direct, positive, and specific – and your RFP response might just be the winning one.

5. Demonstrate knowledge of your potential client

Before providing your potential client with a RFP response, don’t be lazy, do your research. I mean, do the research outside the scope of this very project. Learn more about their company, some of their previous projects, marketing campaigns, clients, and so on.

After that, put the research in practice. Make sure that your RFP response demonstrates your knowledge of your potential client. You can do this by simply mentioning something about your client and their products or services that’s not mentioned in their RFP but can be related to this very project.

Of course, as this means telling them something they already know, you have to be careful not to overdo it. Keep in mind that the main focus of your RFP response should be on the specific challenge or goal presented in the RFP itself.

6. Demonstrate your own expertise

The best way to do this, of course, would be by outlining the proposal of your solution to your client’s specific needs in the very response to the request for proposal. Try to hint at your solution and provide them with some actionable steps you would take.

The goal here is to distinguish yourself from your competitors (remember, by submitting your RFP response, you’re actually bidding against other people), but still you don’t want to reveal everything.

In other words, you should consider not disclosing your “secret weapon” in the initial RFP response. Even though this should be your advantage, your competitors and the client may turn it into their own. For example, if the client recognizes something as your unique advantage, they still might ask other bidders to do the same (at a lower cost), even though they didn’t state it in their RFP response.

7. Master the art of pricing

A well-written RFP response contains as much project-relevant detail as possible. That way, your potential client can make an informed decision on who the right candidate for the job is. But it also leaves them with a lot of room for negotiation when it comes to pricing.

That very room for negotiation can be reduced by bundling your prices wherever possible. For example, if you’re a marketing agency offering SEO services, don’t detail your pricing per each individual thing that you do (price per blog post, price per link built, etc.). Instead, aggregate pricing for the entire SEO package that you offer.

That way, they can’t try to negotiate down each individual item that you’ve listed.

Extra tip – Never quote your lowest price.

As already mentioned, clients or client representatives will always try to get a better deal for themselves. So, as they expect some room for negotiation, why not give it to them? In your initial RFP response, you should consider quoting a 10% higher price than what you’d probably go for.

That way, you’re allowing your potential client room for a win. If you’re not replying directly to the client but some of their representatives, even better! Negotiating a lower price than the original one will make them look good. And being that you’ve given a slightly higher price quote, to begin with, there’s no loss on your side.

8. Show off using relevant case studies and success stories

People just love success stories. Nothing speaks as loudly about your expertise as case studies of people who have already used your services. So, make sure you leverage those in your RFP response.

Learning about how your agency helped someone else overcome challenges similar to the ones they’re facing or achieve goals similar to theirs can significantly boost your chances of obtaining a new client. Case studies are like a 3rd party endorsements.

Here’s how to create your own case study and what kind of testimonial questions to ask your previous clients.

Summary: What Makes a Well-Written RFP Response

In most cases, a winning RFP response will contain the following things:

• Background information about your agency
• Your initial thoughts and ideas regarding the RFP project
• What makes you qualified for the project
• Your main advantages compared to competitors
• Answers to any specific questions stated in the RFP
• Your pricing
• Testimonials and case studies

Writing a winning RFP response is just a beginning, of course. Once you’ve passed that initial screening, you need to make sure you present your new client with a quality marketing proposal.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered there as well. Here’s everything you need to know about writing a marketing proposal (and how to avoid the most common mistakes marketing agencies make).