When it comes to answering a request for proposal, there are few important statistics you should take into account.
According to TSIA’s research paper, “Making the Move to Outcome-Based Selling,” an RFP is usually sent to an average of 7–8 companies, while the minimum is around three and the maximum between 10 and 12 companies.
On the other side, the average win rate (the conversion from response to a deal closed) is just in the single digits.
Moreover, more than half of all RFPs don’t receive a final decision, as the customer decides against moving forward with the purchase.
So there’s no surprise that a lot of salespeople believe that RFPs are not necessarily a good idea. Even so, most companies are still required to go through an entire formal procurement process, which involves receiving proposals from various companies.
Isabel Gibson, who worked on more than 85 responses over 25 years, considers proposals responsible for burning people out and even making them feel miserable at times.
In her book, Proposals: Getting Started and Getting Better, she attributes the difficult part of answering to an RFP, to the scramble to meet the deadline, which can even lead to conflicts within the team. Her recommendation is to “head into the battle well-armed”, especially if you aren’t the biggest fan of writing proposals.
As for us, we understand that the weapons you need are answers. Answers to some questions you need to ask before answering a request for proposal. Let’s take a few moments and see which are the most important.
What to ask before answering to an RFP
1. Do we have a project manager or project lead?
This can be considered crucial. You and your team need a primary point of contact, in case vendors have any kind of questions. This person would also be responsible of making sure that the RFP response process is moving forward smoothly.
2. Do we have a clear budget?
It’s also very important to establish financial limitations when answering to a request for proposal. If this doesn’t happen, there’s an increased risk of being ‘seduced’ by something you just can’t afford, at least for the moment.
When it comes to RFPs, receiving input and approval from your C-suite regarding the budget is an essential aspect of the answering process.
3. Do we have a list of key stakeholders and/or evaluators?
An entire team or even multiple teams are involved in the answering of an RFP. We previously discussed this in an article about managing an RFP across large teams. Specifically, we’re talking about key stakeholders and evaluators, as well as departments like IT, procurement, and legal.
Why should you list them before answering an RFP? To make sure that you have all the people you need for the RFP response process. The earlier you include them in the discussion, the better the outcome of the request for proposal.