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RFP best practices — Content and process tips

RFP best practices — Content and process tips

Selling & Enablement

There’s nothing more frustrating than spending hours writing, editing and collaborating with SMEs only to find out you didn’t win. […]

Category: Selling & Enablement

RFP best practices — Content and process tips

RFP best practices — Content and process tips

Selling & Enablement

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

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

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

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

Table of contents

RFP best practices for content

RFP section-by-section guide

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

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

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

RFP cover letter

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

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

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

Executive summary

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

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

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

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

Project implementation plan and schedule

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

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

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

Contract terms

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

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

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

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

Customer references and case studies

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

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

Winning RFP content tips and examples

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

Insert the customer into your answers

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

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

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

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

Keep it simple and skimmable

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

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

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

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

Include visualizations

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

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

RFP response best practices | Spreadsheet Illustration

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

RFP best practices | Chart Illustration

Review, revise then review again

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

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

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

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

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

RFP response process best practices

Every RFP response process follows the same basic steps:

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

How to improve your RFP response process

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

Only answer RFPs you can win

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

RFP qualification considerations

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

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

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

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

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

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

Create a content library

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

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

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

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

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

Know your team (and their strengths)

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

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

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

Create a project plan

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

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

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

Repeat, review, optimize and expand

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

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

Common RFP response roadblocks and how to overcome them

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

The customer isn’t asking the right questions.

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

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

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

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

Time consuming back-and-forth with subject matter experts

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

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

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

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

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

The RFP clearly favors a specific vendor

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

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

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

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

The RFP response has a quick turnaround

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

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

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

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

Final thoughts

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

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

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

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

Selling & Enablement

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

The RFP response process requires an enormous investment of time and resources. Naturally, it would be best if those efforts were only focused on responding to RFPs that your business is sure to win. While there’s no way to ensure you win every RFP you respond to, you can quickly improve your win rate and save time by making a thoughtful bid or no-bid decision. In this post we’ll discuss why carefully deciding to bid or not to bid is so important. Then, we’ll share three approaches to help you make a confident decision. In addition, we’ll offer key questions to ask and bid or no bid checklist examples. Finally, we’ll explore how to share your decision to bid or not to bid with the buyer along with letter templates to help you get started.

Table of contents

Download the bid or no-bid checklist now.

Basics and benefits using RFP go or no-go analysis

Bid or no bid defined

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

Benefits of holding go/no-go discussions

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

Lighten proposal team workloads and avoid burnout

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

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

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

Invest time wisely and improve win rates

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

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

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

3 strategies for conducting bid/no-bid analysis

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

Basic: The core five go/no-go questions

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

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

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

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

Intermediate: True or false checklist

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

To gather your custom criteria:

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

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

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

Bid or no-bid checklist template

Preview of To Bid or Not to Bid Checklist and letter templates

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

Advanced: Bid/no-bid decision matrix

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

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

Bid/no-bid decision matrix examples:

My PM bid/no-bid Excel worksheet

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

1 – Unfavorable
2 – Neutral
3 – Favorable

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

SMPS go/no-go decision making matrix

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

A note about these tools

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

Next steps: Letter of intent or decline to bid 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Write a no-bid letter

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

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

When writing your letter, remember:

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

Final thoughts on the RFP go or no-go process

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

How to write a letter of intent to bid: Tips, examples & template

How to write a letter of intent to bid: Tips, examples & template

Selling & Enablement

If you regularly respond to RFPs, you have probably encountered buyers who ask you to submit a letter of intent to bid as part of the response process. While this step in the RFP process is far from universal, it’s important to understand the purpose of the intent to bid letter. Additionally, you can use it as another positive touchpoint for prospective buyers.

Whether you’re responding to a buyer that requested a letter of intent and need guidance, or you’re simply looking for new ways to engage with buyers earlier in the RFP process, you’ll find what you need to know here.

First, in this post, you’ll learn the basics about the letter of intent to bid including what it is, who uses them and a few of their benefits. Then, I’ll offer some quick tips about how to write a letter of intent. Finally, I’ll share sample letters of intent to bid and an intent to bid template.

What is a letter of intent to bid?

Letter of intent to bid definition

A letter of intent to bid is a formal way for prospective vendors to communicate their plan to submit a response or bid to a request for proposal (RFP). Often, a buyer requests or requires a letter of intent from interested vendors as part of the RFP process.

A small distinction: Letter of intent to bid vs letter of intent

The letter of intent or letter of interest, abbreviated as LOI, has other applications outside of the RFP and sales process. For example, job seekers, grant applicants and legal agreements may also use letters of intent. So, be sure to understand the context of the LOI request before responding.

Who uses the letter?

When The letter of intent to bid can be requested by an RFP issuer (buyer) or offered proactively by a RFP responder (seller or vendor). The document isn’t exclusive to any particular industry. However, you’ll find it most often in government, legal, education and construction RFPs.

When required by a buyer, the procurement manager in charge of the RFP is the person who requests, receives and reads the letters. On the other hand, when offered proactively, the letter of intent to bid is written and submitted by the proposal manager.

What is in the letter of intent to respond?

The intent to bid letter is usually very brief. Indeed, it follows the standard business letter format and fits on a single page.

Your letter of intent to bid should include:

  • The name of your company
  • Name of the proposal contact
  • The name or reference number of the RFP you’re responding to
  • A clear statement of your intention to submit a proposal
  • Your sign off and signature

In addition to the above, you may choose to include more information. For example, you may wish to offer a brief statement about why you believe you’re a fit for the business. You may also highlight your relevant experience or confirm that you meet or exceed the minimum RFP requirements.

In many cases, if this step is part of the process, the buyer will provide a letter of intent to bid template that outlines the information they require. You can see examples of this later in this blog.

When is the letter of intent due?

If an RFP requires vendors to formalize their intention to bid (or decline to bid), the deadline will appear in the RFP timeline. Typically, this step happens after vendors receive answers to any follow-up questions or points of clarification during the Q&A period.

On the other hand, if you’re sending an intent to bid letter as a courtesy (when it’s not required by the buyer) you have more flexibility. In this case, you should send the letter as soon as possible after you’ve done your bid/no-bid discussion and made a decision. Ideally, this is at least two weeks prior to the RFP deadline.

Benefits of the intent to bid letter

You may find yourself wondering why anyone would require a letter of intent to bid. Why add one more step to an already long process? Well, there are a few reasons why an intent to bid letter is a good idea.

1. Ensures sufficient interest and competition

Many organizations have procurement policies that require three valid bids before making a purchase. The letter of intent to bid enables buyers to ensure that a project will have sufficient vendor participation to proceed.

If a buyer doesn’t receive enough affirmative letters of intent to bid from vendors, they may reevaluate the project, even if they have a qualified, under-budget bid. They can extend the RFP invitation to additional vendors, find out why vendors chose not to respond or they can put the project on hold.

Essentially, the letter of intent saves a procurement manager weeks of waiting and hoping they’ll have the necessary number of bids when the RFP deadline arrives.

2. Defines and streamlines communication paths

The purpose of an RFP is to exchange information between buyers and sellers in an organized way. In an ideal world, the process would be straightforward. However, in the real world, it’s rarely that simple.

It’s not uncommon for a buyer to have a few updates after issuing an RFP. For example, there may be amendments to the requirements, changes in scope or clarifications of the RFP questions. In this case, the buyer needs to know who to contact.

Thanks to the letter of intent, they know exactly who to reach out to. Not only that, but the procurement manager avoids sending unnecessary emails to suppliers that have indicated they will not be submitting an RFP.

3. Enables a faster RFP evaluation process

After the intent to bid deadline, the response period begins. While you and your team write a winning RFP response, the buyer begins preparing for the RFP evaluation process.

Because they already know the number of participating vendors, the procurement manager can prepare more thoroughly. For example, they can set up proposal scoring and prepare guidance for stakeholders.

Faster evaluation means faster results. So the buyer can award the contract and you can win business faster.

Tips for how to write a letter of intent to bid

As we’ve discussed above, you can use the letter of intent to bid in two situations: either to meet the stated RFP process requirements or as a proactive courtesy to the buyer.

Sometimes, if a buyer requires an they provide a template to ensure they receive the same information from every vendor. In this case, simply fill out the provided document and resist the urge to add more detail.

The letter of intent to bid template is usually included at the beginning of the RFP or as an attachment at the end. However, if the buyer doesn’t offer a template or you wish to create a letter of intent to connect with the buyer, there are a few things to keep in mind.

LOI best practices

• After your decision to bid or not to bid, write and send the letter as soon as possible.

• It’s best to address the letter to the procurement manager or company contact specified in the RFP. Try to avoid a generic greeting like, “To whom it may concern.”

• Begin the letter by clearly stating your intention to bid and basic company information.

• Include contact information for the person who will manage the proposal process. This is the person the buyer should contact if they have questions, need more information or want to begin negotiations.

• After addressing the necessary information, consider including brief statement on why your company is the right fit for this opportunity. In addition, you could briefly mention past successes, differentiators, references and expertise.

• Remember, keep it short. Save the details for your RFP response.

• Avoid asking follow up questions, because they’ll likely get overlooked if you include them in the body of your LOI.

• Apply RFP response best practices to your letter: be concise, use active voice and review for grammar and spelling.

• Conclude your letter by expressing gratitude for the opportunity and offering any necessary assistance.

Letter of intent to bid samples

Now, if you’re considering adding an LOI step to your proposal process, you may want to see some real-world examples. Below you’ll find a few samples of letters of intent requested by a buyer. Then, you can compile your favorite parts to create your own template.

Construction letter of intent to bid sample

This letter of intent template, provided by Hard Hat Hunter, is specific to the construction industry. It is very short and to the point with just the basics: the vendor’s information, the project name and when the buyer can expect to receive the RFP response.

Employment agency letter of intent to bid template

Contact information, the name of the RFP and an acknowledgement of the RFP criteria are included in this sample letter of intent to bid. Offered by Golden Sierra, it is tailored to an employment and job training agency.

Municipality letter of intent to respond form

In this letter of intent to bid example, from the city of Seabrook, New Hampshire, the city asks that all vendors respond. Consequently, the form allows vendors to select their intent to submit nor not submit a bid.

Ultimately, sending a letter of intent is just one more way to connect with and serve your potential customer. When competition is tough, every gesture matters and clear communication is crucial.

For organizations that use RFPIO, creating consistent, memorable letters of intent to bid can be done quickly using templates. Automating this process is a great way to save time while also increasing your engagement with buyers.

Proposal automation guide: Benefits, uses, tips & software

Proposal automation guide: Benefits, uses, tips & software

Selling & Enablement

For most bid and proposal professionals, working through the steps of answering RFPs is second nature. Unfortunately, for those using manual processes, much of that work is tedious, repetitive and time consuming. Indeed, you may be all too familiar with the ctrl+f, ctrl+x and ctrl+v loop of working in Word and spreadsheets. Luckily, with proposal automation solutions, you can make the process faster and easier. Not to mention, you’ll be able to give those well-worn keyboard shortcuts a rest.

Powered by rapidly-advancing AI technology, the number of bid and proposal management tasks that can be partially or entirely automated continues to grow. For organizations looking to speed up sales cycles, work lean and increase win rates, proposal automation  delivers a lot of value. Fortunately, RFP response software is purpose-built for managing RFP responses, bids and proposals — and it’s increasingly impactful, adaptable, accessible and affordable.

Understandably, the prospect of increasing automation may not excite you. In fact, it may raise uncomfortable questions. For example, you might wonder if your job is at stake, if it actually saves time and if it’s really worth it. In this post, I’ll strive to explore each of these concerns about proposal automation and more.

To start, we’ll begin with the definition of proposal automation as well as how it works. Then, we’ll cover which steps in your proposal process can be automated and how human input is still required. Next, you’ll learn the three primary benefits of automation. I’ll also share a quick buyer’s guide for proposal automation software. And finally, I’ll share a few ways your team can prepare now for proposal automation in the future.

What is proposal automation?

Proposal automation is the use of technology to perform actions in the proposal process with reduced human intervention. Sometimes called bid automation, the term refers to the actions that technology performs automatically according to established rules.

Proposal management software includes  automation capabilities designed for the RFP and proposal process. It can assist with proposal completion, formatting, workflow tasks and content management.

How does it work?

Certainly, proposal managers don’t need to understand the engineering and code that makes proposal automation solutions work. However, a basic grasp of the concepts and logic behind automation is helpful. With this knowledge, users understand how to maximize automation’s value. And, they can troubleshoot if needed.

With origins in manufacturing lines, automation has come a long way in the last few decades. While technology continues to push the boundaries of automation, the basic motivations remain the same.

Whether automation is moving car parts from one assembly line to another, or transferring information from a content library to a proposal draft, the goal is to reduce the human effort required to complete tasks.

Proposal automation example 

Generally, automation works using if/then logic. For example, in the proposal process, you may want to send a reminder to your subject matter experts (SMEs).

So, the logic for that task could be stated as:
If SMEs have not approved their assigned questions by three days prior to the due date, then send a reminder email to their inbox.

In this case, the ‘if’ part of the statement defines the required conditions that must be met for automation to occur and the ‘then’ of the statement is the action that is triggered.

Each piece of automation requires several key pieces of data. For the simple automation in this example to work, the system needs to recognize and pull together all of the following data:

  • Users designated as SMEs
  • Which SMEs are assigned
  • Status of their questions (draft, in progress or approved)
  • Today’s date relative to the due date
  • SME email addresses for the notification
  • The notification text to be sent

When you understand that each element of the if/then statement is a piece of data, it’s easier to see the possibilities for new automations.

Beyond workflow automations like the example above, proposal and RFP response tools also use artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing to expand and improve proposal automation capabilities.

Proposal automation uses and limitations

Just like other sales technologies, AI and proposal automation are tools that must be directed and used by humans. Certainly, it can save your team a lot of time, but it definitely won’t be able to replace you. Proposal expert Ashley Kayes, addressed the potential of automating proposals in a recent post on her Proposal Reflections blog saying,

“Will automation tools and AI eventually replace all of us and independently write the proposals for our companies? I think most of us agree that this will never happen in our lifetimes. However, I do believe that enhanced versions of these AI and proposal automation tools will ultimately empower our proposal teams to focus our efforts on tailoring content to meet the needs of individual customers and other critical tasks.”

We expect that AI capabilities and proposal automation will continue to advance in the future. In fact, at RFPIO we’re constantly evaluating emerging AI and creating new ways to automate tedious steps of responses of all kinds including proposals, RFPs, RFIs, RFQs, DDQs, security questionnaires and so on.

When considering investing in proposal automation software it’s important to understand that these tools are not a replacement for people. They only work in partnership with users. However, when applied thoughtfully by skilled users, response software has the potential to cut your response time in half.

Examples of how proposal automation partners with people

Automating proposals effectively means balancing AI’s ability to perform mundane tasks with the need for human input and interpretation. Here you’ll find a list of ways you can use automation as well as short explanations of how users must provide input for the best results.

– Bid selectively and ensure compliance –

Automation can: Analyze and organize requirements

When receiving long-form RFPs and customer requests, it can be difficult to identify each individual requirement you must to meet. Fortunately, proposal automation can sift through the text of any request and create a list of requirements you can review at a glance.

With a clear list of the customer’s needs, you can more confidently decide if the opportunity is a fit for your company. Then, you can also use this list of requirements to ensure that the RFP responses and proposals will meet the customer’s guidelines and expectations.

Users must: Review and confirm the analysis

In this use case, proposal automation works by searching for keywords like shall, may, should, must and more to gather requirements. It does a good job of listing individual requirements, but a human must always verify the output for any requirements that didn’t use one of the established keywords.

– Find content and answers faster –

Automation can: Identify repeat questions and suggest answers

One of the most impressive and valuable features of RFP automation software is the ability to import an RFP and automatically review it for repeat questions. Not only will automation identify the questions you have encountered before, but it will also suggest relevant answers from your content library. So, you no longer have to search through endless emails and old proposals to find the right answers.

When considering investing in proposal automation software, it is important to understand how each automation tool works to find relevant answers. Some systems use exact match searches, while others leverage AI, machine learning and natural language processing to find synonyms and related knowledge records.

Users must: Select the right answer with context in mind

While AI can suggest the best answer and offer alternative options, it can’t yet fully understand the nuance and context for the request. So, it’s essential to have a human review the options. Certainly, it still saves time by providing you with all of the relevant choices, but final selection should be done by a proposal professional.

– Help write and edit responses –

Automation can: Create a first draft or revise an answer

Staring at a blank screen can be a roadblock for SMEs, so offering a first draft can help get them started — AI can help with that. In addition, if you get their response back and it’s a little too long and technical, AI can help with that too. With the GPT assistant in RFPIO, you can leverage AI to create response drafts, expand short answers, transition from passive to active voice, improve readability, shift from technical jargon to plain speech and more.

Users must: Review, customize and fact check

Outputs from the GPT assistant sound more like a human than ever, but don’t be fooled. AI cannot create content tailored to your organization. Because GPT is trained using general information like internet content and books, it doesn’t know your brand’s proprietary information, competitive advantages, messaging, tone or style preferences.

Users must still infuse responses with compelling win themes, create a consistent style and update automated responses to ensure accuracy and effectiveness.

– Keep your content library clean –

Automation can: Identify potential answer duplicates

As you answer more RFPs, create proposals and leverage your response solution, your content library will grow. Naturally over the course of time, you’ll respond to variations of the same question over and over. Then, if you’re not careful to review, prune and consolidate similar responses the library can grow out of control and become difficult to navigate effectively.

Fortunately, AI can help you manage the content by identifying similar question and answer pairs. The system can then flag the content for potential deduplication.

Users must: Review duplicates and make the final call

Typically, duplications are created when an answer has been customized to fit a particular customer or situation. AI can identify the similarities to other responses, but it can’t decide which answer is the best option to keep for future use. Users must provide input to combine, edit and optimize the responses before deleting duplicates.

– Improve SME collaboration –

Automation can: Send reminders and schedule reviews

We all know that as the proposal coordinator, you spend a significant amount of time wrangling answers and approvals from various subject matter experts and stakeholders. Often, this means countless emails, follow-up calls, chat messages and reminders. And managing that communication via email is cumbersome and risky. Fortunately, all of these activities are centralized in automated proposal software.

As you work through the proposal, SMEs receive notifications when you assign them questions, request reviews, send reminders and secure final approval. In addition to avoiding sending these communications manually, the platform also retains a record so you can review the process if questions arise.

Users must: Manage assignments, responsibilities and settings

Proposal automation isn’t able to identify who plays which role in the response process without your help. Indeed, for large organizations, the number of variables that determine who contributes to a proposal or RFP make it far too complex for a computer to understand. However, for you, it’s a simple matter of matching sections and questions to the relevant users.

– Keep momentum moving to meet deadlines –

Automation can: Track real-time progress

When your boss wants an update on how the proposal is coming together, automation has an immediate answer. Rather than reaching out to every contributor and finding out the status of their work and compiling a report that will be out of date before you can even send it, proposal automation software enables you to see real-time visualizations of each project.

Users must: Interpret and optimize

While dashboards and reports are much easier to create and view in proposal software, they lack the context and big-picture view you provide. The real-time information can help you identify bottlenecks, but it won’t be able to determine why they’re happening or how to fix them. There’s simply no replacement for the strategy and process insight you provide.

– Surface data insights –

Automation can: Gather data and schedule maintenance

Curious how often subject matter experts make adjustments to answers from previous proposals? Wondering when the last time was that someone reviewed your compliance content?

Proposal automation tools collect this information as well as other helpful response metadata. In addition, you can set up periodic, automatic review cycles to prompt SMEs to verify and refresh the content they’re responsible for.

Users must: Review and optimize

Proposal automation can only provide you with the information it finds in your content library, it can’t verify if that information is still true and accurate. In addition, it can’t warn you that one of your answers has a bullet point that isn’t relevant to the customer or refers to a contact that has since left the company. Indeed, when it comes to avoiding embarrassing moments like that and ensuring you’re using timely responses, there is no replacement for your careful review.

Additionally, users must determine how often content should be reviewed and who should review it to minimize risk.

The 3 biggest benefits of proposal automation

At the end of the day to be truly worth it, proposal automation must deliver value to the bottom line. There are three primary benefits to consider.

1. Enhanced efficiency

Automation saves time. RFP responses are an investment, so as efficiency increases, so does profit. When you leverage automation, you spend significantly less time finding information, sending reminder emails and verifying responses. In the time you save, you can take on more strategic, higher-value projects.

For example, Crownpeak leverages proposal automation to complete the majority of their responses:

“Today we’re filling out 80% of an RFP with Auto Respond. But next time we get an RFP, that percentage might be 81%. The more answers we put in the library, and the more RFPs we respond to, the more accurate Auto Respond becomes,” -Paul Taylor, Vice President of Solutions Engineering at Crownpeak

2. More consistent processes

Automating proposals using an established, repeatable process in a centralized location provides much needed organization and clarity. Manual responses often involve information that’s shared through email, spreadsheets, calls and more ⁠— this siloed knowledge increases the risk that your proposals contain inaccurate or inconsistent responses.

3. Data capture and analytics

Each RFP and corresponding proposal contains a wealth of data. Indeed, data collected from automated processes enables organizations to calculate proposal software ROI. In addition, RFP data analysis uncovers avenues for process improvements, pricing optimization, sales messaging refinement and more.

Proposal automation software buyer’s guide

Finding the right proposal automation solution for your organization can deliver tremendous value. So, here are a few things to discuss with your team before making a purchase.

Essential proposal automation software features

  • Centralized content library: How is information saved, organized and reviewed? Is the library easy to navigate and use for power users and occasional SME contributors alike?
  • Response automation: When you upload an RFP or request, does the platform suggest relevant answers automatically?
  • Request import: Are requests quick and easy to upload? Does the software consistently identify sections and questions?
  • Project management tools: How can proposal managers track their projects, engage collaborators and ensure on-time delivery?
  • Integrations: How will the proposal automation solution integrate with existing processes and sales technologies?
  • Data analysis: Does the platform capture key metadata, have helpful reporting capabilities and detailed audits for transparency and risk management?
  • Document tools: Does the platform offer tools for e-signature, document library management, embedded media and attachments?

Additional considerations

  • Solution updates and enhancements: Does the platform keep you ahead of trends and give you a competitive advantage with regular releases designed to improve your process?
  • Reputation: Is the company a leader in the industry? Do they have strong reviews from users?
  • Customer success: What kind of support will your team need?
  • User experience and adoption: Is the tool easy to use, navigate and understand?
  • Broader value: Is the platform flexible enough to be used for additional use cases?
  • Security and controls: How does the software manage security and data? Do they allow various user permission levels to keep information secure?

How to prepare now for automation in the future

While automation can undoubtedly save almost any proposal team time, some organizations may not quite be ready to make the investment. However, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do now. First, create a business case for proposal software. Then, begin building the foundation for successful automation.

Map your current proposal process in detail

Creating a detailed, step-by-step map of your process is the best way to identify areas that are ready for automation. Start at the beginning. What steps happen when you receive a new RFP? Who is involved in the decisions? What information is gathered? Who plays which role in proposal creation? And so on.

Benchmark key metrics

After you’ve defined your process as thoroughly as possible, estimate and note the hours required to complete each task. Consider what steps take the longest and which are the most repetitive. This exercise will point you to the areas where automation will be most impactful. Not to mention that benchmarking the time and cost involved in RFP responses allows you to calculate return on investment once you adopt a solution.

Plan how you will redirect time saved

Another powerful way to prepare for automation is to consider what you will do with the time you save. We all have a list of projects and ideas in our heads, and with automation, you’ll be able to put them into action. If nothing comes to mind, we have a couple of ideas to further improve your efficiency and effectiveness.

Dig into your data

The more information and historical RFP response data you have, the better off you’ll be when you are ready to adopt proposal automation. Explore your proposal library and identify knowledge gaps as well as any opportunities to improve the quality of your data.

  • Remove duplicate and outdated answers
  • Ensure on-brand messaging
  • Improve consistency in tone, word choice and style
  • Record which answers appear in winning proposals
  • Identify commonalities in won and lost opportunities

Final thoughts

Despite all the advances in automation for proposal teams, the RFP process is still human. At its core, it’s still about connecting people and finding customers that will help you reach your goals while you help them reach theirs.

Again, Ashley Kayes, sums up the potential of proposal automation nicely saying,

“Leveraging these tools effectively in the future, I believe we will increase the efficiency of our business development and proposal process by automating some of the most time-consuming pieces of the process and helping us to make smarter, more-strategic decisions on the opportunities we pursue.”

There can be no doubt that automation is part of the future of RFPs. But, the real question is: Will you be ready? Are you ready now?

How to find RFPs and win them

How to find RFPs and win them

Selling & Enablement

Every year, private organizations and government agencies award millions of dollars of business to vendors using the request for proposal (RFP) process. Consequently, responding to RFPs is a crucial part of any sales strategy and a great way to increase revenue. However, before you can take advantage of these opportunities to benefit your business, you have to know how to find RFPs.

Chances are you made it to this post by searching the internet — which is a great start. It won’t surprise you to know that’s one simple way to search for RFP opportunities. The internet plays host to thousands of organizations inviting vendors to bid to win their business. But joining or browsing an online RFP database isn’t the only way to find RFPs. You can also proactively submit your information to prospective buyers using online vendor portals.

In this post, I’ll start with a few basics including key definitions that will help you understand the types of RFPs you can find online as well as their pros and cons. In addition, I’ll share the best RFP databases and how to get invited to closed RFPs. Finally, I’ll offer tips for winning more RFPs so when you find them, you’ll know exactly what to do.

Key RFP definitions

Before we get into where to find RFPs, it’s important to start with the basics. So, let’s explore the RFP meaning and answer a few common questions. Then, we’ll go over several common types of RFPs you may encounter.

RFP definitions

What is an RFP?

RFP stands for request for proposal. A request for proposal is a document soliciting information from potential vendors. The document includes a collection of RFP questions that help buyers gather standardized information, compare and select the best supplier for any given project.

Why do companies use RFPs?

RFPs organize complex procurement projects and improve objectivity in supplier selection. In addition, the thorough nature of the process reduces overall vendor risk. Ultimately, this helps buyers reduce the overall cost of procurement and create long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships.

Many private companies have a procurement policy that requires bids from at least three potential suppliers before they can move forward with a purchase. Likewise, agencies at all levels of government are required to issue RFPs publically to ensure that contracts are awarded and tax dollars are spent in a fair and transparent way. Accordingly, you can find open government RFPs online.

Who issues RFPs?

Almost every type of organization uses RFPs as a part of their procurement strategy. For example, RFPs are commonly issued by private companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies.

Two types of RFPs you can find

Open RFPs

An open RFP, sometimes called a public RFP, is available for anyone to respond to. Generally, these RFPs appear on the RFP issuer’s website and can be downloaded for response. While some private organizations may occasionally take this approach, most often, government agencies issue open RFPs.

Government RFPs
Government agencies create the most open or public RFPs. Federal, state or city agencies use the RFP process for most of their procurement needs. As mentioned above, procurement in the public sector is subject to complex regulation. Indeed, RFP regulations ensure a fair, auditable, objective and transparent vendor selection.

Education RFPs
Because they operate with some portion of public funding, schools and universities often follow procurement guidelines that are nearly identical to government policies. You’ll find lots of RFP opportunities on school district and university websites.

The pros and cons of open RFPs

Open RFPs typically prioritize price over most other factors. To avoid countless back-and-forth questions, open RFPs contain a lot of information and include rules, contract terms and conditions, and more. Consequently, they are often the longest kind of RFP. For example, public sector RFPs average around 116 pages.

It is also important to note that open RFPs have stringent requirements. Often they require very specific minimum qualifications and submission format. An open RFP may go as far as to specify that responses must be in a table format, use 12-point Times New Roman font, be printed and have hard copies submitted via postmarked package.

While open RFPs may receive dozens of responses, many may be unqualified. But, the procurement team still has to read each one to know which vendors might be a good fit. Consequently, RFP evaluation takes weeks or even months to complete.

For some businesses, the time-consuming and highly competitive nature of these RFP opportunities make them less appealing. However, government contracts also tend to be high-value with the potential for longer contract terms. So, having a strong bid or no-bid process is a must to balance the pros and cons of responding to open RFPs.

Closed RFPs

Many private organizations use closed RFPs, sometimes called invitation-only RFPs or private RFPs, to compare and select vendors. In this process, the issuing organization or consultant conducts market research, chooses a select group of vendors and privately issues the RFP to them, inviting them to submit a proposal. The small group of vendors may be selected based on data collected from a request for information (RFI), a request for qualifications (RFQ), reputation, area of expertise or experience.

Business RFPs
Corporations and companies of all sizes regularly issue RFPs for any goods or services you can imagine. They use them to evaluate new vendors and verify that they’re getting the best value from their existing vendors. Closed RFPs usually focus less on price. Instead, buyers seek vendors who can become partners, are the most qualified or deliver the best return on investment.

Because most corporations are private, they aren’t subject to the same level of regulation as public entities. Therefore, they often choose to create closed RFPs. Generally, it is simply a matter of efficiency.

Consultant- or broker-managed RFPs
When high-stakes, specialty procurement projects arise, many businesses engage with a consultant or broker. The consultant is an expert in a particular industry or type of procurement. So, they manage the RFP process on behalf of their client. For example, a business may seek out a consultant to help with a complex procurement project for a new IT network, employee benefits or company insurance. Because consultants and brokers have a deep understanding of their niche market, they tend to issue closed RFPs to select vendors who are the best fit for their client.

First, they work with stakeholders to gather requirements and provide expert advice. Then, they create the RFP, select which vendors to invite and manage communications. Finally, they evaluate the responses and provide recommendations to the client.

Pros and cons of closed RFPs

Unlike open RFPs that may garner dozens of responses, closed RFPs limit the number of proposals a buyer receives and has to score. This means competition is a lot easier and it speeds up the overall RFP timeline. However, the size of the contract is often smaller, and may be subject to lengthy negotiation and shorter terms.

Hybrid RFPs: Invited vendors but open RFP

The hybrid RFP approach is less common, but still deserves a mention here. This is when an RFP is issued individually to a handful of vendors, but is also posted in an open invitation. If an organization struggles to garner adequate exposure or interest in their RFP using an open RFP approach, they may reach out to a handful of qualified organizations to request a proposal.

Non-profit RFPs
Hybrid RFPs are most frequently used by non-profit organizations. Because they receive tax benefits, public grant funding and donations they strive for transparency in their procurement processes. Unfortunately, their website or brand may not have enough exposure to simply post their RFP online and receive the required number of responses. A hybrid approach solves this and means you can find their RFPs online.

How to find RFPs

Now that we’ve covered key definitions as well as the types of RFPs you can respond to, let’s explore how to find RFPs for each category. Finding open RFPs is simply a matter of knowing where to look. On the other hand, being included in closed RFPs takes a little more work.

Two ways to find open RFPs

There are two main approaches to locating open RFPs. You can subscribe to an RFP database or look for RFPs manually.

Use an RFP database

If you want to implement an RFP strategy to grow your business as quickly as possible, an RFP database subscription may be worth the cost. There are a number of sites that scour government and business websites and collect RFP information. Then, they place the RFP into a centralized, searchable database. This allows you to quickly sift through hundreds of RFPs and find the opportunities that are the best fit. Most are subscription based and cost anywhere from $10-50 per month.

Best RFP databases
There is a lot of overlap between RFP services, so it’s important to do your research and pick the best RFP databases for your business. Consider how often the database is updated, if they regularly have RFPs that align with your business and if they will send you automatic email notifications based on your qualifications.

Search for RFPs manually

A manual search for RFPs requires practice and research, but it’s the most cost-effective way to find new opportunities.

Google search for government RFPs
Because government organizations are required to make their RFPs public, they post them on their websites or in a searchable portal. You can quickly and easily find almost any state or local procurement page or portal with a simple Google search. When you search for an RFP opportunity, remember that each state may use different terminology. For example, try searching by the state or municipality name plus contracts, procurement, RFPs, request for bid (RFBs), or invitation to tender (ITTs).

Find open RFPs on social media
While less common, some organizations post their RFPs on social media. LinkedIn is the most popular social network for finding RFPs, but you will also see some on Twitter. Luckily, the search functionality on these networks makes RFPs easy to find. Simply search your industry and ‘RFP’ to browse through the results and find the latest open opportunities.

How to get invited to closed RFPs

Being invited to participate in a closed RFP is all about getting your company’s information to the right people. There are a lot of ways to accomplish this, but here are two that I’ve found to be most effective.

Proactively reach out to potential buyers

If you want to be included in RFPs from private organizations, the first step is to make sure they know who you are. Unlike using capture management, which proactively pursues known upcoming RFPs from specific targeted companies, being included in unknown future RFPs may be as simple as raising your hand.

Align with presales, sales and marketing
This approach requires research and a team effort, so it can be time consuming — but I’ve also seen it work. If your organization has a presales, sales or marketing team, they may already have initiatives to proactively connect with specific buyers. This approach is often called account-based marketing (ABM).

The first step ABM is to identify your ideal customer profile (ICP). If you thrive within a certain industry, use this information and your ICP to identify top accounts to target. Then, align your efforts with presales, sales and marketing.

As part of your efforts to get into a particular company, reach out to the company’s procurement team. Let them know you’d like to be considered for future RFP opportunities and ask if they maintain a vendor database. If so, explore how to be included as a prospective vendor. Often, it’s as simple as filling out an RFI.

Note: Procurement teams get a lot of these calls so it’s important to stand out. Be knowledgeable about their business, unfailingly friendly, courteous and patient. It’s also useful to share any diversity certifications, qualifications or local connections you may have.

Register as a supplier or complete a vendor profile

Many large organizations accept vendor applications online. The process has different names including supplier registration, a vendor form or a vendor profile. If you know you’re a fit for a specific company, check their website for one of these forms.

Examples vendor registration pages

Get on a broker or consultant’s radar

There are brokers and consultants that use RFPs to serve a wide range of industries. In fact, you likely already know who they are within your sector. But, the real question is, do they know who you are? Procurement consultants want to deliver the best results to their client, so if you can provide value, introduce yourself.

When you do reach out, be brief. Send an introductory email with a few lines about how you serve their client base and what sets you apart. Then, ask about their vendor onboarding process and if there’s a vendor profile they use to track available suppliers. If you don’t get a response in a week or so, follow up and attach a short vendor profile of your own.

Once you connect with someone, follow up with them from time to time to stay top of mind. Remember, be genuine and provide helpful information. If you can build a relationship with a broker or consultancy firm, they are more likely to trust you, include you in RFPs and provide insights about customer trends.

5 tips for winning more RFPs

1. Make sure you’re qualified

Pay close attention to the requirements and evaluation criteria and prioritize your efforts. It’s easy to get caught up in answering as many RFPs as possible. However, if your chances to win are low, dedicating time and attention to creating a proposal is probably not worth the time. When you find RFP opportunities, ensure they pass your to bid or not to bid criteria. Responding to too many RFPs with fast proposals will impact your win rate and tax your proposal team resources.

2. Research your prospect

Learn as much as you can about the buyer. With more background and context, you’ll be able to better address the buyer’s needs and goals. If you’re responding to a government RFP, look for a previous proposal that won the contract. Just like RFPs are public, often the responses from each vendor are as well.

3. Pay attention to the instructions

Carefully read the instructions before beginning your RFP response. Identify every requirement and include them in an RFP compliance matrix (this process is sometimes called shredding the RFP). This is particularly important when you respond to government RFPs. If your proposal isn’t delivered as specified or doesn’t meet the submission criteria, they may not read past the first page. Instead the procurement manager may just throw all of your hard work out.

4. Ask questions

RFPs are complex, and unfortunately, some questions aren’t always clear. Instead of guessing at what the buyer meant, ask them. Even if the RFP timeline doesn’t provide a vendor question period, send the inquiry. Not only will it help you get insight, but it also shows the buyer you’re invested in understanding their business and being a partner.

5. Make sure your messaging hits the mark

Make your responses customer-centric and provide specific benefits. Address their primary needs and convey your understanding of their goals. Finally, when using your proposal knowledge library to create quick responses, don’t forget to tailor your answers to the buyer.

A final bit of advice

If your ultimate goal is to answer more RFPs (and win them) to grow your business, it’s important to not only search for RFPs, but ensure that your current response process is as efficient as possible.

However, if you’re already facing heavy workloads and tight deadlines, it’s going to be difficult to ask the proposal management team and SMEs to do even more. You have two options: hire more staff or adopt RFP software.

Naturally, I recommend RFP software (specifically, RFPIO) because our average customer reduces their response time by up to 50 percent. They are then able to redirect that time toward improving their content library, optimizing processes, finding new RFPs, customizing responses and increasing RFP submissions by 5-15 percent.

If you want to explore what RFPIO could do for your business, you can see it for yourself by requesting a demo or use our return on investment calculator to see the results.

RFP response resource guide

RFP response resource guide

Selling & Enablement

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

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

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

Confirmed buyer ✅
Needs and pain points clearly identified ✅

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

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

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

What is an RFP response?

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

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

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

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

Components of an RFP response

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

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

RFP response examples

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

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

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

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

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

An RFP response typically should include the following:

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

For more specific examples, read here.

How to respond to a request for proposal

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

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

Step 1 – Determine whether you are the right fit

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

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

Step 2 – Set up your process

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

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

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

Step 3 – Break down the components

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

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

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

Step 4 – Determine what you’ll need to include

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

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

How to improve the RFP response process

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

Why? Well, automation works.

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

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

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

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

Automate manual tasks

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

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

The goals of an efficient process include the following:

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

To reach those efficiency goals, consider automating:

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

Up-to-date content

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

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

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

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

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

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

Optimize time management

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

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

Better collaboration

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

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

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

Key performance indicators for the RFP process

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

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

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

How to choose RFP response software

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

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

Why you need RFP software

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

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

Essential features

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

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

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

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

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

Common challenges of the RFP response process

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

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

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

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

Case study

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

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

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

RFP FAQs

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

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

Optimize your RFP responses the RFPIO way

Learn more about how your company can break down silos, effectively and efficiently manage time, and create a single source of truth in a platform that scales to your specific requirements without burdening your tech stack.

Response management made simple

Response management made simple

Selling & Enablement

When an organization seeks you out, it’s flattering. Your product or service is getting noticed. While everyone in your organization deserves tremendous kudos for the recognition, receiving an RFX is just the beginning.

Responding to a request for proposal (RFP), request for information (RFI), request for quotation (RFQ), due diligence questionnaire (DDQ), security questionnaire, or more generically, an RFX, requires a well-honed process that highlights your organization’s professionalism.

Please excuse the hodgepodge of metaphors, but brush off your lapels, sharpen your pencils, and put your best foot forward. It’s time to respond.

What is response management?

While RFXs are as individual as their issuers, they all have one common element: a deadline. An RFX might have hundreds or thousands of pages. In addition to pricing and product-specific questions, you might see questions about company history, culture, finances, the onboarding process, and so on.

The final proposal will require detailed and accurate answers, a clear and engaging narrative, and (usually) multiple stakeholders from throughout the organization.

Response management is the process of making that happen. Or more technically, it’s about understanding, defining, and publishing a full process. As with other projects within your organization, it includes establishing workflow, roles and responsibilities.

Who is responsible for response management?

Often, RFXs arrive through an organization’s CRM. From there, it might go to a response or proposal team, a single response manager, or a salesperson. Enterprise organizations are more likely to have dedicated RFX response teams than small businesses.

However, even full-time response teams will need help from subject matter experts (SMEs) throughout their organizations. As a response manager, it’s your responsibility to ensure that everyone has access to the project as a whole, or at least their part. Each stakeholder must understand their expectations.

Owning the response management process

A response manager might not be part of the C-suite. They might not head up a department, or even have a dedicated supervisory role. When they receive an RFX, however, the buck stops with them.

Before delving further, we should back up a bit. The response manager’s role begins long before an RFX arrives and ends long after it’s out the door. Truth be told, the process is most efficient when it’s ongoing, regardless of whether the response manager is facing a deadline or not.

Evaluate processes

If you’re a runner, you might stretch before your daily five-mile run. During your run, you may track your heart rate, pace, and distance on a smartwatch. Afterwards, you might enjoy a deeper stretch and eat a healthy meal.

Or, if you’re like most people, you start your work day awakened by an alarm. Then, in no particular order, you might brush your teeth, workout, shower, dress, perhaps put on makeup and style your hair, maybe drink a cup of coffee, and have some breakfast. You might also commute to your office.

Once you get to work, you probably turn your computer on, check your email, agenda, Slack channel, and so on. Maybe you queue up some favorite work playlists and see where you stand on your goals. At the end of the day, you shut everything down and head home. Once every week, month, quarter, or however your company sees fit, you might see productivity reports.

If you notice in my two examples, the primary activities, running and working, are really only implied. The rest are processes. None of the processes mentioned above offer quantifiable productivity, although the smartwatch certainly tracks productivity. In both cases, the hypothetical people could argue that without their processes, they would be far less productive.

In each case, the processes are :

  • Repeatable – On an individual level, we call the processes “routines” or “regimens,” which are by definition repeatable.
  • Scalable – Planning a longer marathon training run or working from home for the day? Both processes can easily adapt.
  • Specific – Run five miles every day, wake up at the same time, arrive at work on time, and so on. All of these are specific milestones.
  • Measurable – Both processes include quantifiable goals.

Without processes, a company’s accounts payable (AP) department could wreak fiscal havoc. A poorly defined onboarding process could lead to confusion and employee dissatisfaction. Insufficient RFP response processes will result in a poor win rate, diminished morale, SME frustration, and threaten company buy-in.

So, let’s talk about establishing response management processes.

Establish an accurate organizational knowledge base

The best way to get an SME on your side is to do as much of the work as possible before calling them into the process. The best way to alienate an SME is to ask them to constantly repeat themselves. That’s where a well-maintained and accurate organizational knowledge base comes in.

If your company is like most, it’s siloed. Perhaps you have two knowledge bases, an internal one (such as company wikis, products, services, marketing collateral, archives, and so on) and an external one (sales-based content). It’s not even unheard of for a response department to have its own knowledge base built from previous proposals.

For efficiency’s sake, one knowledge base is certainly better than two or more. However, you need to be sure that proprietary information doesn’t end up in a customer proposal or private HR records in a company email.

As with the overall process, the knowledge base should be:

  • Repeatable – If you record answers to commonly-seen questions, SMEs will only have to double-check accuracy.
  • Scalable – Your knowledge base should have the ability to grow with your company.
  • Specific – Are you able to provide access only as needed? Does your system help you find relevant information?
  • Measurable – Who uses it? What goes in it? The better you can measure its worth, the more likely you will have company buy-in.

Eliminate repetition

Repetition isn’t always bad. Knowledge base repeatability helps prevent SMEs from having to repeat themselves, but you also want to eliminate repetition–which can lead to confusion and dated or inaccurate responses–within your knowledge base.

To help avoid repetition, define and document your layout. Use collections, response headers, and how you classify and organize your content to define your knowledge base’s layout. Make sure everyone is on the same page by documenting everything.

When you spend hours staring at a screen, you might lose objectivity in defining and documenting. There’s a term in IT called “rubber ducking.” Essentially the concept is that if you’re stuck on something, explain it to the duck. Expressing the problem out loud helps take you out of your head for a moment.

If you walk through it from an outside perspective, it makes it easier to see. Lay out the process and walk through it. For example, “I get this from sales, and then send it on to someone who does their part.” So, if you’re stuck, rubber duck it.

Additionally, it’s much easier to see when it’s visual. Identify redundancies and where things might fall through the cracks. Don’t be afraid to go analog at first, such as arranging index cards on the floor.

Automate responses

At RFPIO, we believe in reusing and recycling content as a step toward saving the environment and hours of a response team’s time. Odds are, the RFXs sitting in your inbox right now contain multiple repeat, or near repeat, questions.

Leveraging artificial intelligence to find past responses to similar questions will show your team, especially your subject matter experts (SMEs), that their time matters.

Define roles, responsibilities, and the process, by starting with intelligence that is already in your knowledge base. Ask what you can do in your process that isn’t necessarily affected by other people.

Improve SME collaboration

Often, SME relationships feel one-way, at least to them. Put yourself in their shoes when you’re looking at your process. What are their touch points? When do they hear from you—is it only when you need something? If so, they’ll feel used.

Understand what’s on their plate. Get their feedback and use it when you can. Talk about and offer help with tight deadlines. Ask for things like customer success stories that you can use now or in the future. They might know about the roadmap in their department to help tell the company story. They are also invested in the process. Keep them updated.

Be specific

It’s human nature to make assumptions about what an RFX is asking. If, for example, a prospect is looking for a specific product or service that you don’t have, don’t respond with another one. Not only do you risk alienating the potential customer, it will skew your data.

For example, let’s say you sell a cloud computing platform and many of the RFXs you receive ask for an application security product you don’t sell. If instead of responding that you don’t have the product, you respond with your application’s security protocol, the data could be misconstrued within your company to show that there’s a sudden interest in your application’s security protocol when in reality no one asked about it.

Scale response capacity

If your company is like many, the demands on your response team might be light at the beginning of the year, but by the time Q4 rolls around, you barely have time to grab a cup of coffee.

You can free up at least enough time to get a cup of coffee, and maybe even lunch, by standardizing and automating what you can.

Response software that tracks activity can quantify how long things are taking and help you determine when you might need additional resources. It’s also worth noting that RFPIO’s pricing structure automatically scales by charging by the project rather than being locked into a specific number of users.

Measure growth and continuously improve

Help maintain company buy-in by quantifying your system’s value. Feed innovation with concealable and actionable data such as tracking sales and product lifecycles. You should also periodically review the overall process as a company to see where you stand on your maturity roadmap.

  • Were your responses submitted on time?
  • Were your responses accurate?
  • Did you lose anything in a competitive or compelling space?
  • What else can you do to improve your process?

Once you have armed yourselves with data, enact incremental changes as you discover them. However, too many changes at once lend themselves to risks and red flags.

With RFPs, you’re dealing with direct customer and market requests. Share with the company, specifically marketing and product. Go through RFPs and RFIs yearly to see what else you might offer customers and market trends. Have those conversations before the next year’s roadmap is created. Respond to the question at hand and pay attention to the questions when creating a roadmap instead of the answers.

RFPIO can help you drive revenue growth with a smarter response management solution

When the focus is on responding to an RFX, it’s easy to forget that the ultimate goal is to drive revenue growth, not just fill in the blanks. Fuel your revenue-generating engines with:

Repeatability

RFPIO saves time and work at every stage of the response process.

  • Intake – Receive RFXs through your CRM or directly through RFPIO.
  • Content Library – A typical RFX contains very few original questions. RFPIO’s Content Library leverages machine learning to help you automatically fill in up to 80 percent of the document, freeing your key stakeholders to focus on unique content and other revenue-generating opportunities.
  • Export – Export your response to a customized template or the customer’s preferred format

Scalability

Today’s workload is going to look very different from tomorrow’s, next month’s, next quarter’s, or next year’s. RFPIO scales with you and provides actionable insights to help your company intelligently respond to changing demands.

Tracking – Track how long projects are taking to help determine when you need to rev up or cut back on resources.
Pricing – Licensed-based pricing models limit you during busy times and are a waste when things slow down. RFPIO allows for unlimited users on each project and only charges for the number of projects you have going at any given time.

Reporting

Response teams are at the forefront of market trends and advanced analytics helps companies address competitive weaknesses and make informed decisions to shape the future. RFPIO provides annual, quarterly, monthly, and project-level reporting with just a few keystrokes. Built-in reporting metrics include:

  • Project type – How many of your projects are RFPs? How about DDQs?
  • Project stage – How many requests have you received? Where are you on each one?
  • Time to completion – How long is it taking you to complete projects?
  • Content Library usage – How often is your Content Library being used? How is it being used?
  • Auto respond usage – How many total questions? How many did the Content Library identify and how many were automatically responded to?
  • Win/loss analysis – How many and what kinds of bids do you win? What areas need improvement?
  • Near limitless customization options – Create your own reports in your desired layout.

*Next Action*

You’ll respond to more RFXs in less time and improve your win rate with RFPIO. However, RFPIO is more than a response project management tool; it’s a sales enablement platform, a company knowledge repository, a virtual librarian that points any user to relevant content, and a 24/7 on- and off-site statistician and data analyst.

Talk to one of our specialists. Take a free ride to show you how RFPIO is a turbo-charged revenue-generating machine.

What is a Request for Quote (RFQ)?

What is a Request for Quote (RFQ)?

Selling & Enablement

When you’re invited to respond to an RFQ that aligns with your business goals, it can be an enticing prospect. RFQs are typically for large projects, which drive more revenue and often a better bottom line.

While the opportunity might be tempting, one thing stands in the way: how do you create a winning RFQ response?

Before exploring the “how to,” let’s talk about how RFQs are used. To put them into perspective, automotive purchases are probably the closest most consumers get to knowing how business procurement departments make their large purchases.

Like when you set out on your car buying journey, an organization knows what kind of product they need to purchase, but first, they need to do their research. Let’s continue with our car analogy:

  • They send due diligence questionnaires (DDQs) to determine potential vendors’ compliance and long-term viability, much like you research manufacturers and individual dealerships.
  • They send security questionnaires to assess security compliance, like a car’s safety rating.
  • They send requests for proposals (RFPs) to get more detailed information, such as whether the car is in stock, how long it will take to get it, why you should do business with that particular dealership—and yes, the price.
  • At some point, it is time to sit down at the negotiating table and get straight to the bottom line without all that other information to distract us. That’s when a company sends requests for quotes (RFQs)

Naturally, this is an oversimplification, and large business purchases are far more complex. In this blog, we will get into the surprising nuances of those straight-to-the-bottom-line RFQs.

What is an RFQ?

An RFQ, also known as an invitation for bid (IFB), is a document of trade inviting vendors to offer their best prices and terms of payment. It is issued by an entity or company inviting suppliers or vendors to submit their offers to provide a particular product or service.

In many cases, the issuer has chosen their preferred vendor, but they need assurance that the vendor can meet their business and project needs. When completed, the quote will include the vendor’s costs, terms of payment, and specifications or details about the product(s).

But let’s back up a bit, beginning with when the RFQ arrives at the vendor’s doorstep.

An RFQ generally arrives via email or in a company’s CRM. It could be in the form of a Word or Excel document. From there, the vendor’s response or sales department gathers a team that includes a project manager, subject matter experts (SMEs) to address the issuer’s questions, and response writers and editors to draft the perfect proposal.

Typically, the issuing company would customize the RFQ that they sent to get specific details needed to finalize a purchasing decision.

A comprehensive response includes complete project or product details, product quantity, availability, delivery times, and price.

RFQ vs. RFP

While an RFP is broad, and can cover just about any element of the procurement decision-making process, an RFQ is much more specific. Organizations send RFQs when they know the precise deliverables and simply want price quotes.

RFQs are structured, and content is generally technical, financial, and legal. RFPs and RFQs share some similarities. Both are usually sent after the needs are well defined.

The procurement process involves companies and vendors sending out either an RFP or an RFQ to assess and compare products, prices, and services.

After receiving the proposals, the purchasing organizations compare quotes and attempt to obtain the best price (either through negotiations or through an electronic or reverse auction).

Responding to an RFQ is far simpler than an RFP. The document should be thorough enough to indicate that you have a firm understanding of the specifications and quantity of the required product or service. In contrast, RFP responses, with their be-all, end-all list of questions, stir up everything you can possibly imagine about your company.

RFPs could include questions about pricing, functionality, technology, security, company basics, competitive differentiators, case studies, references, implementation, and SLAs.

Benefits of using an RFQ

Comparison

When RFQ formats are consistent, sourcing firms can easily compare by having a solid understanding of the specifications and quantity for their required product or service. The process enables buyers to save money and get the best value.

The ability to compare prices and quotes from a myriad of suppliers makes the selection process simpler by aiding buyers in making the most informed decision because vendors have a better understanding of their needs.

Requests then become shorter and more specific, meaning less time wasted looking for the right supplier. By making it easier to differentiate between suppliers, the buyers will be able to find the best vendor for their needs much more quickly and easily.

Consistency

RFQ responses should use consistent language, standard formatting, and generally standardized templates that allow for easy understanding. This makes both issuing and responding consistent and allows for quicker processing.

Streamlining

The RFQ process streamlines the purchasing process for both the buyer and vendor or supplier.

A well-written, thorough RFQ can help vendors send competitive quotes that help meet the needs of their business and projects.

When you might receive an RFQ

RFQs are not appropriate for all purchases. You may receive an RFQ if:

  • You are a prequalified vendor
  • The customer is looking for an out-of-the-box product or service that needs no customization
  • The issuer won’t need vendor support after delivery
  • Pricing is the key determinant

If, for example, the customer is looking for a bespoke software solution, pricing is only one of many considerations. In that case, you’re more likely to receive a more comprehensive document, such as an RFP.

Features of an RFQ

A request for proposal includes general bidding company information, specifications for a required product or service, terms for payment, a due date for bids, and other necessary details to successfully place a bid.

A request for quote, on the other hand, is used to obtain price and payment information about a vendor’s products and services.

How to respond to an RFQ

Winning RFQs becomes more likely when you understand the parameters, utilize templates to respond, and automate the process.

Submission instructions

Almost every RFQ includes the following:

  • The submittal deadline for submitting a bid
  • How the response or proposal should be formatted
    • Vendors submit their entire RFQ response in a form to expedite the bid-reviewing process.
  • Contact information

Responses should demonstrate that you understand the buyer’s strategic goals and can build a relationship for future projects.

How to determine whether you should respond

Understandably, buyers feel that they run the show when they’re ready to invest in a product or service. But that doesn’t mean that you have to respond to every RFQ in your inbox. If you can’t meet their needs, you may choose not to respond at all, and that’s okay.

Here are the essential facets to consider when responding to an RFQ:

  • Specifically address everything in the RFQ in precise detail. Leave nothing unresolved.
    • Is the RFQ the right fit for your organization and solution?
    • Do you have a comprehensive solution that addresses each 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 organization issued the RFQ?
  • Research the buyer’s business.
  • Give yourself plenty of time to respond but DO NOT miss the deadline, which is an absolute must in proving you can meet the requirements not just of the RFQ but of the proposed project.

The goal of any RFQ response is to win the bid. Here are some tips:

  • Deliver the response on time.
  • Be flexible if the requirements change.
  • Mention experience or history of meeting similar buyers’ needs.
  • Provide added value to the buyer.

Even if you do not win the bid, an RFQ response could lead to future opportunities.

Include an executive summary

Once you’ve determined that you can meet the customer’s needs, provide an executive summary of your company which should demonstrate your understanding of the parameters.

Despite being the very first thing on a quote template, the introduction is usually populated last. Other things to include in this executive summary could include broader business goals, essentially anything the issuers need to understand the bid.

RFPIO saves you from having to manually recreate the introduction for each RFQ—or RFx—by using machine learning to auto-populate, with your approval, of course, each element of your executive summary.

Templatize your pricing

If you use a pricing template, the issuer can compare quotes easily. A pricing template provides uniformity, so the issuer will know exactly where to find pricing and product or service details.

An RFQ template should provide an offered price column. Other fields should include specifications and the quantity of products or services.

While templates will vary from product to product and RFQ to RFQ, the goal is to have all the information for a specific product in the same format so the purchaser can compare the bids quickly, easily, and accurately.

RFPIO includes both built-in customizable branded templates and provides the option to create your own.

Specifications

RFQ responses need to be specific. If one is not detailed enough, it could lead to misunderstandings, potentially jeopardize the deal, and even land you in legal hot water for misrepresentation. Templates help ensure you don’t miss anything.

Contract and fees

Vendors should know that most organizations require bid fees with each response. The assumption is that having skin in the game on the part of vendors helps ensure that the process is open and transparent. The money is typically held in escrow during the RFQ process.

If the vendor earns the contract, the payment schedule will reflect the fee. The remaining money in escrow is returned to the vendors that did not win the contract.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve provided your best price and terms, the customer is ready to make their decision. With any luck, they’ll soon drive away with a shiny new (metaphorical) car and you’ve made a profitable sale!

RFPIO is an end-to-end response management platform that helps you sell more cars (yes, RFQs are sometimes used for literal cars, especially fleet vehicles), widgets, services, etc.

We provide RFQ software with customized templates for automated response tools to help you win more business. To learn more about how RFPIO can streamline your process and help ensure quality responses, let’s chat!

How to respond to a DDQ

How to respond to a DDQ

Selling & Enablement

Entering into a business relationship, whether it includes making a large purchase or even a merger or acquisition, is complicated. With today’s security challenges, it is riskier than ever.

When a company receives a DDQ, the document shouldn’t be taken lightly. Lack of due diligence on the part of the responder can risk future deals, future partnerships, and even the company’s reputation.

What is a DDQ?

DDQ stands for due diligence questionnaire. While that sounds somewhat vague, a DDQ is all about mitigating risk by determining whether the company receiving the DDQ complies with the issuer’s standards and regulations.

A DDQ could be a precursor to an RFP, a merger or acquisition, or an audit from an existing customer. It could even be a way of creating a list of “safe” companies for future dealings.

Naturally, DDQs are as varied as the companies, and especially the industries, that issue them. Tech companies, for example, emphasize security and privacy compliance. Financial institutions want assurance that vendors won’t put them in hot water with the Securities and Exchange Commission, among other regulatory agencies. And those in the healthcare industry need to verify HIPAA compliance.

Naturally, it’s not that simple. There’s a lot of overlap. Every industry, for example, is concerned with security and privacy. Nearly every DDQ, regardless of sector, probes companies about their history, investments, organizational structure, etc.

In short, the job of a DDQ response team is to paint a picture of a company that is stable and compliant.

A DDQ is not a sales document. Most DDQs will not ask about product functionality, market share, hiring practices, etc., although they might ask about major new product releases, as they could affect financial forecasts.

Who issues DDQs?

While any organization could issue a DDQ, they’re primarily issued by technology companies, financial services companies, and government agencies.

DDQs can have dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of questions, but even the simplest DDQs require input from multiple stakeholders. If you’re in charge of responding to DDQs, you may need input from the following roles:

  • Financial – You could receive questions regarding your company’s financial health. These may include questions about anything from investors, to financial statements, to liens, to the amount of taxes your company pays, etc. If you work for a privately held company, you might not choose to answer those questions, but the issuer will ask.
  • Legal – Most legal questions fall under the purview of RFPs. However, you may see DDQ questions related to legal compliance.
  • Mergers and Acquisitions – Companies must issue DDQs before entering into mergers or acquisitions.
    Analysts – While raw data might be enough to answer some questions, many will need a deeper understanding and even forecasting.
  • Compliance – Gauging compliance is the core function of a DDQ.
  • IT – IT departments are at the front line of enacting and maintaining security protocols.
  • Procurement – In many companies, procurement departments are DDQs’ project managers. It’s rare, however, to see questions related explicitly to procurement.

Why do companies issue due diligence questionnaires?

Issuing a DDQ simplifies the collection and delivery of vital information needed before engaging in or continuing a business relationship.

A DDQ enables the issuer to learn about current or prospective partnerships’:

  • Financial status – It’s easy to understand why a company might want to learn about a potential vendor’s financial position. A financial misstep from a vendor could have reverberations down the line. However, many, if not most, privately held companies will not open their books to people outside their organization. Publicly traded companies are another story; their financial statuses must be public.
  • Business holdings – Business holdings are part of financial due diligence and could reveal debts and potential tax liabilities.
  • Compliance standards – Compliance requirements are numerous and deep. If a vendor is out of compliance with an issuer’s obligations, the issuer could find themselves out of compliance,

A DDQ helps a company measure risk in a variety of types of business transactions. Reasons for issuing DDQs include:

  • Completing a merger – A merger is a marriage, so to speak, between two companies. It’s a legally binding agreement that essentially states, “what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine.” It would be irresponsible to enter into a merger without knowing what the “yours” that will be “mine” is.
  • Assessing an acquisition – An acquisition is much like a merger in that transparency is critical, and a DDQ will reflect that.
  • Considering an investment – Large investors want to vet their potential investment before writing a check.
    Third-party vendor risk management – Even if a company is 100% compliant, their vendors could put your customers at risk. Risk assessments have to dig below the surface.

Responding to a DDQ

An effective DDQ response provides enough information to empower buyers, prospective investors, or business partners to confidently move forward.

A DDQ response process has a lot in common with an RFP response process, but there are some differences. Here are the key steps for responding to a DDQ:

1. Define your response strategy

Just as responding to an RFP requires a strategy, so should a DDQ response. First, you must determine:

  • Whether the SLA (service level agreement) is defined and available.
  • Who to put in charge of intake.
  • When you will be ready to start answering questions.
  • Who will answer the DDQ.
  • How long the DDQ will be in question/answer mode.
  • When the DDQ will be ready for review.

2. Assign tasks and due dates

A typical DDQ will have several SMEs and stakeholders. Make sure everyone knows their precise roles and responsibilities and expected timelines.

3. Answer commonly seen questions

Most questions on a DDQ, or for that matter, an RFx, are identical or nearly identical to questions you’ve answered before. A well-developed Content Library should automatically provide those repeatable answers, enabling you to accept them as is or edit them as needed.

4. Consult with collaborators

Once you’ve answered all the common questions, it’s time to turn to the experts. Consult with your response team and SMEs (subject matter experts) to complete the DDQ.

5. Review

Go through the DDQ with a fine-toothed comb to ensure there are no errors or missed (answerable) answers.

6. Submit the Questionnaire to the issuer

On time, right?

Due Diligence response best practices

Even though companies send DDQs with different goals in mind, and they are as varied as any other type of document your proposal team may see, there are a few best practices you should follow for all your submissions.

Understand your position in the sales funnel

Your latest DDQ may or may not be part of the sales process. If it leads to a potential sale, you’ll typically see a DDQ high up in the funnel, perhaps as a way of selecting compliant vendors before issuing an RFP.

Occasionally you might see a DDQ after responding to an RFP and as the prospect is nearly ready to select a vendor.

Sometimes, though, the DDQ is so far removed from the sales process that it’s nothing more than information gathering, either on current vendors or maybe-one day-in-the-future vendors.

No matter where the DDQ is in the sales funnel, if it’s in the sales funnel at all, it’s not a good idea to set the document aside. Maybe it will lead to future deals, or perhaps it will expose some of your own vulnerabilities.

Aim for a consistent and systematic approach

Some DDQs have thousands of questions, which might feel intimidating, and your instinct might be to answer each question as succinctly as possible. While that approach might save you time, proving compliance requires a detailed and consistent response.

Still, you can take steps to ensure that you don’t skip questions and to help you manage the time required to provide complete answers. They include:

  • Prepare a customized checklist – Create a customized checklist of the types of information you might need, preferably categorized by industry. You could require an organizational chart, financial information, legal documents, and of course, governance, risk, and compliance documents. Here’s one you can download right now.
  • Create due diligence questionnaire templates – Consistency saves time. If you upload your DDQs into a customized template, each stakeholder will know precisely where to locate what they need.
  • Leverage RFP response management software – RFP response management software also works for DDQs. Intelligent response management software will help you create and store both checklists and templates.

Centralize response information

Most of the questions on a DDQ are very similar to questions you’ve answered in previous questionnaires. Storing your responses and documents in a single source of truth for information can save hours, days, and sometimes even weeks on your response process. Beyond saving time, a Content Library:

  • Ensures accuracy – A company is legally bound to their answers, so accuracy is critical. The Content Library will hold on to the company-approved answers, enabling users to produce accurate responses.
  • Supports transparency – Transparency is critical for both trust and employee morale. When all the necessary information is right there for authorized users to see and use, it creates trust among the rest of the response team and potential customers.
  • Improves knowledge access – Anyone with the proper credentials can access the knowledge they need.

Automate the response process

You may not be using automation in your response process, but your competitors and many—if not most—of your customers and clients are. There are several reasons leveraging automation improves the DDQ response process, including:

  • Tracking real-time vendor completion progress – Automated response software has (or should have) project management built right in. It tracks each stakeholder’s progress.
  • Streamlining response time – Automation can answer up to 80% of your DDQ with just a few clicks.
  • Scaling ability to respond to DDQs – Automation helps determine the size and scope of the ideal response team as well as timeline estimates.
  • Efficiently managing tasks and deadlines – Define and manage tasks and expectations with automation.
  • Improving collaboration – Automated responses value and save SMEs’ time, creating more willingness to collaborate.

Due diligence checklist

While all transactions differ, a DDQ checklist facilitates a more thorough response through better organization and time management.

Common materials collected during a DDQ response include general corporate information, financial information, compliance certifications, licenses, legal documents, etc.

Organization and ownership

A DDQ might be a potential vendor’s first encounter with your organization, which means they need a proper introduction. The DDQ could ask for:

  • An organizational chart
  • Partnership/profit sharing agreements
  • Records of shareholder meetings
  • Senior leadership information (e.g., age, tenure, promotions, etc.)

Human resources

DDQs don’t generally dive too deeply into human resources issues, but you can learn much about a company’s long-term viability and potential problems from the HR department. DDQs might ask HR about:

  • Projected headcount (by function and location)
  • Benefit plans
  • Key employment agreements
  • Personnel turnover data
  • Incentive stock plan overviews
  • Employee litigation

Financial

DDQs are common in financial service organizations. Also, because DDQs might precede a lengthy business relationship, the issuer will want to know your organization is financially stable. It is important to note, though, that many privately-held companies will not provide financial documents. Requested financial records might include:

  • Annual and quarterly financial information
  • Accounts receivable
  • Capital structure
  • Summary of all debt instruments
  • Financial projections
  • Revenue (by product type, customers, and channel)
  • Major growth drivers and prospects
  • Summary of current tax positions
  • Schedule of financing history (equity, warrants, and debt)

Fund information

DDQs are necessary for mergers, acquisitions, or business partnerships. It probably goes without saying that fund information is crucial for financial or investment partner due diligence. The document might request information about:

  • Fund strategy
  • Product and fund descriptions
  • Market share
  • Timing of new products
  • Cost structure
  • Profitability

Governance, risk, and compliance

Assessing governance, risk, and compliance is the primary purpose for issuing a DDQ. Be prepared to offer documentation for:

  • Policies
  • Code of ethics
  • Fund exposure
  • Service provider risk
  • SEC communications

Legal

Legal documentation helps issuers determine whether a company is in good legal standing. You may be asked to provide information on:

  • Pending and past lawsuits
  • Environmental and employee liabilities and safety
  • Intellectual Property
  • Insurance coverage details
  • Summary of material contacts
  • History of regulatory agency issues

Streamline your DDQ response process with RFPIO

Issuing and responding to DDQs can be repetitive and time-consuming, and not just for dedicated response teams. RFPIO’s automated response software saves time, improves quality and accuracy, and helps foster good working relationships.

Due diligence software offers several features to help optimize the DDQ response process, including:

Knowledge library

RFPIO’s AI-powered Content Library is a centralized knowledge source—a single source of truth—that enables streamlined responses by intelligently answering most of a DDQ’s questions and providing the corresponding documents without asking SMEs to reinvent the wheel each and every time a similar question arises.

Answer intelligence

Using machine learning, RFPIO response management software understands the questions and knows how to respond to routine (and some not routine) requests based on previous answers. All you have to do is edit or accept the suggested responses.

Collaborative integrations

RFPIO offers best-in-class integrations with all the productivity, sales enablement, communication, and CRM tools you already use.

*Put your best answers forward with RFPIO*

Learn how RFPIO can help your company respond to DDQs with accuracy, efficiency, and expedience. Schedule a free demo – RFPIO, DDQ management software.

Understanding due diligence questionnaires

Understanding due diligence questionnaires

Selling & Enablement

The internet allows consumers to easily arm themselves with information that may influence their buying decisions. Before spending money at a restaurant or hair salon, for example, they might consult Yelp or Google Business reviews.

When a business enters into an agreement with another company, whether it’s a large purchase or even a merger or acquisition, making informed decisions is a little—okay, a lot—more complicated than just checking Yelp reviews. Before entering into a business relationship, buyers must do their due diligence, or there could be severe repercussions.

What does doing “due diligence” entail when entering into business agreements? In this blog, we’ll talk about when you can expect a DDQ (due diligence questionnaire), what to expect from it, and how to make filling one out a whole lot easier.

What is a due diligence questionnaire (DDQ)?

A DDQ is a formal document and request from a company looking to have a set level of understanding of a specific topic from a potential vendor. A DDQ enables the issuer to vet prospective partnerships.

It is worth noting, however, that DDQs vary between industries and types of products or transactions. Also, unlike an RFP, a DDQ is not a sales document and may not even be a precursor to a sales document.

Although, similarly to how many (if not most) companies run background checks on new hires, a DDQ might be that “background check” before signing an official deal. DDQs are most commonly sent from highly-regulated companies, such as those in the financial services industry.

Some DDQs are product-focused, asking, for example, what the product capabilities are. However, a DDQ is not a sales document, so it generally won’t get into specific product features, pricing, or logistics.

DDQs include:

  • Financial status – Businesses make large purchases to help them fulfill their customer obligations. Suppose they choose to do business with a company that isn’t on good financial footing and could go bankrupt. In that case, the purchasing organization risks financial loss, potential legal problems, damage to credit, and a hit to its reputation. This isn’t to say they’ll always receive the answers they’re looking for; we’ll get to that in a moment.
  • Business holdings – Asking an organization to disclose its business holdings is part of the financial vetting process. It could reveal potential red flags that expose the vendor—and potentially, by extension, the purchaser—to legal and tax vulnerabilities.
  • Compliance standards – Does the vendor meet the purchaser’s industry standards and applicable government regulations? These questions might arrive via a separate security questionnaire.

Due diligence core areas

Many people confuse DDQs with RFPs and security questionnaires, but they are quite different. As mentioned earlier, an RFP is a sales document. A security questionnaire has more in common with a DDQ than an RFP but security questionnaires are generally straightforward yes/no questions.

A DDQ might contain some narrative questions, similarly to an RFP. But a DDQ is strictly about vetting a company, not making a sale. The core areas include:

  • General organizational information (business credentials) – Typically, DDQs only ask about surface business credentials, such as company name, company legal name, year founded, primary products, number of customers, etc.
  • Financial review – Financial due diligence is one of the primary purposes for DDQs, especially in financial services. Customers may want to see the last three years of financial statements. Privately-held companies are not legally required to release financial information—and as a matter of course, they won’t. As an alternative, the vendor might suggest a phone call to discuss concerns.
  • Human resources – HR questions are generally more characteristic of an RFP than a DDQ. There might be some surface-level questions, such as “how many employees,” etc., but granular questions about HR are left to the RFP.
  • Funding – A DDQ issued to a startup company might ask about funding. A DDQ may also ask about a fund manager’s strategy.
  • Governance, risk, and compliance – This is a core piece of DDQs.
  • Legal – Legal questions are usually categories under compliance. Legal agreements are generally more RFP-focused.

What does a DDQ include?

While DDQs might have some narrative questions, most are yes/no. DDQ questions might cover several categories.

They might include:

  • Company questions – Company questions might include some narrative questions, such as, “tell us about (company history, organizational structure, subsidiaries, majority stakeholders, investments, etc.).”
  • Financial information – Financial information includes income, balance sheets, accounts payable and receivable, tax returns, credit reports, etc. Many privately held companies will not answer these questions.
  • Employee information – Employee information is generally part of an RFP. However, a DDQ might ask high-level questions such as the number of employees, types of non-compete and non-disclosure agreements, etc.
  • Legal overview – A DDQ is not a legal contract, but that doesn’t mean incorrect answers won’t get you in legal hot water in the future. You may see questions about litigations, permits, licensing, etc.
  • Financial and debt statements – It’s common for a DDQ to ask for financial and debt statements. However, while that information is public for publicly traded companies, privately held companies may not, and often do not, provide those answers.
  • Consumer/customer information – Customer questions are generally not part of a DDQ. However, it might include questions about security surrounding customer records or any litigations.
  • Industry and market insights – Industry and market insights are not common DDQ subjects.
  • Intellectual property – Intellectual property questions are common on DDQs. You could be asked how many patents your company holds, whether your products are intellectual property or crowdsourced, etc.
  • Operational information – Like HR questions, operational questions are typically high-level, such as about network security. However, in manufacturing, operational questions tend to be far more complex and in-depth.
  • Regulatory compliance – Regulatory compliance is generally the most critical part of a DDQ, especially in the tech, financial, and healthcare industries. You can expect several questions about whether you comply with an issuer’s regulatory requirements.
  • Data security and privacy – In most cases, data security and privacy fall under regulatory compliance. Some issuers might want to know whether you go above and beyond to meet stringent compliance requirements.
  • Contractual obligations – Contractual obligation questions are typically in an RFP instead of a DDQ.
    Reputation and publicity reports – Reputation and publicity report questions are not generally part of a DDQ. However, you will find them on RFPs and RFIs (requests for information).
  • Information technology systems – It’s common for a DDQ to ask about existing software and hardware.
  • Tax history – Tax history typically falls under financial questions. Most privately held companies won’t answer.

Why do organizations issue DDQs?

While DDQs are not a direct part of the sales cycle, they can help facilitate it. A company may issue a security questionnaire before an RFP or even compile a list of compliant vendors for future use.

It’s also prevalent for companies to issue DDQs to existing vendors to address significant organizational changes and maintain standards in their vendor pool.

  • Mitigate risks – Risk mitigation is the fundamental reason to issue a DDQ. Risk mitigation is a common concern in investment management. DDQs are often issued for existing relationships to ensure up-to-date compliance.
  • Guarantee compliance – This falls under risk mitigation.
    Streamline disclosure process – A comprehensive DDQ is designed to streamline information collection and disclosure.
  • Enable efficient gathering of large amounts of data – DDQs can collect large amounts of data, within limits. Large response teams can provide more data than smaller teams, although advanced response software helps level the playing field.
  • Accelerate transactions – Generally, DDQs do not accelerate transactions. However, they can make choosing vendors in the short or long-term future much simpler.

Understanding DDQ responses

An effective DDQ response provides enough information to empower transactions to proceed with assurance. Quality responses can help:

  • Demonstrate strengths with compliance – Demonstrating compliance can set you apart from some of your competitors, but again, DDQs are not sales documents. It’s essential to follow the issuer’s guidelines and never fudge or exaggerate your compliance.
  • Confirm historical performance – A DDQ may ask about past performance trends, especially in investment and financial firms. Other industries might be asked about overall growth, etc., although that’s usually not a focus.
  • Investment and asset management – A DDQ might also ask about investments and asset management. However, privately held companies might not answer the questions.
  • Disclose risks – From the buyer’s perspective, a DDQ is about disclosing any risks before entering into or maintaining a business relationship. Vendors might be tempted to gloss over risks, but it’s critical to be honest about your limitations and hopefully create a plan to address them.
  • Grow revenue – DDQs are not specifically revenue-generating documents, but in many cases, they are a necessary piece of housekeeping, so to speak, before entering a sales cycle.

Types of due diligence questionnaires

DDQs are about as varied as the industries they come from and their ultimate purposes. Some industry-specific or situational questions you might find are:

Mergers and acquisitions due diligence

Not surprisingly, DDQs issued before a merger or acquisition are highly detailed. Nothing is off the table, although a DDQ will commonly ask about financial history and obligations, security compliance, legal matters, contract obligations, etc.

It is worth noting that since mergers and acquisitions are typically not public knowledge within a company, the vendor should limit project access to executives and others involved in the query.

Vendor due diligence

Not all customer/vendor relationships begin with a DDQ; it depends on the industry. For example, purchases in the investment and management realm must include DDQs. Vendor management is about standardization to take any surprises out of future business arrangements. Overall, the goal is to reduce risk and inform decision-making.

Business relationship due diligence

DDQs can be a critical part of ongoing business relationships. Have regulatory requirements changed? Have you kept up? Has your business made any structural changes?

Investment due diligence

A DDQ is extremely important in vetting companies before investing. It is worth noting, once again, that the types of questions asked on an investment DDQ ask for sensitive information, so it’s unlikely that they’ll be answered by response teams.

Due diligence questionnaires: Best practices

Unlike the RFP process, which focuses on features, pricing, onboarding processes, etc., the DDQ process elicits details and insights that may be overlooked.

Define your strategy

Your DDQ strategy should begin long before you receive one. Response managers should determine:

  • Whether their SLAs are defined and available.
  • Who is going to intake the DDQ?
  • How long will it take before you start answering questions?
  • Who will answer the questions?
  • How long will the DDQ be in question/answer mode?
  • When will the DDQ be ready for review?

Address vulnerabilities

It’s easy to assume that a DDQ mitigates risks for the issuer with little benefit to the company responding. However, it’s not that simple. An accurate and thorough DDQ response strategy can identify vulnerabilities within your organization.

As for the issuer, failure to issue a comprehensive DDQ can result in:

  • Security breaches – If a company fails to properly vet vendors for compliant security protocol, they risk breaches that are out of their control, and the vendor risks fines and litigation when they fail to deliver or try to gloss over risks.
  • Failed revenue goals – If a purchase is tied to your company’s revenue and you’ve failed to do your due diligence, it could have revenue ramifications for several quarters.
  • Falling out of compliance – Even if all of your company’s systems are compliant, a non-compliant vendor could knock you out of compliance.
  • Breached contracts – If you choose a vendor who fails to adhere to their agreement, your customers will blame your company, not the vendor.
  • Fraud – Fraud in B2B (business to business) sales is rare, in no small part because the vetting process is far more rigorous than with most consumer purchases.
  • Mismanagement – DDQs help protect against the mismanagement of funds or data.

Clearly articulate core DDQ objectives

Why did you receive the DDQ? Is it a precursor to a sales process, or will it be an ongoing quarterly or yearly review or audit?

Employ a consistent and systematic approach

An effective DDQ response process requires thoroughness, accuracy, and consistency. Advanced response management software, such as RFPIO, is the tool that creates time-saving repeatable processes.

  • Prepare customized templates – Create a branded answer template that easily imports information from whatever format a DDQ appears in.
  • Identify and quickly access SMEs – Are the questions in their area of expertise, and do they have the time?
  • Leverage RFP response management software – RFP response management software helps ensure that your answers are accurate and on-brand while saving time and resources.

Work from due diligence checklists

Checklists are built into nearly every project management software. Checklists keep you on time and on track.

Super-organized issuers might even build checklists into their DDQs.

A checklist:

  • Enables easier comparisons – Think of a DDQ as an opportunity to check your company’s compliance as it compares to yours and your issuer’s standards.
  • Effectively collects information – A checklist helps ensure that you aren’t missing anything and aren’t gathering the wrong information.
  • Prevents missed deadlines – A checklist will help ensure that your response is complete and on time.

Centralize organizational knowledge

DDQs aren’t known for originality; however, two issuers rarely ask similar questions in identical ways. Can you make the answers repeatable? Can you store answers in a single source of truth to accelerate future DDQ responses? Whether a DDQ has 20 or 2,000 questions, having content in place is by far the biggest time saver.

A single source of truth:

  • Ensures accuracy – All information stored in a company’s knowledge library should be verified accurate through regularly scheduled audits.
  • Supports transparency – With pre-approved answers, a comprehensive AI-powered knowledge library does much of the work for you.
  • Improves knowledge access – In a perfect world, every DDQ stakeholder would have access to their single source of truth. RFPIO’s unique project-based, rather than user-based, pricing structure gives access to any authorized person without having to purchase additional licenses.

Leverage automation

Because DDQs arrive via a myriad of formats, it’s crucial to have software in place that helps you standardize them. Intelligent automation goes several steps further by doing up to 80% of your work.

Benefits of DDQ response automation include:

  • Tracking the completion process in real-time
  • Streamlining the response time
  • Scaling the ability to respond to DDQs
  • Efficiently managed tasks and deadlines
  • Improved collaboration

Due diligence example questions

Not surprisingly, a DDQ’s questions are industry-specific. Below are some common industry-specific examples:

Organizational due diligence questions

Organizational due diligence questions can be a part of any DDQ, but in-depth organizational due diligence questions are more common in mergers and acquisitions than in vendor DDQs.

Questions might include:

  • What is the organizational structure of your company?
  • Can you provide professional bios for senior leadership?
  • Can you offer diagrams and charts of your corporate structure?

Financial due diligence questions

DDQs are most common in the financial services industry. Expect DDQs to ask:

  • What are your operating costs?
  • Can you provide income statements and balance sheets?
  • Can you provide accounts receivable information?
  • Can you give a breakdown of sales and gross profits (by Product Type, Channel, and Geography)?

HR due diligence questions

HR due diligence questions are uncommon but not completely unheard of. You may have to answer questions such as:

  • What do current employee contracts look like?
  • What are historical and projected head counts, both by function and location?
  • What are your benefit plans?
  • Can you provide incentive stock plan overviews?

Investment fund information

Investment and hedge funds, of course, are an arm of the financial services industry, so you will generally see DDQs. Questions might include:

  • What are your fund strategies and goals?
  • What are your historical and projected growth rates?
  • What is your market share?

Governance, risk, and compliance

A DDQ’s most basic function is to determine and mitigate risk. Governance, risk, and compliance questions include:

  • What are your organizational policies?
  • Can you provide an organizational code of ethics?
  • Can you provide a breakdown of service provider risk?
  • Can you provide your SEC communications plan?

Legal due diligence questions

Legal questions generally fall under RFPs rather than DDQs, however there are some cases where an issuer might include legal questions, including:

  • Have you been involved in any litigation?
  • Are you currently involved in any litigation?
  • What trademarks and patents do you currently have?
  • Can you provide insurance coverage details?
  • Can you provide your history of regulatory agency issues?
  • What are your compliance programs and policies?

Simplify due diligence with RFPIO

Repetitive, manual due diligence efforts are inefficient and cumbersome. RFPIO is a response platform and a project management platform. Simplify your DDQ response processes with:

Standardize importing – Whether your DDQ arrives as a spreadsheet or a Word document, import it into RFPIO for standardized, highly-searchable, formatting and functionality.
Project management – RFPIO will let you set project goals and timelines, helping ensure your answers will arrive on time.
The ability to choose your SMEs – Your SMEs are very busy and have varying degrees of expertise. RFPIO will show you the SMEs who’ve answered similar questions in the past, and show their availability.
Repeatable answers – DDQs can have thousands of questions. RFPIO’s Content Library stores approved answers to previous questions, letting you auto populate and edit as you see fit.
Standardize exporting – RFPIO lets you customize templates to match your brand and impress the issuer.
Responding to DDQs

RFPIO is the number one response management platform, and not just for RFPs. Leverage RFPIO throughout your entire DDQ response process to provide professional, accurate, and on-time responses. RFPIO’s AI-powered response platform provides:

  • A single knowledge library (RFPIO’s Content Library) – Add answers to any DDQ from anywhere within the company
  • RFPIO® LookUp– Provides access to the Content Library to any authorized person with a browser.
  • Recommendation Engine – Automatically suggests the best responses
  • Project management functions – Assign, manage, and track workflow tasks and deadlines.
  • Scalability to respond to DDQs – While most SaaS (software as a service) products have a per license pricing model, RFPIO allows for unlimited users with project-based pricing. Your capabilities will grow as you need and scale back when your response team can take a little breather.

RFPIO also enables collaboration with seamless integrations with all of the most popular communication applications. Keep in touch with teammates from anywhere in the world using Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, or Jira to:

  • Ensure accuracy – It would be tough to answer a DDQ without help from some SMEs. Real-time communication and fact checking helps you submit accurate answers.
  • Efficiently manage tasks and deadlines – Stay in touch with each stakeholder to ensure each task is completed on time.
  • Streamline response time – Better communication enables faster response times.

Explore a better DDQ solution

RFPIO isn’t just for RFPs. Our comprehensive response management platform makes responding to DDQs fast, secure, scalable, accurate, and on time. If you would like to learn how RFPIO can help you demonstrate compliance, schedule a free demo.

DDQ vs. security questionnaire

DDQ vs. security questionnaire

Selling & Enablement

From content to timing, confusion often surrounds the differences between a due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) and a security questionnaire. Read on to learn the nuances of each document to improve your responses and win that next deal.

What is a DDQ?

A DDQ stands for due diligence questionnaire. Organizations send them to mitigate risk before entering into an agreement with another company. It is a formal document designed to establish whether a vendor complies with industry and/or customer standards or needs, including how the vendor manages its own network and cybersecurity protocols.

Unlike an RFP, a DDQ is not as much about competitive evaluations. A DDQ is all about compliance and business practices.

What is a security questionnaire?

Much like it sounds, a security questionnaire is sent to potential vendors to determine whether their security protocol meets the issuer’s standards and legal requirements. Security questionnaires are technical and usually highly complex, however most questions are “yes” or “no” rather than narrative.

Note that neither DDQs nor security questionnaires are sales documents.

DDQs vs. Security Questionnaires

Now that you know the definition of a DDQ, let’s get into how security questionnaires are unique, along with a few similarities they share with DDQs.

Common industry

Any organization can issue a DDQ, but we see them most in the financial services industry. Security questionnaires are primarily used by organizations operating in technology—either hardware or software.

Market evaluation

Much like a DDQ, a security questionnaire will not be used as a method of evaluation between vendors. Although, if an organization throws an RFP (request for proposal) into the mix, then both questionnaires play a role in market comparison.

Because a security questionnaire is not a competitive evaluation, the issuer won’t spend time performing a security review with more than five potential vendors. It’s completely different from responding to an RFP, which may be sent out to tons of vendors to cast a wide net.

Issuing departments

Usually, a security questionnaire comes from a security department (infosec, IT security, cloud security, etc.). While a DDQ will not necessarily come from that department—marketing, client services, or compliance teams frequently send these documents to responders.

Sales timing

Security questionnaires and DDQs typically show up early in the sales cycle. They may come in when an organization is trying to set you up as the vendor of choice or before it’s time to renew. Before you can become their new vendor, they need to make sure you’re compliant. If you’re an existing vendor, they might need to ensure you’re still compliant.

Even when you become their vendor partner, you might see a due diligence questionnaire again and again. Especially in the financial services industry, DDQs are sent to vendors annually—even quarterly—so make sure you’re up to speed on industry regulations.

Document types

A security questionnaire is predominantly an Excel spreadsheet. A DDQ could be a spreadsheet, but about 70% of the time, this questionnaire lives in a Word document.

Question types

Security questionnaires tend to be a standard set of questions, where you answer some variation of a yes/no answer in a drop down. You might need to add some commentary to back up your answer. While there will be some black or white questions in a DDQ, there is also room for interpretation and creating a narrative.

Succeeding with Security Questionnaires and DDQs

To knock content out of the park with security questionnaires and DDQs, naturally, the best technique is accuracy. With that top of mind, here are other tips to help you succeed as a responder.

Security Questionnaires

You have a lot less room to knock this content out of the park. Your data is encrypted or it’s not. You either have the firewall or you don’t. It’s not about how you implement the firewall, it’s simply: Do you have the firewall set up?

Stick to the facts

Obviously, one thing you don’t want to do is lie. Let’s say you are asked if you check your disaster recovery plans every 60 days. If your process is checking disaster recovery plans once a year, don’t say “yes.” They will find out 60 days later when you don’t meet their requirements.

Time to completion

Time to completion is a really good thing to shoot for with security questionnaire responses. You’re usually still in an evaluation process where you might be the vendor of choice or you’re one of two choices.

DDQs

Similar to an RFP response, there is more room for creativity with your DDQ content. However, don’t respond to a DDQ exactly as you would to an RFP. Before you respond, consult with the correct SMEs (subject matter experts).

Early stage advice

If you receive a DDQ in the early stages of the sales cycle, this document might be their vendor filtering method. DDQs are not the time for a sales pitch. Instead, consider showing your strengths with compelling and (most importantly) accurate narratives showing compliance.

Late stage advice

During the late stage of the cycle, your DDQ might be a recurring document you respond to with an existing client, or it could be in addition to a DDQ you’ve already answered. Get straight to the point and ensure accuracy to show you are still in compliance.

Next steps

If due diligence questionnaires are a regular part of your sales process, response software for DDQs, such as RFPIO, makes answering them a whole lot easier. Your RFPIO Content Library can answer many of a DDQ’s questions with a few clicks.

RFPIO can help you increase DDQ and security questionnaire accuracy and efficiency.  Demo RFPIO today to support your sales process.

Understanding the RFP response process

Understanding the RFP response process

Selling & Enablement

If your company is like most, you responded to a lot more RFPs last year than you did the year before. You’ll likely respond to even more in the upcoming months and years.

Leadership is beginning to understand the importance of dedicated response professionals. Still, they’re a bit more reluctant to invest in the processes needed for efficiency, faster response times, better morale, and higher win rates.

To be fair, not all RFP response processes call for automation or even computers, but unless you’re a one-person show–and even if you are—creating quality, on time responses requires a repeatable process. Here is what that looks like for us and perhaps for you.

The basics of the RFP response process

When a company or organization wants to make a major purchase or launch a project, they usually issue a detailed document–a request for proposal (RFP)—describing their needs to several potential vendors. A typical RFP will outline the following:

  • Their budget for the project or product
  • The project’s goals
  • Common deal-breakers, such as:
    • Unsatisfactory audit findings
    • Insufficient security protocols
    • Poorly-defined procedures and policies
    • Improperly vetted subcontractors
    • Customer support concerns
    • Inability to meet the buyer’s budget or timeline
    • Not enough customer references
    • No out-of-the-box functionality
  • The most important factors
  • The RFP’s due date

The prospect may also include separate documents such as a security questionnaire, which asks about your and third-party vendors’ security protocols, or due diligence questionnaire, which asks about your company rather than your product.

The best way to produce a winning bid is to have a process in place. Do you have project management software? Who is your project manager? Do you have a list of subject matter experts (SMEs) and their schedules? What about other stakeholders, such as writers and editors?

RFPs are more alike than they are different. Around 80 percent of an RFP’s questions are relatively standard. For example, it’s common for an RFP to ask about company history, hiring practices, and the onboarding process. Why not have those answers ready to go or at least prepared for a quick proofread?

Creating a repeatable process establishes:

  • Whether the RFP is worth pursuing
  • Team participants
  • Timelines
  • Role definitions
  • SME engagement
  • Final evaluation

Why are RFPs issued?

Organizations issue RFPs when their needs are complex and want to efficiently access multiple vendors. Governmental organizations, many nonprofits, and large companies send RFPs for every purchase exceeding a certain threshold.

Steps in the RFP response process

Establishing an effective and efficient process is easier than you might think. RFPIO’s response managers have identified eight steps:

Step 1 – Go/no-go

As the number of RFPs you receive increases, so does the number of questions on each one. Instead of attempting to respond to each one, choose those that best align with your business and are winnable.

Step 2 – Have a kickoff party

Unfortunately, most kickoff parties don’t have cake, but they do define team and individual roles, responsibilities, and objectives.

Step 3 – 1st draft

Because roughly 80 percent of an RFP contains questions you’ve probably answered before—many times—let your automated system take a run at it first. Make sure the answers are correct and up-to-date.

Step 4 – 2nd draft

Consult with SMEs and other stakeholders to answer the remaining questions.

Step 5 – Review and revise

Were the questions answered accurately and completely? Were all the objectives met? Are there any misspelled words or typos? Are the responses otherwise well-written? Have you attached all relevant documents?

Step 6 – Submit

Once you’ve completed and polished the response, submit it (hopefully before it’s due). Confirm that it was received and let team members know.

Step 7 – Save and audit the responses

Every answer is potentially valuable for future RFPs. Save them in a central location that’s easily accessible to key stakeholders. Make sure you regularly audit the content in the centralized repository.

Step 8 – Postmortem

Win or lose, every response is a learning opportunity. What worked? What could have used improvement?

An example of a high-quality RFP process

A high-quality process is well-defined, efficient, and generates quality proposals for winnable RFPs. Once you’ve established a high-quality process, your team will begin to run like a well-oiled machine, you’ll increase the number of responses and hopefully win more bids.

Accruent, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company, has recently acquired several companies with highly-technical products. RFPs began arriving faster than the response team could master the new technologies. Unsurprisingly, SMEs were stretched thin.

Accruent introduced RFPIO into their response process. Confident that their answers would be stored for future use in their Content Library, SMEs were much more likely to offer their expertise.

Soon, because more than 75 percent of answers came directly from the Content Library, the response team more than tripled its capacity.

RFP response process metrics

The go/no-go step is key to increasing your win rate, but knowing which RFPs to answer requires data. Tracking metrics should be part of your response process. Those metrics include the following:

  • Project types – How many RFPs did you answer compared to DDQs and other documents?
  • Types of wins – You should save your resources for winnable RFPs. What kinds of projects provide the highest win rates? Break types down by:
    • Vertical – Are there specific industries that are more apt to purchase your product or service?
    • Company size – Are your target customers enterprise-level or small and medium-sized businesses?
    • Product line – What is your win rate for that product?
    • Project type – Has your company successfully implemented this type of project in the past?
    • Project stage – How far do similar projects make it through the sales funnel?
    • Number of questions – Do you have the bandwidth for an RFP of that size?
    • Project value – Is it worth it for you?
  • Project scope – How much work does your current project require?
  • Completion time – How long does it take, on average, to complete a similar project? What is the shortest time on record, and what is the longest?
  • Average response rate – What percentage of incoming RFPs do you answer?
  • Resource needs – Comparing the content and moderation needs, who are the people who are best suited for the project?
  • Content needed – Read and understand the questions and determine how much content you have in your Content Library.

Once you have decided to go forward, metrics help keep you on track and tell you whether it’s worth continuing.

  • Determine workload – Break down the project into manageable deliverables which can be divided among your team.
  • Readability score – Write in a way that’s easy to understand, typically at no more than a 10th-grade level. Use tools like the Hemingway App or Flesch reading ease test to ensure readability.
  • The Probability of Win Score (PWIN) – You’ve already calculated your odds of winning based on past similar projects. Still, the PWIN examines the details of your current project for a more accurate prediction.
    • How do your answers compare to similar RFPs that you’ve won?
    • Have you answered each question?
    • Have you met all the conditions?
    • How many questions were you able to answer in the affirmative?
  • Identify content gaps – What is missing from your Content Library? What needs to be updated?
  • Determine your Content Library’s health – How many questions can you answer using the curated content in the Content Library? Aim for 40-80 percent.

For more information on response metrics, read here.

Best practices for a smarter RFP process

Turning your RFP process into an 800-horsepower revenue-generating engine takes coordination, a great pit crew (so to speak), and tools to turbocharge efficiency.

At RFPIO, we receive and respond to RFPs just like you. Below are the best practices our experts swear by.

Encourage collaboration

A Facebook poll by RFPIO found that effective collaboration was considered much more important than an efficient process. I would argue that neither is possible without the other.

Because RFPs are long, complex, and require potential input from every department, from finance to HR to IT (and more), collaboration is a critical part of an RFP response process. And because we have distributed and siloed workforces, intense competition for SMEs’ time, and tight deadlines, smart processes foster collaboration.

An RFP response system should leverage project management and communication tools to keep everyone on the same page. And because respecting your colleagues’ time is key to continued collaboration, it should also include a single source of truth knowledge management system to record answers for use on future projects.

Bring effective storytelling into your RFP responses

No one is suggesting that your RFP response should include the next great novel, but telling your organization’s story helps make your response memorable and builds trust among readers.

Your proposal’s story should include information about your company, such as why your founders created your solution, how it will meet the customer’s needs, and how you will handle their needs.

Your cover letter might highlight your company’s values and what it does to live up to them. It’s also a great idea to include testimonials from customers with similar needs.

Automate your response process

At least three-quarters of companies hope to boost their RFP response, but only around half of those companies consider increasing response staffing. That leaves one option, which is to automate their response processes.

Because most questions on an RFP are exact or near exact duplicates of former queries, you can save hours, days, or even weeks by leveraging machine learning to access those repeat question-and-answer pairs, giving you the time to address the questions that need your efforts.

Develop habits that support organizational success

Suppose you worked out or ate well today. Congratulations! Continue for a few weeks, and the next thing you know, you’ll have formed a habit that might lead to better health and longer life.

When you habitually maintain your list of SMEs and other stakeholders, as well as your Content Library’s health, those habits will pay off with faster responses, smoother collaboration, and improved morale.

Enable your sales team

Aside from your employees, a well-maintained single source of truth is your company’s greatest asset. It might contain incorporation papers, financial statements, sales reports, and product details. There’s no limit to the number of use cases.

We like to think of RFPIO as a sales enablement platform. Naturally, RFPs generate tremendous revenue. Still, a well-maintained Content Library supplies relevant, customer-facing information for sales teams with a few keystrokes. RFPIO’s proposal management features can help you create winning sales proposals complete with automation and reporting.

And because salespeople spend time on the road, RFPIO® LookUp provides access to your Content Library from anywhere you have browser access.

The role of RFP software

Chances are, your company uses CRMs and other sales enablement platforms. You probably also use communication apps and some sort of project management software. How does one make a case for more on top of what your CIO might call a bloated tech stack?

Advanced RFP software works with your tech stack, not on top of it. It should integrate with your productivity, communication, and sales enablement apps, but it should also add value on its own. Unlike a standard project management platform, RFP software is customized for proposal management.

RFP software is designed to let you respond to more requests and maximize your win rate. It may not be a specific part of your sales team, but like your top salespeople, its superpower is revenue generation.

Advanced RFP software should import and export from and to nearly every format and offer standard and customizable templates. Its knowledge and document library should provide relevant stored Q&A pairs as well as required documentation with a few keystrokes. In fact, its knowledge and document library should serve as a single source of truth for the entire organization.

The software’s reporting features should go far beyond response analytics and help facilitate informed business decisions. Additionally, because RFPs come in waves, software should be scalable and instantly respond to your changing requirements.

Choosing the right RFP software for your team

I could spend hours highlighting all the RFP software features you might need, but the fact is that even you don’t know what might arrive next week and especially next year. Your ideal RFP response solution is a bespoke answer to your evolving needs.

The software should work with your existing systems to maximize revenue and efficiency. It should be designed by response managers who know the ebbs and flows of response processes.

The most important feature, however, is the designers. Is the company receptive to your questions and poised to consider adding features as requested?

RFPIO’s approach to the response process

RFPIO offers an end-to-end approach to RFP response. Its features include:

  • Knowledge – Store your commonly-seen questions and answers and your critical documents in a single repository.
  • Collaboration – Communicate with other stakeholders inside the platform or with your current collaboration apps.
  • Projects – Break your projects down into manageable pieces, assign tasks, and keep track right inside the app.
  • Insights – How much time and other resources are you using? How many and what kind of deals do you win? What are your strengths and weaknesses? RFPIO has many standard and nearly unlimited customized reporting features.
  • Integrations – RFPIO integrations work seamlessly with more than two dozen of the most popular business applications.
  • Remote access – RFPIO® LookUp provides access to your Content Library through Google, Microsoft Office, and many other applications.
  • Loyal customers – RFPIO is the response platform for many of the world’s most successful companies, including Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Visa, Lyft, Zoom, and hundreds more. Read more about RFPIO from our customers.

Case study

While RFPIO is the RFP response solution for large companies, most enterprise organizations have dedicated response departments. Employees for smaller companies find themselves wearing many hats, which sometimes means putting RFPs on the back burner.

Complí, a small software company located in Portland, OR, often found themselves missing deadlines for lack of time and personnel. Just a week after investing in RFPIO, that changed. The company was able to respond to RFPs without holding time-consuming, in-office meetings. They were also able to complete up to 80 percent of each RFP with just one click, thanks to the Content Library.

Today, they are submitting RFPs on–time (and even early) and the entire company uses the Content Library as their single source of truth.

RFP response management process FAQs

It isn’t easy to gauge RFPIO’s true value without seeing it in action. We invite you to view a demo to see how RFPIO might benefit your organization. Before that, though, here are some of the most common questions we are asked:

  • What is an RFP? – A request for proposal (RFP) is a document designed to solicit multiple bids for large organizational purchases.
  • What type of information and questions are included in an RFP? – An RFP provides in-depth descriptions of the customer needs, deadlines, and so on. It might ask for company history and details, pricing, related past projects, and projected deliverables, and so on.
  • Why do organizations issue RFPs? – Organizations issue RFPs to gather pricing and service comparisons in their desired formats.
  • Who responds to RFPs? – Some organizations have dedicated response departments. Others might respond through their sales teams.
  • What does RFP software do? – The short version is that RFP software helps organizations win more business using fewer resources. The longer version is that it utilizes your existing applications and teams, along with customizable tools and a robust Content Library, to become a revenue-generating engine.
  • Does RFPIO do more than respond to RFPs? – As a response platform, RFPIO will automatically respond to up to 80 percent of a request for information (RFI), request for quote (RFQ), security questionnaire, due diligence questionnaire, and more. As a sales-enablement tool, its proposal management features and Content Library will help you drive revenue. And as a business application, its built-in and customizable analytics will provide the information needed for informed decision-making.
  • Does RFPIO integrate with existing applications? – RFPIO integrates with more than two dozen applications, including the most popular ones.
  • What if we need to add or subtract users? – RFPIO has a best-in-class pricing model. Instead of purchasing licenses, we provide unlimited access.
  • Is RFPIO secure? – RFPIO has industry-leading security protocols. We are trusted by the world’s leading technology, healthcare, and financial services companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Visa, Cigna, and far more.

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.