Being unconventional with the RFP Database

If you're looking for RFPs, search no further: go to the RFP Database.

We fully realize that the following article might sound like an advertisement for the RFP Database, but as the site was built with the intention of helping construct business relationships, we want to showcase the more unconventional ways in which that site is being used to grow new relationships. We hope that some of the ideas listed below might spur you to approach the site with a new outlook and try some new ways of using it to advance your business goals.

When we built the RFP Database we really only anticipated the site being used two ways, to either announce your RFP for bidders or to find RFPs to bid on. At the same time, the site was built incorporating a credit system so that should we come up with ways to extend the site, ratios of cost could easily be added to the site and new uses integrated. Over the last few years we've been told about some unconventional or secondary ways that our site has been used to extend businesses that weren't as interested in finding or announcing RFPs, but still put our site to good use:

• teaching a college-level business course
  
• advertising a company's services
  
• announcing white papers
  
• writing new Requests for Proposals
  
• building relationships with corporate partners
  
• integrating the RFPDB into your organization's site

Teaching a college-level business course

We notice this when we have a sudden influx of students from the same college joining our site, other times we've been contacted by the professor. Sometimes we regret that we hadn't taken courses like this in college, but we're glad someone out there is teaching them! The assignment is often a combination of learning how to write a RFP and how to respond to craft a proposal response to a RFP. The teacher might download some sample RFPs to demonstrate in the class, the students might look for examples to download, or the students might even grab a RFP and be tasked with writing a proposal to be evaluated by the teacher.

If you're a professor or student looking for some RFPs to use as samples please feel free to register, the first two projects you download are entirely free. If those first two aren't enough, we recommend going to your college/university procurement site (almost all universities have one) and uploading a few from that site; for each RFP you upload you'll gain access to five more leads that you can use.

Free advertising of a company's services

Some companies aren't looking for RFPs themselves, but are instead looking to connect with the people issuing RFPs or looking for RFPs. The companies that stick out are the ones that are geared towards helping companies write killer proposals, or helping organizations write RFPs as many organizations often go looking for samples to base their RFP on. Taking advantage of our inexpensive advertising option, companies are able to purchase advertisement views in blocks of 1k, 5k, and 10k views for $10, $40, and $70.

This becomes even more attractive for companies when it becomes free; as our system is based on credits, you can use credits earned from uploading RFPs to purchase advertisement views. In exchange for 7 RFP uploads, which should take about 15 minutes to find and upload, a company can run an advertisement for approximately one month on our site for free

White papers announcements

It seems that we're not the only ones that believe that the best way to impress potential clients is by demonstrating that we're knowledge leaders by self-publishing. A few users that are prolific authors have taken advantage of the above-mentioned advertising opportunities and, instead of simply publishing an advertisement for their company, their advertisement is instead an advertisement to read and download a new white paper. There aren't many better ways for a company to impress potential clients than showcasing their expertise on the subject matter in the form of a white paper, and it's ingenious that they're able to advertise their white paper for free to those potential clients.

Writing new Requests for Proposals

So this might not be the most unconventional of uses, but it's certainly a good one to mention. Often times, someone in an organization is tasked with writing a RFP but has no idea how to go about doing this. Why reinvent the wheel? Looking at examples of existing RFPs that are similar to the one you are seeking to write is one of the best ways of jump-starting the RFP-writing process. You can also join our LinkedIn group and ask for assistance. Vendors appreciate well-written and documented RFPs and will always give you tips on how to write a better RFP. And once the RFP is written you can announce it on the website and get the competitive bids that you need.

Keeping in touch with corporate partners

This is one of our personal favorites: one of our members is in sales for a company that, while they provide a service, it isn't a service that generally pitches directly to the organizations issuing RFPs. Their service is generally sought by the winner of a project who incorporates their offering into the project plan. As a way of keeping in touch with the primary companies who would be both bidding on these projects and then hiring the company to do their piece of the project, this sales person will find and send RFPs from the RFP Database to their clients who might be interested in bidding on the project. This practice both ingratiates the client to you for bringing leads to their door, but also keeps alive channels of communication and keeps you in the forefront of their mind for other projects they might be working on.

While the above is a bit vague, here's an example:

You represent a company that writes jingles for advertising campaigns. You receive notices about advertising projects listed on the RFP Database and one catches your glance: a RFP for Tourism marketing and advertising services. You think sure, there might be an opportunity for my services within that project, or you might know the perfect company for that project. You download the project for a mere 2 credits and send it over to your contact with a friendly note. Talk about a great way to make friends, especially if they win the project!

Project leads for an organization's members

Membership-based organizations are always looking to provide greater services to their members; this is especially true in down economies. One method we've seen in a variety of different forms is organizations incorporating leads from the RFP Database into their site. An example of this in use is Mike Rowe (of Discovery Channel "Dirty Jobs" fame) and his site, MikeRoweWorks.com. In the Job Site section of his site he has integrated a RSS feed of RFPs from the RFP Database as a way of showing projects that might be interesting to his visitors. Having this additional content and providing it as a service to your members will both encourage new visitors as well as keep your existing members very happy with what you're providing.


If you've put the RFP Database to good use in a way that's out of the ordinary please let us know!

RFP Etiquette: Dos and Don’ts for Business Matchmaking

The following interview/article was conducted by Vince Giorgi, Vince President of Hanley Wood Marketing for his blog, Touch Point City. The original article was posted here on July 21, 2009.



In case you haven’t heard, online marketing and media conversation has been buzzing in recent days over an incident involving a request for proposal (RFP). If your business purchases products and services, or competes for new business, through RFPs, you’ll want to read on.

The two parties in this scenario are Zappos, the online retailer, and a marketing agency, Ignited. Mike Wolfsohn, Ignited’s EVP-executive creative director, wrote a Sunday post for his agency’s blog describing Ignited’s experience during a recent Zappos agency search. His post tells of the agency’s chagrin at seeing, via Google analytics, that Zappos viewed only five pages of Ignited’s 25-page proposal (submitted as a blog), with an average page-view time of just 14 seconds.

While admitting to voluntarily joining what he and his colleagues suspected would be a “cattle call,” Wolfsohn states in his post that the “Zappos pitch underscores what’s wrong with the review process.” He argues, “If agencies are going to spend weeks preparing their response, the least any client can do is commit 30 minutes to look at it.”

The headline on Wolfsohn’s post: “Is 30 Minutes Too Much To Ask?”An article about the post in the AdAge Daily News e-newsletter triggered, at last count, 88 comments, many from marketing and ad agency pros. A majority take Wolfsohn to task for voicing sour grapes over a relatively standard RFP process in which his firm finished out of the running. Fewer express empathy for Ignited and disdain for Zappos’ approach. Several lament unfairness and imperfections inherent in the RFP process itself.

Rules of the RFP Road?

All this hub-bub over a single RFP made us wonder what exactly are the rules of etiquette and best practices for publishing, and responding to, RFPs?


For insight, TPC contacted David Kutcher, president of Confluent Forms, a Northampton, Mass., design firm. Kutcher also is founder of The RFP Database, a Web-based service that aggregates RFPs of all types for efficient distribution by issuers and searching by suppliers.

TPC: Without delving into the specifics of this case, David, what’s your overall takeaway? What tends to go awry in a situation such as this?

Kutcher: I think everyone is a bit too overwhelmed to think rationally; Zappos received over 100 proposals, which is not really surprising, and Ignited put their heart and soul into the pitch and felt a bit disrespected. It’s completely understandable. I’m not sure anything went awry from a process standpoint, but I think it’s a learning experience for companies that enter into the “cattle calls” as much as it is for companies that release their RFP to the wild.

In this specific case I might have recommended that instead of releasing their RFP to the wild, that Zappos instead release a simple RFI (request for information) that asks for a maximum of two to five pages of information, mostly as a way to get profile information about firms, examples of their work, etc., and from there, select a smaller number of firms to receive the full RFP.

With this sort of approach you can spend more time with the firms you do a final ask from, but also not ask so much non-billable time from firms who go overboard making a full-blown pitch. Only the firms that make the first cut would be asked to compose that full proposal.

TPC: Is every supplier that responds to an RFP owed a certain minimum level of review and consideration by the potential customer?

Kutcher: I think we all like to feel we should be heard and given ample time to make our pitch, but this harkens back to the idea of a company’s “elevator pitch,” which seems to be becoming a lost art. If you can’t connect with the reader in the first 30 seconds and explain why you are the best choice for the project, then you really should revisit your proposal-writing strategy.

Regardless if they keep reading, the reader is likely just going through the motions at that point, since they’ve become mentally disengaged. If you don’t capture your reader, that’s on you, not the reader. And that’s business; it’s up to YOU to make the sale.

TPC: On the client side, what are common things you see companies struggle with or miss when it comes to conducting an effective, fair RFP?

Kutcher: It all starts with the issuer, and generally the RFP process goes off the rails because the organization didn’t put enough forethought into the RFP. This could be that they didn’t do enough internal research for what they were looking for, didn’t think about how their process would be run, or failed to define the proposal format and information they wanted back, so as to have an apples-to-apples comparison.

Organizations need to fully appreciate that companies put a lot of unbillable time and effort into responding to RFPs. Releasing a poorly written, poorly defined, and poorly executed RFP into the world can ruin your reputation among vendors and, instead of leading you to a good partnership, can leave you with the bottom of the barrel.

TPC: What about suppliers? Are there things they need to remember, or ask the client, on the front end, in order to ensure they’re not left feeling badly treated on the back end?

Kutcher: Suppliers need to ask questions, LOTS of questions, until the point where they are assured that the issuer is serious about their project, has done the necessary homework, is issuing this competitive bid project with the full intention of hiring someone, and that a vendor with no prior relationship has a chance of winning.

TPC: What’s the trend line? Is RFP-driven sourcing becoming more prevalent?


Kutcher: I think the trend in RFPs matches the trend toward businesses using the Internet to conduct business and going online to find vendors outside their local areas. Online business, and RFPs, enable a vendor in western Massachusetts (like my company) to win projects from organizations located in Manhattan, beating out local companies because we can offer superior value and competitive pricing.

Instead of location being one of the primary determining factors, quality, value and ideal fit can be considered first. A well-run RFP process can be the most democratic, meritorious and pragmatic approach to procurement and purchasing, but it all depends on if the process is run well.


TPC: Does The RFP Database offer tips or tools to help both parties work effectively with RFPs?


Kutcher: We’ve written a number of articles on the subject of RFPs and proposals that can be useful to both issuers and bidders. You can find these articles on our blog.

The RFP Database also can provide help through our sheer library of RFPs. If you’re new to RFP writing, search our site and find some projects that are similar to the one you’re looking to undertake. See what others have done before. Look at how they described their project, their timelines, and get a feel for what you need to have in your own RFP. Call them and find out if they would revise their RFP if they had re-issued the project.

You can also join our LinkedIn group and find some talented RFP writers and strategists to assist you. You shouldn’t feel like you’re reinventing the wheel, and if you need some assistance or have questions, just ask.

TPC: If you had one piece of RFP advice for clients and suppliers, what would it be?

Kutcher: To issuers I would say this: The amount of forethought and effort you put into the process in the beginning will greatly affect the quality and ease of the process and final project.

To suppliers I would echo the words of the Oracle at Delphi: “Know thyself.” If you can clearly articulate why, on paper, you are the best choice for the project, then you really can’t do much more. Don’t fight for being the lowest bidder, the firm that can do it all, or try to wow them with your management team’s bios. Show them that you can rock their project like you’ve rocked lots of similar projects in the past.
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*The comments are both enlightening and entertaining, and we hoped to provide a direct link. But it appears you’ll need to register on AdAge’s site, then subscribe to the Daily News e-newsletter, in order to access the article. If you choose to do so, look for the July 15 issue of the e-newsletter, or search on “Zappos” or “Ignited.”