Understanding RFPs: Why They Matter for Agencies
So, what is an RFP? I honestly had no idea.
I quickly found out that they are critical to a digital agency’s operations, and they are the catalyst for successful projects and partnerships.
An RFP is a Request for Proposal. This is an official way for Government agencies and companies to formally send a request for a project that they want completed, allowing companies like Zu to compete for the proposal.
This is pretty genius, as it ensures that companies/gov’t agencies can make transparent, unbiased and data-driven decisions, increasing the competitive standard and creating an even playing field. This also creates a great opportunity for companies like Zu to master the RFP response process, as it is a gateway for new projects and new business.
RFP’s are typically used for complicated projects with many moving parts, much like the ones Zu has worked on. They create a detailed and thorough understanding of the scope of the project, the details and mission of the requesting company, with specific requirements, outcomes expected, and any questions they may have. Ultimately setting the companies that are responding up to innovate, create thoughtful responses and deliver on their promises, creating a powerful partnership.
Zu has likely responded to many RFP’s from Government agencies such as The City of Regina, Saskatchewan Health Authority, and SaskEnergy. And they have won those bids and many more, so I am curious to see the process and steps that Zu takes in order to create captivating and effective responses to RFP’s.
Responding to an RFP: Beginner’s Guide
The foundation to building an effective response to an RFP is to focus on thoroughly understanding the prospect’s needs, challenges they are facing, why they care about their proposal, and outcome they are looking for. To even start thinking about a solution, the pain points of the prospect must be deeply evaluated and analyzed, and then -and only then- can a company begin to get creative, innovate and look for solutions.
It is critical to understand that the client is taking a risk no matter what, so the respondents job must be to make it clear that this is an investment worth making, they understand what they want to do, and that they can fulfill this job the best out of anyone out there. Highlighting your team’s expertise and providing case studies that provide evidence that you are capable, make this much more clear.
Much like a resume or cover letter, building a cookie-cutter proposal response just isn’t going to cut. These things need to be highly tailored to the tone, style, preferences and requirements of the potential client, if you want to have any chance of winning the contract. The more you make this about you, and the less about them, the lower your chances of success.
However, you must still be able to differentiate your company and make your competitive advantage very clear. You don’t want to end up in a price war with a massive company who can afford to undercut your price. You must make your value proposition persuasive and irresistible.
Now this is a very basic breakdown of what these responses consist of, and makes it sound a lot easier than it actually is. The truth is, these RFP responses can take companies WEEKS to complete and can be HUNDREDS of pages long.
Reverse-Engineering an RFP: A Thought Experiment
Now as a brainstorming practice, I wanted to see if I can begin to very broadly reverse engineer and outline one of the RFP responses that Zu likely created. This is NOT an in-depth re-creation of an RFP response; just an attempt to delve deeply into one of Zu’s projects and satisfy my curiosity. A project that really fascinated me was the work Zu did with Sasktel; as a long-time Sasktel user, I actually experienced the difference that Zu created.