Vendors need to sell and every company rises or falls on the success of their vendors. Senior managers and executives are keenly aware of the pressures placed on them to produce wins – those wonderful things that forgive a multitude of failures and mistakes. But just because an RFI, RFP, RFQ, or another opportunity pops [...]
When should you issue an RFI versus an RFP? So, your organization is looking for a solution or services to meet a set of business requirements, but where do you start? How do you know which companies would be able to meet your requirements, or which companies have done this type of work before? You [...]
The Value of Responding to an RFI: Our RFP Response team has noticed an increasing trend in the formal Request for Proposal process. They are getting more and more requests to help vendors respond to RFI’s (Request for Information). Why the increasing trend to RFI’s when the normal trend has always been to RFP’s [...]
Writing a winning proposal takes some planning, time and skill. Over the years we’ve worked with clients on hundreds of responses. We’ve worked with large organizations and small ones. Regardless of size, there are some clear ways to succeed. Stepping back a little, here’s our list of the top twelve tips for writing a winning [...]
Win more Bids with a Formal RFP, RFI Proposal Critique When we ask client’s “which business development initiative helped grow your business the most?", they frequently answer that it was “by winning an RFP” or "submitting a response to an RFI". Winning competitive bids is good for business! However, we speak with many clients who [...]
Stories sell. Just ask Iceland. Iceland?! In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, this Nordic country of roughly 300,000 was brought to its knees. With few people and fewer industries, what was Iceland to do? Well, it took a hard, long look at itself and realized that with virtually no pollution and large [...]
A common RFP Proposal Response misconception that I have seen across North America is about the Executive Summary (ES). If the RFP proposal doesn’t ask for an Executive Summary, should you still provide one in your RFP Response? Yes - is always the RFP answer! We suggest including an Executive Summary in every proposal submitted, [...]
Are you Tracking your RFP Proposal Responses? I have been involved in RFP and Proposal responses as part of teams for many years. Many of these have been through the formal and competitive RFP process. Each project presented lessons learned. Even non-winning proposals have been a source of valuable feedback. When we have taken the [...]