Responding to requests for proposals, or RFPs, can open new doors for your business and be an excellent opportunity for growth. A potential new contract is always exciting. You may be strengthening your relationship with an existing client or hoping to win a new one. There is never a guarantee to win a tender. However, there are a few tips you can follow for your next RFP to increase your chances of winning:
1. Start early enough
Allowing enough time for replying and reviewing can avoid a lot of stress during your next RFP response. Set the timeline and communicate the dates and deadlines to all stakeholders as early as possible. Also, leave yourself at least a few hours at the end of the process to edit your response if needed. This way, you will not have to worry about details at the last minute and you will make fewer oversight mistakes.
2. Focus on the customer’s needs
Obviously, the point of responding to an RFP is completing a sale. However, care should be taken not to fall completely into ‘sales talk’. When responding to an RFP, the focus should be on the needs of the potential customer. Here it is important to highlight how exactly your product or service solves the customer’s problems. This description is more convincing for the potential customer than just reading facts and details about your product or service.
3. Improved internal collaboration
A successful RFP response is not created in the sales or proposal team alone but in collaboration with the right stakeholders in the company. Useful know-how can be found throughout the company: from the legal department to the product team. If needed, this knowledge can be accessed for your RFP response, by collaborating with the right professionals within your organisation. The key here is to inform the relevant departments as early as possible about the needed support so that experts are available.
4. Organise your content centrally starting now
Searching for answers and reviewing older content is often one of the most time-consuming steps in the entire RFP response process. Storing previous responses in a central knowledge database is immensely helpful in this regard. Such a database can be accessed by all stakeholders, is searchable and helps you keep track of the content in the future. In addition, a central knowledge base paired with the right technology can be used even further: Automation software automatically generates suggestions from previous answers after new questions are uploaded.
Even with the best approach, responding to RFPs is complex and time-consuming. However, the process can become more streamlined and efficient if you choose the right tool. You want to learn how Beyond.RFP can complement your RFP process. Contact us today.
