I don’t know about you, but I often find responding to Request for Proposals unsatisfying. Either you’ve received it as a preferred vendor on a short-list, it’s a blind RFP, or it’s sent to you and 20 other agencies. The description of the needs and goals are either A) unbelievably vague or B) unbelievably specific, followed by a list of required features, tools, and canned objectives such as “improve search engine ranking” and “increase sales and traffic.” Now, it’s not that clients don’t know their business, it’s just that they don’t necessarily understand how to frame a creative communication and interactive experience project, or explain their precise needs and goals.
Do you want fries with that?
Trying to assess a prospective client’s interactive needs based on a shopping list and then set a price to it can greatly limit the success of the project. If we send you (Mr./Ms./Mrs. Prospective Client) a response with some big ideas, a general timeline, and a budget, then you approve that budget based on the proposal, what happens when we learn in discovery meetings that you actually need something completely different from what was described in the RFP or our proposal? Even if the RFP responses are only used to focus agency selection, and will lead to face-to-face meetings to choose an agency, will we really have a chance to revise the proposal according to what we learn in those meetings?
Can we talk?
What we need to have is a conversation, before we craft a proposal. I know, that does sound like it would take a lot of time, but is it really less time-consuming to cull the best responses out of 100 or more proposals received? Wouldn’t it make more sense to invite a short-list of agencies (or individuals) to hear about your needs and discuss them with you in person? Then after those initial conversations you request proposals and ask an even smaller set of agencies to respond now that they know you and understand what you’re really looking for. This also gets that “do we like each other” hurdle out of the way early in the relationship, before each party has invested time and energy in the project. It may turn out that an awesome agency/client just isn’t a good fit for you. Wouldn’t you rather know that sooner?
Let us help you.
It is the job of the creative agency (or individual) to help clients understand how to translate their needs and goals into solutions and actions. It’s the job of the client to know their business and help the agency to communicate on the client’s behalf. Neither group will be satisfied if the start of the relationship is based on guesswork and assumptions. The best client relationships I have started with a conversation about how I could help them. We met and discussed the project before I submitted a proposal, a good habit that keeps us communicating through the project and beyond it. The most frustrating relationships started with an RFP response that tied us to a specific scope and budget that didn’t really satisfy either party, and kept the discussion focused on tactics rather than strategy. Who wants that?
I guarantee that clients who start having conversations with prospective agency partners before requesting proposals will get better responses, more appropriate estimates, and will spend less time selecting an agency. And I guarantee that agencies who start by having a conversation will have better working relationships with clients, greater project satisfaction, and ultimately more project profit if you begin a prospective client relationship with a discussion rather than an RFP response. That sounds pretty win-win, right?
It’s time for a little more conversation!