Seven Ways to Not Write an RFP Response

Sometimes we think of the RFP as a checkbox exercise, and we hope all we need to do to win is “just respond as quickly as possible to get to the next stage.” That is the mindset of a frequent RFP loser - and you are not a loser. Whether you like it or not, the quality of your response matters.

Approximately 75% of the decision makers and stakeholders read the proposal back to front, all the way through. That means when you respond poorly to an RFP, people are going to notice, and it could tip the balance between winning and losing.

I’ve seen well-qualified and influenced RFPs go south because the buyer found the response to be careless and messy. The buyers thought, “If this is how awful the supplier is in responding to a simple RFP, then how will they perform in other aspects?” And then, to the surprise of the lazy supplier, the buyer awards to someone else.

To stop you from embarrassing yourself, here are the seven biggest “sloppy” issues I have seen with RFP responses in the past seven years. Don’t fall into these traps and lose what could have been a winning bid.

1. You forgot to answer the GD question: The first sentence should clearly answer the question. For example: “Yes, our company provides word-for-word exactly what you just asked for.” Never make the person guess or have to search for the answer to the question.
2. You thought a URL was an answer: Don’t answer your questions with a URL to your external knowledge base or website. But seriously, stahp. This forces the reader to hunt for an answer and leave the RFP; they do not like doing this, they probably won’t do it, and they will be irritated with you for making them read a five-page user guide instead of just answering their gosh darn question.

3. You copied and pasted a step-by-step workflow from a user guide: Sometimes it’s easy to copy and paste a user guide type response. But customers are rarely asking for a boring, workflow answer. Save that for the demo.

4. You used jargon, ami?: If a word is unique to your product, industry, or company, don’t use it. You’re an expert in your field, but your readers probably aren't. So use universally known and used words, so the customer will understand what you are talking about.

5. You forgot to add enough images: Screenshots help demonstrate your product or service can do what ya say ya do. Images help break up paragraphs, making it more enjoyable and interesting to read. Think of your fav online publications and blogs. Are you more likely to read the article with images or the wall of scrolling text? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

6. Your answer is one long tangent: If the customer is asking about something very specific, answer that specific question. Don’t give them extra info that doesn’t help them. For example, if they’re asking about your support hours, don’t go into every other detail about your support detail. The buyer doesn’t care, you aren’t answering their question, and it makes it obvious you just copied and pasted from something else. And you’re too awesome to be that sort of person.

7. You didn’t sprinkle in quotes and stories: When possible, use a quote or a two-three sentence story from a similar customer to support your point. People are making the decision to buy your product in the same way they are deciding to purchase eyeliner (yes, eyeliner.); they read reviews, and they take recommendations from people they respect.

Most of these things can be easily fixed by not blindly copying and pasting from your website or the URL to the page that might maybe kinda answer their question. This saves you time - but it is lazy, it makes your company look lazy, and it makes you a lot less likely to win deals.

But what about you? What do you do to set yourself apart from the competition?