Headspace Halifax Website Design

RFP = Really Freakin’ Painful

As I rushed to get a design proposal out the door on time recently (why are these things always a rush, no matter how much lead time we have?)  I was stopped short by an intimidating list of mandatory to-dos, listed under a bolded, ominous warning that “Failing to complete the following may result in your proposal being rejected”.

Well, um, OK. I guess I better comply, since we’ve just spent 30-plus hours of otherwise billable time getting this beast together and it would be a shame to lose out on this contract because I didn’t print the RFP number ABOVE the RFP name on the cover page. Or photocopy our business registry information double-sided. Or have page three of each of the 19 identical bound booklets signed, in black ink, by someone who is qualified to sign on behalf of our company – but DON’T sign the original copy, which, by the way, needs to be unbound and calligraphied on ecru (NOT WHITE) onion-skin paper and delivered on the horn of a virginal male unicorn at precisely 4:00 P.M. on Friday, October 22, AND NOT A SECOND LATER!!

I don’t think preparing and submitting RFPs will ever be fun. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think the process is supposed to be fun. Potential clients need to know that you’re willing to put in time, effort, and precision on responses to their RFPs to show that you’re serious about working with them. With this comes a degree of challenge – locating the most appropriate work samples, ensuring your proposal is tailored specifically to their individual requirements, proofreading it again – and again – and again. RFP does not stand for “Ridiculously Fun Project”. Really f-ing painful? That might be more accurate.

The purpose of an RFP is to evaluate an agency or a firm on its ability to work with and on behalf of your organization. Whether it’s specific to strategy, design, account management, or a full suite of services, it’s a company’s chance to check out your expertise, your references, samples of your work, and the qualifications of your employees and determine which agency is best for their needs. It’s an opportunity to see how well a firm can answer your questions and respond to your unique objectives.

Fair enough – but why the need to make agencies jump through hoops, write out the gazillion-digit RFP number again and again and again, sign here and here and here, and so on to prove they can do great work? Worse still, the RFP documents that list their mandatory requirements on different pages, causing no shortage of angst as the unlucky account person (me) riffles through a novella of background info and appendices to make sure everything has been done correctly.

There are some RFP documents we receive that are just beautiful. I may actually clap and bounce up and down when I see them. They’re clearly laid out, with the mandatory requirements all in one place, straightforward questions, and contact info prominently marked. My secret inner dork actually enjoys completing these proposals – I could even go out on a limb and says that they are, indeed, ‘ridiculously fun projects’. (Then again, making lists is one of my spare-time hobbies, so my definition of fun may not be akin to that of a “sane and well-balanced person”.)

Before you send out your request for proposals, give it a review. If your requirements are responded to correctly, will you have the information you need to review sufficient samples of an agency’s past work, their unique approach to your project, and their team’s credentials in relation to your project? Are you determining that they are indeed a legitimate and established company without requiring fingerprints, criminal checks, and blood type of all team members? If so, you’re on the right track. Would you pull your own hair out by the handfuls if you had to respond to the same document? If not, go ahead and hit send. (Send it to us, actually. I love ridiculously fun projects).