Winning RFPs

More wins, fewer hassles

If you’re in an agency, consulting group, or any professional service firm whose business depends on responding to “requests for proposals” or RFPs, you know from bitter experience this fundamental truth:

Responding to RFPs sucks.

How much do RFPs suck? Let me count the ways…

1. RFPs suck because they obligate you to follow a format that results in “me too” responses that look and sound like everyone else’s responses, prohibiting distinction,
2. They suck because they push you into a passive response mode that denies your power to assert leadership,
3. They suck because the format is too fixed to provide focus – you can’t highlight and prioritize the real issues that matter most,
4. They suck because they drain time, money, and talent from productive (i.e., billable) work,
5. They suck because even if you win, the now-established precedent sets your client relationship on the worst terms possible: the client holds up the hoops while you’re expected to jump through them – that’s just not the foundation for a rewarding, productive, and profitable client engagement.

There is a better way to respond to RFPs that puts YOU in control

After more than twenty years of writing copy…more than ten years of conducting writing workshops…and five years of helping clients translate persona research into marketing messages, I’ve developed a program that speaks to the core challenge of service providers: creating RFP responses with fewer hassles, less cost, and most importantly, more wins.

The Winning RFP Responses workshop changes the game by changing the process, helping you to:

• Gather and apply the collective intelligence of your teambefore you commit to your responses,
• Establish priorities and create an overarching storythat demonstrates your command of the most crucial client issues or challenges,
• Position every response to not only “answer” the client’s questions, but to assert why and how your approach addresses the client’s most important demands,
• Transform raw facts and data into urgent evidenceof deliverable value to your clients,
• Enable everyone on your response team to speak with ONE clear voice, ensuring your RFP response consistently and coherently represents your story, your value, your strengths,
• Streamline the response processto reply more quickly, with less time and expense on your part,
• Demonstrate distinctionbetween your response and the generic responses your competitors will submit.

How Winning RFP Responses works

The Winning RFP Responsesworkshop is a day-long live, customized, in-houseprogram in which I bring the training directly to you – all you need is a room with a video projector and as many whiteboards as you can muster. (I’m not kidding – this is seriously collaborative work.) The day begins with basic training in storytelling skills that will be applied to your response. Then we spend the remainder of our time working together on a real RFP. By the end of our day together, you and your team will have:

1. A common consensuson the client’s RFP priorities,
2. A coherent, overarching storythat bridges the gap between the client’s needs and your ability to deliver,
3. Anapproach to each key questionthat not only articulates whatyou do, but how your approach achieves the outcomes your clients want,
4. A clear, practical understandingof next steps: who does what, when and how.

Let’s get started

For more details (and, let’s face it, you’re probably curious about how much this costs), contact me directly. I’ll be happy to walk you through the process, answer your questions, and give you a quote.