Successful transport RFP response teams – Part 1

Why are certain bid response teams more successful then others? What do these teams do to get a higher success rate than others? We identified 10 things that successful response teams do to win more business. In this series of two articles we share some of our observations about the characteristics that successful transport RFP response teams have. In this first article we review the first 5 and in the next article we will review the remaining 5.

Getting invited to respond to a transport RFP can bring pressure to a sales team. Pressure to deliver a competitive proposal in a short period. Many RFP response teams have been burning the midnight oil to get their responses out on time. All this hard work does not bring a guarantee to win the business though. And is that not what it is all about, winning the (new) business and have a high success rate?

So, why are some RFP response teams more successful than others? What traits do they have that give them a higher success rate? Having a successful RFP response team means your business can grow and become more profitable. Based on our experience we will share some of our observations on how the successrate of tender responses can be increased. Here are the first 5 of their top 10 characteristics:

1) Preparation and planning

A well prepared team understands that the clock starts ticking the moment a RFP lands on their desk. Their preparations don’t start at that moment though. These have started well in advance. A tender RFP team should not be formed when a RFP invitation is received, it should already be in place. The roles and responsibilities of the team members are clear. The team consists of subject matter experts which should at least include one “writer” that has experience in creating professional RFP responses.

A number of RFP response components are always the same (e.g. your company profile, your service description, your competitive advantages); these can be prepared in advance and applied  to any RFP response. Of course you need to customise part to the individual RFP (e.g. focusing on the service that are requested in the RFP) but having the basic framework prepared will save a lot of time.

Winning teams are equipped with the right tools. They have access to company data, modelling tools, the latest MS-Office software (it will scare you to learn how often people are not able to open a document because they work on old software versions) and Desktop Publishing software to create professional response documents. Of course, fast internet access is a must for online tenders and research. 

A team that is prepared in advance will hit the ground running and does not loose valuable response time. Great responses are not created in a last minute do or die effort. They are based on preparation thus allowing more time to be spent on the RFP specific part of the response (e.g. pricing and services)

2) Understand what you are bidding for

Most professional RFP response teams don’t shoot at everything that is thrown their way. They run a received RFP methodically through a standard checklist to verify if it meets their minimum criteria for putting in the effort of creating a response. Once it is established that the RFP is interesting for them, they perform a detailed study on the received documentation.

Successful RFP response documents demonstrate clearly that the bidder understands what they are bidding for. They demonstrate where the offered business will fit in their current business model and how they can deliver maximum value to the client. RFP response teams that truly understand the business opportunity they are bidding for also reflect this in their quotation. Their pricing is not necessarily low, but it excludes the “safety buffers” that others build into their quotes when they are unsure of what to expect. If the issued RFP does not contain sufficient detail to determine what the business opportunity is, it is the responsibility of a professional RFP response team to ask the right questions to get the answers on the table. Don’t bid for something you don’t fully understand, it will only provide nasty surprises for both parties in the end.
 

3) Understand why you are invited and who the competition is

Successful RFP response teams understand why their company was invited to participate in a RFP. If you don’t really know why you were invited for a RFP, don’t bother spending time on creating a response. It is clear that you don’t have a fit with the client and the requirements. It must make  sense to you why you have been invited and how you can bring value to your potential client.

Insecure or under-prepared RFP response teams often go back to the RFP issuer to ask who the competition is. Prepared teams know this without having to ask. Based on the scope of the tender and their knowledge of the marketplace, they understand who their main competitors are and don’t have to ask or guess. Knowing who your competitors in the RFP process are is important because you need to show differentiation from them (also see point 5).
 

4) Follow the guidelines and complete all requested information

Most (not all!) RFP documents give a clear set of guidelines on what is expected by the RFP issuing party. These guidelines (rules) should be treated as absolutely non-negotiable by the RFP response team. A deadline is a deadline. Missing a deadline or asking the RFP issuing party to extend the deadline especially for you puts your company in a bad spot from the start. It shows you haven’t done your planning right. If you cannot get the planning for a RFP response right, how do you perform in day to day practice with your deliveries? Make sure if don’t negatively influence your changes by something like this. Keep in mind that the RFP issuing party also has a time plan which is based on receiving responses at a certain moment. If not everything is in on time, they cannot start their analysis which will mess up their time table.

Having said that, the given timeline for a response has to be realistic and achievable for the parties responding. For example, asking providers to quote for a global airfreight tender within one week is unprofessional and will not lead to competitive responses. However, deciding whether your are able to provide a credible RFP response within the given deadline needs to be part of the initial scoping (point 2). If, based on that scoping, you have decided to accept the invitation you have also committed to the deadlines.

Nothing can lower your chances of winning a RFP as much as submitting an incomplete response. The RFP issuing party needs to make an apples-for-apples comparison. This can only be done by having all the requested information in the RFP responses. Many RFP analysis teams will not take the time to contact you about missing details, but will ignore your submission altogether. If you were requested to submit information (e.g. quotes) in a prescribed format, don’t change it. The prescribed format has a purpose. If you change it, you will most likely make it impossible to upload your submission to an analysis tool and ruin your chances of winning any business. If the required format does not completely fit your mould you have to adapt to this. The RFP format that was requested often only serves the purpose of allowing the RFP issuer to equally compare data, a final format will be agreed upon in the negotiations.

A winning RFP response team always submits a complete and timely proposal to the issuing party.
 

5) Differentiate from the competition and mitigate risk of change

Winning RFP response teams don’t just hand in a list of their services, they make clear what their unique selling points are. They clearly demonstrate what their edge is over the competition. Being able to do this means you need to have a clear understanding of the marketplace you operate in and who your competitors in the RFP process will be (also see point 3).

Especially if you are not the incumbent you need to make it clear how you intend to limit the risk of change. Risk of change is a factor in the RFP process that can make or break your proposal. It is difficult to quantify as it often is linked to maintaining un-interupted service, switching IT systems, changing service levels and changing client interaction. Your quotes and services may be superb, but if you are not able to convincingly mitigate the risks of change you risk not being selected because the client feels uncomfortably with the risk.  

 

In the next article we will review the remaining 5 traits of successful RFP response teams.