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Add Brilliance to Your Marketing Strategy

Treat RFPs Like Unpolished Diamonds

This white paper offers a range of smart strategies and insider tips on how to increase your wins at Requests for Proposals, even blind RFPs, from a CEO and advisor who has done it for three decades.

A Downloadable White Paper by

William L. MacDonald, CEO

PleinAire Strategies, Inc.

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or as long as I can remember, I have been opposed to responding to a Request for

Proposal (RFP). And, I know I’m not alone in this opposition.

RFPs are impersonal. RFPs give you little or no opportunity to differentiate your

firm from countless others in the queue. RFPs are unfriendly templates that

reduce your services to commodities.

While I’m still not a big fan, I have come to the realization that in certain industries you

cannot refuse response because even some of your best clients are apt to pull you through

the RFP strainer process.

Why does this happen?

It has become next to impossible for prospects or clients to see and understand your

products or services as anything other than plain vanilla commodities, due to product

sameness and the sheer depth of competition. That’s why clients yearn for a level playing

field where they can quickly discard the misfits, and compare like with like, hopefully,

recognizing that hidden shred of difference. Okay. So, it’s easier and more convenient

At this automatic sorting stage, you and your team have little chance of winning the bid.

Agreed? The situation is made tougher by the fact that RFPs are more prevalent than ever,

and even the best of firms will struggle to keep pace.

Diamonds in the Rough

To win the diamonds hidden in the RFP, we absolutely must get involved in cultivating and

cutting process early on to set the stage before the RFP is ever released. This effort

requires the precision touch and exacting tools of the diamond cutters who cleave, saw or

bruit the diamond to prepare it for polishing. So, too, an advisor can shape the RFP and

improve its luster.

F

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Your overarching goal is to help the client or prospect actually write the RFP requirements. Knowing

this and doing this are very different. Doing this will take a paradigm shift to transform your

thinking. It demands of you strict discipline not to take the easy way out by simply responding to the

as-is RFP.

Unfortunately, most RFPs are less like diamonds and more like river rocks. They’re based on a prior

approved budget before released. And, some competitor has already informed the company

generating the RFP on what key elements to consider and criteria to use. The competitor with the

greater clout influences the RFP framework in its favor. But that can be you.

Move Past Mediocrity

When a client or prospect sends out an RFP, it’s code for “we think we know our issue and the right

solution . . .meet these decision criteria in this ranked order of importance or you will not be

selected.” With this message, the client is certainly not looking for a trusted advisor.

Take a moment to study this diagram. On your last RFP, where would you rank?

Service Provider Competes on Price

Thought Leader with Competitive

Edge

Trusted Advisor Delivers

Compelling Value

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In my experience, more often than not, the prospect-client-buyer doesn’t actually know the

importance of each criterion. Again, a knowledgeable salesperson can influence the ranking

of criteria by early involvement.

Let’s look at an example from one of my retirement industry clients. Employee enrollment is

always on everyone’s RFP, often near the bottom because it is such a given. To emphasize

the importance of enrollment, and to differentiate itself, this provider uses a consultative

dialogue approach to help the buyer see enrollment from a higher perspective, while fund

selection, fiduciary services or other areas move down the ranking.

The provider in my example wins many RFPs because its team understands the buyer’s

decision criteria, and then influences those criteria to its advantage, as long as it makes

good business sense for the prospect.

Next, the provider proves its unique qualifications to meet those criteria. This approach

either uncovers issues the buyer didn’t see or a solution the buyer overlooked. The provider

begins to move up the RFP list to that rarefied air of trusted advisor.

To recap where we are at this point: First, stay out of bidding war RFPs where no one

wins. Second, adopt a proactive stance on worthwhile RFPs, and you won’t know their

worth without serious investigation.

Know the inside-out behaviors of those companies you’ve targeted. Learn when RFPs are

issued and on what types of business. Build a simple database for this purpose with heads-

up timelines and actionable notes or ideas, including information on incumbents, past

competitors. Over time, look for patterns. Analyze outcomes to guide you to the buyer’s

Achilles’ heel for which you can design a unique approach to solving the problem.

When an RFP comes in, gather as much information as possible to clearly understand the

company’s situation. What’s the real reason for issuing the RFP? Most organizations don’t

take the time to find out. If you do, you’re odds of winning begin to improve immediately.

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Inner Socrates

Before you start to respond to the RFP, channel your inner Socrates. Ask lots of good

questions. Encourage the RFP issuer to ask you questions. Find a way to dialogue whatever

you do. It is so critical to gain a complete understanding of current problems, opportunities

and situation.

In dialogue, you create the opportunity to find out what results the buyer wants and needs.

Keep the focus on the prospect’s vision of the solution, not on your products or services.

Avoid getting stuck in the weeds. Keep questions broad and strategic. For example: “If you had

a clean slate and looked at your current situation, what three things would you change?”

Another question: “You outlined in the RFP that you are looking to improve the cost of

your current program. What does improving the cost look like to you?”

Remember, behind every RFP is the call to improve a situation. Design your questions to

elicit hard and soft information on decision criteria and the perceived ideal solution.

Blind RFPs

In many industries, salespeople receive blind RFPs. But these salespeople have no contact

with anyone in the issuing company and no way in, especially when they’ve been told not to

contact anyone on the committee or they will be disqualified. What do you do?

First, organize questions to ask so you can analyze the opportunity and make a decision

whether it makes sense to respond. Bob Hatcher from Miller Heiman suggests a series of

questions to determine how likely you’d prevail in the RFP process:

Is this something you've done before or is it a truly new initiative? (Learn if there is an incumbent)

When was the last time you actually changed vendors? (Gauges company’s loyalty quotient)

What is your timeline for responses?

Did you write the RFP yourself or did you have a company help you? Is that company also bidding?

What is the motivation behind an RFP? Are you required to do it? If so, who is requiring it?

Once you have all the responses, what happens?

Who will review the responses? Is it a serial or parallel process?

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Who makes the final decision? Does that person actually sign the contract?

What were the things that made you consider my company?

Why are those things important to you?

What are the evaluation criteria? Where does price fit in that equation?

If you are fortunate to connect inside with someone of value, more on this later, listen closely to the

clue-filled responses—could save you a great deal of time. If responses are too vague, you may

have justification for concern. If responses are too specific, drill down for better understanding.

Listen for any clues that the RFP may be geared toward a competitor? (Requires specific knowledge

of your competitors).

If the company won't answer the above questions and won’t give you access to someone in the

know, seriously consider passing on this opportunity, rather than burning through days of wasted

effort. In effect, a blind RFP requires as much development work as any new prospect.

Let’s not give up yet. Let’s think through some other strategies that can up our odds.

Once I know the RFP holds serious potential, I go to my LinkedIn account to determine if I

have a way into the company under favorable conditions, such as a LinkedIn referral or

introduction from a person I already know. But be careful not to stumble upon someone on

the prospect’s committee.

If you have contacts within the company or relationships with other advisors to the

organization, this is your opportunity to gather information and get coaching on your

responses. We’ll discuss coaching later.

How Prospects and Clients Make Buying Decisions

As we discuss in some of my blogposts, as well as what we teach in Conceptual Selling®

workshops, it is essential to match how you sell to how prospects and clients buy; that is,

know their cognitive process for reaching a decision, the cornerstone of the research done

by psychologist J.P. Guilford in his book The Nature of Human Intelligence. This simple chart

may help you visualize this process.

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• The Understanding Stage

• Allows Decisionmaker to Understand Situation He/She Faces

Cognition Thinking

• The Generate Alternatives Stage

• Frees Decisionmaker to Explore Options Divergent Thinking

• The Converge Information Stage

• Enables Decisionmaker to Select "Best" Solution

Convergent Thinking

One might think a person’s decision-making process is fairly obvious―what mental thoughts

(or emotional feelings) occur whenever he or she grapples with a decision. It’s what

happens in each phase that matters. And, the questions you ask differ in each phase. That’s

why it’s important to develop the insight to recognize what stage your buyer is in his

decision-making process.

When an RFP is issued, the organization is already at the convergent thinking phase, having

gathered all the information needed, and made a decision to solve a particular problem. The

only open-ended item at this point is the selection of the provider.

The buyer has asked about your products and services, about price, delivery time, and so on.

But if you were not engaged with the prospect before the RFP is issued, you’ve lost your

ability to influence the published requirements to uniquely favor your own organization.

If you were not involved in creating the trigger that sparked the awareness of a problem at

the outset, you’ve lost the pole position of influence.

RFIs (Request for Information) and RFPs are generated during this convergent phase of the

decision-making process. Buyers seek additional information on which to base the final

decision. Often it is not possible to influence thinking as the salesperson can’t know about

the opportunity until the RFP is issued. Someone has influenced their thinking at this stage

and now you need to figure a way to change that thinking to align with your solution.

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Internal Expertise

In my experience, most organizations do a good job internally of understanding their own

issues and needs. There’s a great deal of information available on the internet and through

other sources to raise awareness levels, however, buyers may lack the internal expertise to

diagnose these problems with the same skill set as someone focused full-time on solutions

in this area.

I may understand that I am not feeling well, but my doctor can pinpoint the issue more

clearly and prescribe a solution to solve my issue. He can obviously influence my decision on

what medication to take.

Professional salespeople focused on solution selling use a consultative approach, applying

their in-depth experience to raise all the possible solutions available. Therefore, RFPs

prepared internally often miss key areas that would provide the optimal solution.

In my experience, most RFPs list characteristics of the solution they seek verses focus on

the problem faced. As an example, a company has low participation in their 401(k) plan and

has decided to put an RFP out to select a new advisory firm. In the RFP they list fund

selection, communication and education, online service, fiduciary services, fees and other

items. However, the company failed to state the real problem. Buyers miss the latest

thinking of professional salespeople who spend their lives in the trenches solving these

issues for prospects and clients.

When you receive the RFP, the golden key is to get the buyer to step back and take

advantage of your experience in diagnosing the problem faced. In this way, you gently push

the buyer back up to the divergent thinking stage where he/she generates alternatives. At

this phase, they have a grasp of the situation, now seek to generate alternatives and explore

options to resolve the situation.

Remember, if you received an RFP, the buyer moved past considering alternatives and

jumped to convergent thinking where he’s ready to decide. Bring his thinking back a little.

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Focus on Committee Members

RFPs are normally run by committees. Many of the committee members will occupy

different phases of the buying/decision-making process. This condition offers a good

opportunity for you to help shape the criteria, and even the decision-making process.

Even though a large portion of the group, or its leader, has moved rapidly to divergent

thinking, you will find a few laggards in cognition thinking still grappling to better

understand the scope of the situation such as business implications, timing, need to know

with others in the company. This phase is all about becoming aware, and attempting to

bring structure and boundaries to the situation.

These laggards will ask: “Why do we need to do something now?” “Can’t we solve this

problem internally?” “Why can’t our current provider help us with this?” Even though an RFP

may list specific requirements and needs, if you asked all the people on the committee to

rank order their needs, you will find they are not all aligned. Find these committee members

so you can help shape some of their thinking.

It is no easy task to influence someone back to cognition thinking. Ask why he/she is going

out to RFP. Try to get the group to step back, slow down and think through the issue it is

trying to solve. In most cases, once an RFP has been issued your best bet would be to get

them back to divergent thinking.

Personal Win or Loss

One firm I work with will ask each of the committee members to rank the importance of

criteria, and then discuss possible solutions not listed in the RFP. With this exercise, you can

sometimes uncover a personal win or loss from one of the members, too.

Another example from my retirement advisory client: Two members out of seven on the

committee ranked fiduciary services as number one. They just so happened to be on the

investment committee and had a major personal risk they wanted to eliminate. One of

those members was chairperson of the RFP committee. The consultant discussed the

fiduciary issues in more detail and suggested an alternative approach to the RFP, which they

highlighted in the response, thus reinforcing their differentiation.

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Those committee members still in cognition and divergent thinking stages are precisely

the ones you need to talk with—they need your help in making the best decision. They

need time to think this through and see other possible alternatives. Your discussion

gives them the opportunity to discover new areas of focus, helps them realize certain

criterion are more important than others. Or that they hadn’t considered something key

and now realize it belongs in the mix. This is your value, your necessary differentiation.

Access or Not?

Many times your initial contact will not give you access to the committee. This is your

opportunity to gauge how cooperative the group will be in the overall process. You may

ask your contact if she would give the criteria to each member and ask them to rank the

categories. You can explain that this will help you better prepare the RFP responses so

the company can focus on the important elements of its desired solution. Ideally, she

gives you direct access to each of the members. If your contact refuses to do that, this

may not be a fair RFP process, and deserves a pass.

Without a contact inside, you’ll need to channel your inner Sherlock Holmes. Ask to

speak to some of the members. If the head of the committee refuses to give you access,

I would ask who is on the committee by discipline (legal, HR, IT) and ask for their criteria,

and if they’d rank it. Try the purchasing agent, corporate communications, inside sales,

or even a non-competing vendor. This won’t be easy without getting creative. Above all,

be discreet.

The Essentials

If the prospect has not provided you with the clarity you need on which decision criteria

are important, and which criteria are not essential, this is your opportunity to invite a

meaningful conversation to clarify. Often the committee has not thought through the

rank ordering. And, at a minimum, you need to know each member’s ranking of criteria.

If they list out their criteria by importance, don’t stop here. Understand what they

mean. It’s easy to misunderstand the meaning they place on their words. So when a

prospect says “quality service,” what does that mean? Or they say “we want the lowest

cost,” are they asking for overall cost or the price today?

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I once had a prospect tell me he wanted timely delivery of his financial statements each

quarter for the program we were asked to install. My definition was 30 days after the

quarter ended, as most of our clients found this acceptable. To my embarrassment, I later

discovered his definition was within three days of the quarter ending.

It is important that we explore the meaning from his/her point of view and not assume our

definition or we end up with miscommunication, may fail to deliver the right solution, or

worse, fail to meet his/her expectations.

Your goal should be to make every buying influence a partner in your success, rather than

an adversary to overcome.

One way of doing this is to use what Miller Heiman in Strategic Selling® calls Win-Results. As

sales people, we have a tendency to focus most of our attention on results because they are

measurable.

You can achieve Win-Results in one of two ways:

You can improve a process that is already functioning properly.

You can fix something that has gone, or might go wrong.

[See The New Strategic Selling®, Miller Heiman, Chapter 10 for more details and strategies

for getting Win-Results].

A good questioning process helps to identify the results each of the committee members

seek, and using the rankings is a good starting point for you to see what’s important. Do

remember, however, that finding out how each member wins or loses by implementing your

solution is critical.

About the Win

Miller Heiman says, “A win is the fulfillment of a promise made to oneself.”

Wins are intangible, not measurable and not quantifiable like results. Decisions are made by

committee members who are human beings and, ultimately, their feelings and needs drive

their decisions.

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People need to fulfill self-interest. It is normal and natural; it is not selfish. I always try to

think, “What does the prospect want for himself?” This win could represent for him a way

avoid a loss or save face with others. Consider this: The head of human resources may see

your solution as one that will free up her time so she can focus on other projects. Or the

chief financial officer may see your solution as reducing cost which, in turn, improves

earnings and gives him a higher bonus.

Of course, the ability to avoid loss of credibility is also a win. If you are able to fix a problem

that a prospect may have personally caused, that’s a big win. People win in different ways,

but everyone has a win. They must see the results first, then they will perceive a win.

You must spend time understanding how each of the committee members will win. Ask

essential questions because when you understand and sell to your buyer’s wins, you close

more sales. As an aside, what we teach in Strategic Selling® is how to connect your buying

influence’s personal wins to your solution.

Find a Coach—Win More RFPs

As we discussed before, you may not have the access you need to the right people in the

buyer’s firm, so you need to develop a coach.

The first thing you should do when an RFP arrives is to find out what connections you have

with the organization. I go to my LinkedIn account to see how many degrees away I am from

key people within the issuing company. With all of my contacts in LinkedIn, I increase the

probability that I can make a connection. When you find your contact, be sure to ask for

their “coaching.”

It’s important to have key influences, such as other advisors who could support your efforts.

As an example, on one recent RFP, my LinkedIn profile showed I had a contact with a tax

lawyer who was connected to several people within the organization. When I contacted him

by phone about the company I was targeting, he told me it was one of his clients, and he

was familiar with the project. When I told him we were part of the RFP process, he stepped

up and began to give me some coaching on who the players were and how this company

made decisions. Without my homework, I would have never known he had a connection

with this company.

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Coaches are necessary to win RFPs. They can be found among the key people within the

organization, but because the coach’s focus is on your selling success, you can find them

outside the organization, as we did with the lawyer, or maybe within your own company.

The coach is your guide through the sale, giving you information you need to manage it to a

satisfactory close. They can help you validate if your solution is the right one, can help you

identify and meet all, or at least some, of the decision makers. The coach strategy is pivotal

to success with blind RFPs because she is your only connection with the company. And,

more than one coach increases your odds of closing.

A coach can also help you close the credibility gap. The credibility gap occurs when the

buyer has a criterion that is crucial and perceives your organization as weak in that criterion,

when in fact this is one of your strongest areas. Where perception is inaccurate, you need

someone they respect and trust helping to change that perception on your behalf.

What I do—once I have a firm understanding of their criteria and the importance of each

area— is to ask my coach do a little selling on my behalf. If your coach has had prior

experience with you, they could be a reference for the strengths you bring to the table.

The Finals Presentation

The final oral presentation is the tie-breaker and, typically, includes the final three

competitors. Companies want to see the doers, not the salespeople make this final, oral

presentation, which is now a fact of life in the RFP process.

At this point, the buyer is buying into your team, not the salespeople or marketers who

might have gotten you this far. Not everyone presenting on your behalf may have worked

together often enough. Some presenters may even be partners from outside your company.

No Doubts

For the 60 to 90 minutes your group presents, there should be no doubt that you are a

cohesive team and that everyone can articulate the winning strategy down to the person.

Marginally integrated partners who seem indifferent to the other team members can cause

doubts about your ability to work together and deliver the results promised.

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If you and your team find it difficult to do something as simple as present the plan

together, how can you possibly coordinate the efforts of many dozens of people to

deliver a project? Teams that come to present must share a common understanding of

why they’re there. So no matter what your role in the final presentation, all team

members must commit enthusiastically to the key messages it will take to win the day.

Buyers also watch and listen carefully to determine if the team shares a common

understanding of the project. They want to know if the presenters complement one

another or are there outliers on the team. Buyers look for congruity throughout the

presentation: Does the solution you recommend address the right issues or are you

simply making a proposal? Finally, the buyer’s committee needs to gain a clear sense

of who leads the project and how the team acts as one under the selected leadership.

Trust & Believability

Your oral presentation is the primary vehicle for building trust and believability in you,

your team and your proposal. Invest extra time to sharpen the team’s presentation

skills, but don’t make it too slick and polished. The buyer wants to feel confidence in the

team’s ability to communicate and answer questions on its feet.

I have had a unique vantage point in working with a number of companies in various

industries on high-level presentations. And there’s one reoccurring issue that impacts

everyone’s ability to close major deals—the key messages focus on the situation from

the presenter’s point of view.

The presentation ends up being all about who we are, what we do, and why we’re great.

This self-serving focus is all too obvious to those on the receiving end of the

presentation. Finalists mistakenly think the committee wants to hear more details

about the presenters. They already know this; that’s why you are in the final three.

Gemma Laming SME Marketing suggests speaking to your buyer committee as if you’ve

already landed the contract. Phrase everything to convey you aren’t making a pitch so

much as speaking as a representative of their firm. This confidence works miracles.

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During the presentation you need the group to interact. One way to start the conversation is

to ask them WHY they chose your firm to join the final three. This often uncovers buying

motives. You also should find a way to ask what the tiebreakers are for making a decision.

Don’t hang back. It’s not overly bold. For insurance, ask your coach to surface prior to the

presentation, and rehearse further how you bring your value into the conversation, like gold

threads through a brocade jacket, because that’s what will catch the buyer’s attention.

Polish Those Diamonds

If you grimace every time you face responding to an RFP, change your expression! RFPs can

be one of the most brilliant aspects of your marketing platform. With some adjustments to

your attitude, process, and timing, you can actually learn to love RFPs.

Here’s a recap of my ten carat rules for polishing those RFP diamonds:

1. Make connections inside or outside the RFP issuer before its released.

2. Help the prospect see problems overlooked.

3. Know the decision-making process; sell how they want to buy.

4. Help build the RFP with the issuer early on.

5. Define RFP specifications to your advantage.

6. Know with certainty, you’re doing the right thing by the prospect.

7. Turn buying influencers into partners in your success by acting on their personal wins.

8. Get a coach to help your team in the clenches

9. Final presentation must be a united front by all presenters.

10. Always perform as a trusted advisor.

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If you would like more information on winning at RFPs, or are interested in

PleinAire’s MERGE process or the Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study ,

please connect with us at 858.759.8637 or email Bill MacDonald directly at

bill@pastrategy.com or log onto www.pleinairestrategies.com.

“A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure.”

-Henry Kissinger

PleinAire Strategies, LLC

7555 PleinAire

San Diego, CA 92127

Voice 858.759.8637

Fax 858.759.8608

Cell 213.598.7400

bill@pastrategy.com

www.pleinairestrategies.com