Accustomed to putting your web vendors on the RFP hot seat? Cool it down with our tried-and-true tips to finding your agency soul mate.
Avoiding the RFP From Hell: Tips on Finding the Agency of Your Dreams
Say you’re seeking the love of your life. You could ask friends for a recommendation, patrol the bar at Chili’s, or join Match.com. Or you could get right down to business with a missive like this:
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS: Spouse. Seeking short-term interpersonal romance, with potential for multi-year contract for a long-term commitment and a life lived happily ever after. Proposals judged on responses to ratings matrix (see pp. 7-65), relationship history, and other factors determined by judging team. Please hand-deliver seven (7) printed and bound proposals by Friday at 4 PM.
OK, so maybe the best way to find a mate is not to treat it like you’re searching for a new farm tractor or a bridge builder. This scenario, however, has a parallel in the world of web agencies. Many clients, trying to find the perfect vendor objectively, describe their hopes and dreams in a well-documented RFP (or its kissin’ cousin, the Request for Information).
There’s certainly a place in the client-vendor mating ritual for check-boxes, pricing grids, skills assessments and strategic vision. (And yes, we know government and some other client types require a bidding process.) But having slogged through hundreds of RFPs over the years, ISITE Design warns against letting the RFPs serve as the middle-man in what’s really an affair of the heart.
We always recommend – if at all possible – doing your homework and pre-selecting a handful of well-qualified companies. But if you insist on the RFP route, here are some tips to follow that will make you successful – and leave us agency folks with a little more hair…
State Your Budget
If we were to rank our suggestions, this would be the entire top 10. Nothing is more frustrating than having an organization give you an 80-page RFP filled with advanced features, only to turn mute when the topic of budget arises. Most say they’re excited to receive all responses and want to see what it will actually take to produce. First off, you should have done your homework to know basic cost ranges. Secondly, supplying a budget range allows agencies to right-size a solution that balances your real needs with your budget constraints. The recommended third-party software, for example, can vary widely based on budget constraints. It also helps you attract agencies that are an appropriate fit for your type of work. In the end we recommend you let agencies know your budget at an amount that leaves room for new ideas that arise during the project.
Have Real Conversations
All too often, companies use the RFP process to put up an artificial wall between themselves and bidding agencies. A contract officer often stands as an intermediary guarding the real project team. No direct conversations are allowed and questions are only accepted in writing at one point in the process. Speaking from years of experience, an hour-long conversation with the project team is far more informative than a 100-page RFP. Don’t hide behind the pages of your RFP in attempt to be fair to all bidding agencies. You’ll only get responses that miss the mark and frustrated agencies that don’t understand your real needs.
Be Open to Processes and Deliverables
We have yet to partner with a client with an unlimited budget. This leaves us in the position of shaping solutions that match each client’s budget, timeline and scope. Recently we have noticed an up-tick in the number of RFPs that mandate a specific process and ask for what we would consider excessive numbers of deliverables. Not only may this result in an unnecessarily expensive project, but it forces agencies to abandon their tried and true processes in an attempt to do it your way. It’s fine to give constraints, but your project will be a success if you let the agency run the project based on its own best practices.
Speak English (or Interactive)
A common miscue on websites is use of nomenclature that only insiders understand. Government organizations are classic for their acronyms and phrases that don’t translate outside of marble offices. RFPs can suffer from the same problem. Take care to use terminology and industry standard phrases when describing your needs. There will be plenty of time during the course of the project to explain the in’s and out’s of the SDLC process or finer points of the Banking Secrecy Act.
Cap the Size of the Responses
We love to see page restrictions on responses. It forces agencies to provide clarity and makes it easier for you to evaluate the responses. But be careful. Because with the good comes one critical item: detail. Do not expect to learn about each minute step of the project nor receive a comprehensive background on similar projects. Instead you will get a high-level overview of what to expect. The elements that you find to be missing can easily be covered in subsequent interviews.
Review Real Creative
We have responded to a few RFPs in which clients ask for creative mock-ups showing what we could do for them. It’s puzzling why an organization would make a decision by reviewing designs based on conjecture. When looking for creative partner, have a deeper conversation with the creative team to learn about their process. Ask to see a wide variety of recent work across many different industries and site types. If you still feel that you need to see new creative work, allot time to speak with each respondent to help them get a solid sense of your own vision for the site and brand. And expect to pay for it.
Set and Enforce Deadlines
RFPs all have set deadlines. Figure that a response usually takes two to three weeks (includes time for questions, pondering and writing). Also figure that if a firm cannot respond to an RFP in the allotted time that it has not put your project as a priority. Don’t start off the project by setting the example that you’ll accept late delivery. You may come to regret it.
Save a Tree: Limit the Copies
Gone are the days of jokes about needing documents “in triplicate”. Today many RFPs ask for five, six and sometimes even 10 copies. We recognize that the number of copies typically corresponds to the number of reviewers. Do those reviewers really need a paper copy? (Does it flummox anyone else when a “website” proposal requires hundreds of printed pages?) Would they prefer to read the response online? Check internally to see what will work best for your reviewers. Ask for an electronic copy and run the copies yourself.
Be Crystal Clear
When it comes to specifying what you want, drop the pretense. Just say it, plainly. “We’d like to integrate with a third-party CRM” or “We want workflow for publishing.” On the surface these are completely reasonable requests. But which CRM? How complicated is the publishing workflow? Most RFPs give the opportunity to ask questions. But many times the answers are just as nebulous. If that’s the case, expect to receive ranges for pricing and timeline.
Seek Out Advice & Help
If you’re looking for a new website, it’s very likely you know someone else who’s been there and done that. Invite them to lunch. Ask them to read your RFP. If you know someone at an interactive agency, have them review the RFP prior to publishing. We’ve done this numerous times. Doing so is a huge benefit to both yourself and agencies as it enables the development of more targeted RFPs.
There you have it. Consider it a useful roadmap to avoiding the RFP from hell. Believe it or not, at the end of the day agencies really do want to partner with you and make your project a success. Take a moment to get to know a few agencies – what are their people like, what’s the track record with clients? Test the waters with an informal discussion. Identify a shortlist of agencies you feel comfortable with. And focus on the key items that will help you pick the right firm for the job. You’ll save time, avoid headaches, move your project to completion more quickly – and maybe even save a tree or two.
