How to Win with RFPs w/ Kathryn Bennett

Outbound Sales Lift

Click here for Episode #73 show notes with full transcript, links mentioned, and more!

#73: Listen as Kathryn Bennett, Director of RFP Excellence at Loopio, discusses her experience at winning with RFPs. She explains how to streamline the RFP process, the differences between RFI and RFP, and how it applies to public and private procurement efforts.

Don’t feel like listening? Read the Episode Cliff Notes instead below:

What is RFP and Why Does It Matter? (0:22)

RFP is the request for proposal that you get from enterprise organizations or entities often in the sales domain.

You’ll hear it referred to as an RFX, an umbrella of types of responses that they might be soliciting.

So there are security, questionnaires, or DDQ issues like qualifications and documents. The RFP process is a formalized procurement process designed to advantage the buyer by providing specific types of information.

It requires a little more documentation simply because the entity is trying to do its due diligence by thoroughly reviewing its options.

In the RFP process, what it does, ultimately buyers are looking to save money by making more responsible decisions.

We want to make sure that we’re communicating the best value through our RFP documents.

You are often in a much more controlled environment because you’ve had to qualify to attempt to propose to these folks. And therefore, your pool of competition is much smaller, and you are in a better position to win the business.

RFPs in Startups and Scale-Ups (4:46)

One of the first things you need to consider in this instance is how you’ll find the opportunities. For example, if you’re selling into the business community, you usually have to get invited to submit to an RFP.

You may be discounting your pricing on a larger scale, but how you position yourself needs to be competitive.

You can get one small component of a larger project that helps you build your past performance and get your resume built up. Then you have that experience with the other entity partnerships.

So being in that early startup environment and looking to win through RFP partnerships should be a key component of your strategy.

RFPs cost around $5k to $10k of labor and materials put together, and they’re not a small endeavor. And so, at least to those for larger enterprise efforts, that’s why the capture process is so important.

Maybe you fill out the RFI documents and never hear from the company again. That’s also pretty common, so don’t be discouraged.

RFI vs. RFP (9:52)

It goes down the sales and marketing funnels in terms of effort. One of the three main types of documents in this context will be the RFI at the top of the sales funnel.

RFI and RFQ stages don’t always happen. They’re optional and for very conscientious buyers or regulated buyers.

By the time you get to the RFP, you’re building on those foundations, moving down the marketing funnel, and the buyer has decided that they are going to buy.

Many sales leaders will try to chase every RFP that comes through the door because they see it as a marketing opportunity. Kathryn makes it clear that by the time RFP has come out, you no longer have the chance to market.

Public vs. Private Procurement (14:00)

It’s vital to differentiate between public and private procurement efforts.

First of all, in private sector buying, they don’t have ethical rules around it. But they don’t have any legal prohibitions against public sector buying.

If there’s even a whiff of impropriety about the fact that maybe this person is in there influencing the sales process unfairly, those procurement people’s jobs are at risk. And in fact, they could be a legal liability.

When it comes to public procurement, it makes sense to warm up. But no, the decision is not made before you walk in the door, which is why you would craft your proposal.

For private procurement, you can often email the person leading the charge and say, “Hey, can I ask a question about this?” Then, maybe they’ll put it out to the rest of the buyers. That might not be true for public procurement.

You need to be cognizant that they will publish the questions you ask, but you can strategically ask questions that torpedo your competition or that support your position.

If you intend to move into the enterprise space or sell space with governments, you have to have a good content management system.

The earlier you start managing content for your sales and proposal efforts, the more reliable and sustainable your processes will be.