Another method of dealing with RFPs is to make them into bespoke offerings! (I rarely get to use that wonderful word in a sentence!)
Some buyers will love you but they’re forced to use a competitive bidding system because of strict organizational rules. In this case, have the buyer (not some lower level committee) “design” the RFP around you. Even if you don’t qualify for “sole-source” purchasing, this is the equivalent.
The RFP in this case can list criteria such as:
- Worked for extended periods in London and Sydney, where our two major overseas offices are located.
- Speak Spanish, where our expansion plans are highest priority.
- Has coached at executive level in the pharmaceutical industry.
You get the idea. There will hardly be hundreds of people applying. That means that you can pretty much have the field to yourself.
This approach requires a tight relationship with the true buyer, and that is often much harder in RFP situations. We talk later in the chapter about how best to at- tempt this when you receive an RFP of interest, but let’s talk here of the “front end,” before it’s even issued.
The entire point of market gravity is to create interest in your work among economic buyers and, once contacted, to ascertain who the economic buyer really is. If you’re able to do that consistently through your speaking, publishing, networking, Internet activity, and so forth, you will meet buyers who can write a check immediately and others who must go through the competitive bidding process.
The good news is that the bidding process must be instigated by someone, and you’ve found that someone. So when the buyer explains (or complains about or bemoans) the need to create an RFP, suggest that perhaps you can recommend some important criteria based on what the buyer has explained about needs. (Many buyers don’t need this hint, believe me.)
The two of you can then collaborate on getting you hired. In many cases, the buyer can even create work flow that will enable your value-based fees to be readily accepted (since RFPs are notoriously based on hourly and daily rates otherwise). Even if there are a few other consultants around with similar credentials and experiences, the odds are that:
- They aren’t going to learn of this RFP.
- Even if a couple of consultants turn up, they don’t have the relationship with the buyer that you’ve established.
- The odds are still better at one in three than one in a thousand.
You can see how much of an advantage you’ll get from market gravity and be- spoke RFPs than you would have in just responding to the ones figuratively marked “occupant” when they hit your company mailbox!
Some of the characteristics useful in helping the buyer “design” an RFP for you, in addition to the precise nature of the project:
- Language capability
- International experience
- Industry experience
- Professional (acknowledged) credentials
- Publishing (articles, columns, assuming no commercial book)
- Education
- Experience running companies, sales forces, start-ups, and so on
Once you begin to combine several of these you’ve narrowed the field by leaps and bounds until it’s almost the same as, “Get me James McGee.” It can be that specific.
This approach to RFPs is what I call “preventive,” because it focuses on dealing with them before they’re issued. (So does sole source in most cases, because after an RFP is issued it seldom calls for “a book published on lean manufacturing in the construction industry” as a criterion—they are by definition more generic.) We talk about “contingent” approaches, what to do after you receive an RFP that is very generic, in the last part of this chapter.
The case I want to make here is that RFPs are a waste of time only if you surrender to their terms and conditions, and the very nature of the beast. If you prepare yourself to deal differently before and/or after, you can achieve success with these. It’s not unusual for a series of RFPs over the years to be created just for you once you’ve done a great job with the initial project.
But you cannot take this particular preventive action with a committee, non buyers, or after the fact. Bespoke RFPs are possible only under these conditions:
- An economic buyer has come to you or you’ve reached one yourself, prior to any RFP being issued.
•You establish rapport and a trusting relationship with that buyer to the extent that the buyer is prepared to design an RFP that will enable you and few others to be considered.
- You suggest and possess the distinctive features that design the profile of the successful candidate.
- The basis is so clear and reasonable that even a screening committee would have no hesitation at passing your name on once you’ve complied with the RFP requirements for submission. That same committee will eliminate virtually everyone else.
To place things in perspective, I’ve succeeded with this approach on a handful of occasions before I became a true sole-source provider through my range of books and unique experiences. But during that period I was never successful on any RFP for which I merely complied with submission requirements, even though I may have been superbly well qualified for the project. I suspect that most of the problem was around my fees.
I offer this as an alternative, not a panacea, especially where you’ve met an interested buyer first who now needs to get you through the competitive bidding process.