Ah, the beauty of a great pitch. If you’ve ever worked at an ad agency, you know the drill. You get told that you’re on the pitch team and you have to provide a ridiculous amount of free work for some company you’ve never heard of and most likely a company who has no idea what you do. Most often, this donation of time and ideas comes via the dreaded acronym: R.F.P.
R.F.P officially stands for “Request for Proposal.”However, I believe it really stands for “Ridiculous Freaking Process.”
Usually an R.F.P. shows up from someone who just googled “Des Moines Ad Agency” and happened to find our name. SEO (search engine optimization) love aside, we got the R.F.P. for no particular reason. Don’t even get me started on the state government R.F.P. process where if you have a pulse and an Iowa zip code you get invited to attend. Hard to like your chances when there are 40 other companies going after the same piece of business. Not to mention that a lot of times, your “invitation” is just a formality. You see, they’ve already picked their agency but have to drag you through “their process.” See our IDED post if you don’t believe me.
The good R.F.P. is the one that lands on your desk with a phone call from someone at the company saying, “We sent this to you because….” We like to pursue those. Or, we like to pursue the ones we know we’d have a chance to succeed with. When you are a 12 person shop, you have to be selective on who you give your free thinking to.
Don’t you think the R.F.P. process is outdated? My guess is that it takes someone a good 20 hours to put together a 60 page document with more focus on rules and procedures than the description of WHAT IS ACTUALLY NEEDED from a marketing standpoint. How about spending those 20 hours looking for referrals from your friends and business associates? How about setting up meetings with those agencies to see if you actually want to spend the term of the contract dealing with them. We’d love to hear from you about that kind of a meeting. We’ll even buy you lunch if you want.
We have a common saying around Lessing-Flynn, which is “Most of our clients actually like us.” Shouldn’t you like your agency too?
Author: Josh Fleming
www.lessingflynn.com
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post, and thanks for taking a stand against the RFP process! I knew it well from my agency days and have participated in a few via Lava Row, usually with disastrous results. (ie. spending too many hours focused on something than brought no return)
RFPs are a necessary evil every once in a while, but the more you grow your reputation network and client references, you earn the right to turn down RFPs (or ignore them altogether).
Josh, You have a great point about the RFP process. In the past, from the client point of view, we did these processes with agencies like yours. It was always tough for me personally, since I know a few of the RFP's we did were only done because others thought the agencies should be included even if we were most likely not going to do anything with them. Personally, that tactic ticked me off. Plus, there were a few times where I felt one agency knew our business and would do a great job, but was overruled since another RFP said it would be cheaper. Cheaper does not always mean better.
Thanks for sharing this post. Do away with the RFP and instead, clients should reach out to agencies via social media and get to know them. Then, if the fit is right, work out a proposal between the client and the agency. Saves time and money for all involved.
Let me start by saying, "Thank You" to Josh and the Lessing Flynn crew for taking this stand. I have long been an advocate against the dreaded RFP monster and his/her (not sure of it's anatomy) processes.
I must also comment on how interesting it is to have supporting comments from both sides of the table in Nathan (Agency/Vendor) and Mark (Client). I have found many client-side people who would echo Mark's comments, but unfortunately, the more common occurrence is to have someone who relishes the position of being able to cast out the proverbial RFP net with total disregard for an Agency's time and product.
Let me pose this question based on the above statement and other replies…Has your agency truly stopped participating in blanket RFPs? @EdgeCore we have turned the tables on RFP seekers by creating a policy that we do not participate in RFPs where we have no RELATIONSHIP…meaning we have to have a personal, professional or social (i.e. Twitter) relationship in order to even consider participating. Since instituting this policy in October 2008 we have seen our success/award rate double.
Great comments! As I tweeted, its always great when some of the comments are stronger than the post itself. I think that's true here.
Devin, congrats on the success of the policy for your firm. To answer your question specifically, we have stopped responding to blanket RFPs unless there was some sort of relationship that preceded the RFP.
Most agencies in a down economy will scrape for every dollar they can find and respond to everything. With a staff of 12 people we have to real careful about how we spend our time pursuing new business. One of the most important thing to us is enjoying working with the people we do business with. Neither party can learn that about each other through an RFP.
I've never worked for an ad/marketing agency but the world of contingency recruiting was my home for several years and that process operates in much the same manner. A company who needs to fill a position sends the request-for-people to several agencies who then race to get qualified candidates in front of the hiring company. The only agency who gets paid is the one who supplies the chosen candidate. Everyone else gets bupkis.
The result is many recruiting folks doing work for free and feeling crappy about losing and then the next one that comes your way is treated with a hairy eyeball – "Do I even have a chance?" "Does someone else have the decider's ear?" "Is there a way to up my chances?"
That last question is what drove me out of the Headhunter business. There is so much pressure to game this system that decent people start doing non-decent things. I imagine the ad agency has a similar issue with ethical behavior in the RFP process.
If you can actually swing it and pass on all RFPs that aren't with a known company who has a valid and meaningful relationship with you, I will be impressed. That's the core of what I'm trying to do with my own efforts.
Devin, you are correct that many clients relish sending out RFPs to agencies with disregard to an Agency's time. That is very unfortunate when it happens. That is why I had a hard time and usually took a stand against doing this with agencies. Having an established relationship with an Agency is so crucial and like you shared, you only accept RFP's where there is that relationship already with a client. A great way to take charge of the process. Also, I like Josh's comment that they are willing to start that relationship with a client by taking them to lunch and seeing if it would be a good match. Great way to do it also.
Ben…I don't envy your experience in working in the recruiting game, but do applaud you for getting out.
To your point about about being able to pass on RFPs where you don't have a relationship…believe me when I tell you that we kissed a lot of frogs before we realized that our true prince-ss was in the relationships/network we already had established…sorry for the horrible cliche, but it was the only visual I could muster up. The truth is, if you have a strong network of people who know you and your abilities (or your companies'), then you have a stronger core of "leads" than you will ever get from participating in Blanket RFPs…Josh is right…but I would add that regardless of your size…you need to careful how to best utilize your most valuable asset…YOUR TIME!
Here is my 3¢.
1¢ RFPs are tools that are typically used when companies don't care about the quality of work, rather, what it costs them initially. (Of course, there is a good chance it will end of costing them MORE this route)
2¢ RFPs are usually sent by people or companies who are fulfilling a duty, and not passionately pursuing greatness.
3¢ RFPs crush relationships. Business is most productive when done via relationships. Without relationships, clients are not loyal and vendors are not likely to give great service. Seriously do you start new relationships by sending out an RFP entitled: "Who of you will be the best friend for me?"?
Good post, good comments and honest acknowledgement of the weaknesses of RFPs.
If you really want to bury RFPs, agencies will need to commit to a sales process that makes the RFP process a liability to any company using the method.
I learned that the hard way over time in my first B2B sales position. I also learned it can be done.
FYI, Justin Brady tweeted that I should read this post…and he was right!
Keep creating…practical surprise,
Mike
Good discussion. The ballsiest move I witnessed was when I was on the client side. A NY agency who had done a very good piece of work for me was asked to create a spec proposal for a next-phase project. The agency head told me, "You know our work, and it is good work. Our work and our relationship with you is our proposal. If you need more from us to approve our continuing to work for you, then we don't have the relationship I thought we had. We'd love to continue with you, but we're not going to create a proposal." I had to bow to the guy. He was right.
RFPs suck the life out of agency personnel. On the one hand, you're expected to pull bunnies out of your butt to please the client, but you get yelled at for billing too many hours to RFP prep.
The proverbial dog and pony show does wow and impress clients. But is it worth the 50,000 in time put in? Are you prepared to fail? If the answer is no, then don't answer RFPs.
Wow and amen. Lots of great comments. After being in the biz for 30+ years I wish I had saved some of the RFPs we got. Some were hysterically funny without meaning to be. Some wanted to know how many MBAs were on your staff (not sure if they asked that because it was a good thing or a bad thing). Others approached the point of being complete gibberish. I second these emotions. Bury the RFP. It really does not work.
Good post and many valid points here. I work for a small marketing agency myself and am the one who has had to do the most RFPs to date because that is just how I have been able to make connections to get leads for work. However all of those RFPs that I do submit on are ONLY AFTER I am able to have a phone conversation with the company and dig into what their actual needs are, as you said in your post creating a real connection and relationship there. And even then sometimes we don't end up doing the RFP because we just don't think it will be worth it. I also find the more of these we do the better we get at determining where the real opportunities are vs. the tire kickers who have no real intention of doing business with you.
Great post, and to add more fuel on the fire, some more thoughts and another reason not to enjoy the ol RFP.
What really happens during an RFP review! – http://sandersconsulting.com/newbusinesshawk/?p=1...
LOL Great minds and all that Maverick!
Goose out!
B
The idea of a RFP is good, it's the implementation of the RFP that is often lacking. That is not a fault of the RFP process, but the organization issuing the RFP.
Often maligned, RFPs are a valuable tool and opportunity: http://blog.confluentforms.com/2009/07/often-mali...
Best,
-David
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