EP086: The 4x4 Framework for RFP Success, Part 2—Processes
Once you have the right RFP strategy in place, it’s time to take a look at your proposal PROCESSES.
And while we don’t want to overburden you with processes, having a few key systems in place can save you a LOT of time and trouble.
On this episode of the podcast, I discuss the four processes you need to get a proposal out the door efficiently, starting with your process for learning about RFPs for your target clients.
I explain why it’s crucial to have an assessment process that moves quickly and describe how an efficient response management process can buy you two to three extra days!
Listen in to understand the benefits of a double-debrief (whether you win or lose the bid) and learn how to identify when your current processes aren’t serving you and need to be improved.
Key Takeaways
The 4 elements of the RFP Success Company’s 4x4 framework
1. Strategy
2. Process
3. Content
4. People
The 4 key processes for RFP success
1. RFP receipt process
2. Assessment process (go or no-go)
3. Response management process
4. Debrief process
Why you shouldn’t rely solely on notification services to learn about new RFPs
Why it’s important to have an assessment process that moves fast
What’s included in the response management process
How to buy yourself 2 to 3 extra days by tightening up your response management process
The benefits of implementing a double-debrief (even if you win the bid)
My top 6 signs that your current processes aren’t working for you
RFP Success Show EP86 Transcription
You're listening to the RFP Success Show with eight time author, speaker and CEO of the RFP Success Company, Lisa Rehurek. Tune in each episode to learn what today's capture an RFP teams are doing to increase their win percentages by up to 20, 30 and even 50 percent, and meet the industry trailblazers better getting it right. Let's get started.
Lisa Rehurek (00:24):
Hello everybody, and welcome back to the RFP Success Show. My name is Lisa Rehurek as always your host and I am founder and CEO of the RFP Success Company. Last episode, I kind of laid the groundwork for this series that I'm doing here, series of four episodes all around the RFP Success Company's four by four framework. And this is the RFP Success framework that we have come up with based on our experience over many, many years, really for me, close to 30 years of experience in the RFP field. So last episode, we talked about strategy and how important it is to lay the strategy, have that very solid, because if you don't get that right, it's going to follow you all the way through everything else you do. And that is frustrating and it causes you to lose RFPs. And we want to, and we not only want to, we're just passionate about helping you win more RFPs.
Lisa Rehurek (01:22):
So I'm not sharing this information with you lightly to say, oh, here's some good to haves. These are things that over our experience, again, 30 years of experience, plus my team, we have a lot of experience in this. And this framework was developed because we have seen companies, so many companies over these years that don't have these pieces of the puzzle and that's what's missing for them. And we find that when companies have all four of these pieces of the framework, then they're the ones that are in the 80% win rate categories. They're the ones that have it dialed in. So heed my advice here to pay attention to all four of these. So last episode, we talked about strategy. This episode, we're talking about process and process is one of those words that people are like, "Ah." A lot of people kind of throw their head back and roll their eyes and they say, "Oh, I don't want to talk about processes, just things are too over-processed," and I couldn't agree with you more.
Lisa Rehurek (02:18):
There is a lot of over-processing going on, especially in the RFP world, because you know, when you're looking at federal bids, there needs to be some pretty solid processes in place, but you've got to find the processes that work best for you and your situation. And they need to be effective processes. They don't need to be there just to be there. They need to be effective. So I'm going to talk about the four processes that we look at when we go in and peel the onion back and do our diagnostic on a company. We go in and we look at kind of four key areas. The first one is, how are you receiving RFPs? So what is the process for learning about RFPs for your target clients? And there are services out there, you can pay an annual or a monthly fee to get notifications about government proposals. You're not going to get that for corporate proposals, but certainly for government and, you can wait for that to happen. And then you get the email that says, "Hey, this RFP is out."
Lisa Rehurek (03:16):
I will tell you that we use those services because we like to see what's out there. I always encourage companies to look at them as well. However, you should never rely solely on them. And the reason is that you're going to lose at least a week, if you're relying on that. And I know that doesn't sound like a lot of time, but for those of you who know, know that one week is gold in RFP response time. So you've got to really dig deep and look at that RFP receipt process. How are you getting those RFPs? And back to the strategy from last episode, when I talked about making sure that you know who your target audience is and that you've got that intelligence strategy, that all plays into this. So your RFP receipt process is going to be a hot, hot mess if you don't have that strategy developed upfront. So I told you, I was going to share with you along the way, how important that foundation is. We're on the first item under process, and I'm already telling you how important it is.
Lisa Rehurek (04:11):
The second process is your assessment process, or you can call it your go, no go. And this is your decision-making process around what you should and shouldn't bid on. A lot of companies out there have assessment criteria. We highly encourage you having assessment criteria, but you need to make sure it's the right assessment criteria. And you're looking at the right things and you need to have a process around how that works. And every company is different. I used to work for a company and we had a great process laid out for lower level people to do pieces of that puzzle so that the higher ups who had less time would be able to make a quicker decision because somebody did some of the research for them on it already.
Lisa Rehurek (04:52):
So there's a lot of different things you can do around assessment process, but it's really important and it needs to go fast. You've got to make a fast decision. We were just talking to a potential client the other day and they were twiddling their thumbs. And we finally just said to them, look, you have to make a decision by today at five o'clock or we're not going to be able to help you. They had kind of dilly-dallied for about a week. And we know again, that week is gold. And when we start missing that and they think, well, we still have two weeks left, two weeks is not enough time to put together a winning proposal, unless it's only a couple of pages. So that assessment process is hugely important so that you get through it efficiently.
Lisa Rehurek (05:31):
All right, then number three, the big behemoth is the response management process. This process includes a lot of different things, but it certainly includes how you're getting and all the writing done, your calendar, your timeline. Who's doing what? Who's reviewing when, and all of the pieces that go in there? And that is a very big process. There's so many places in that process that can trip people up and that can cause you to lose a couple of days or even a half a day. And when you start looking at that, when we start peeling the onion back on this again, when we do the diagnostics for companies, we'll find two or three more days by tightening up those processes, or just making them more efficient and effective.
Lisa Rehurek (06:13):
And I know for those of you listening that do RFPs on a regular basis, you're like, "Ah, I will take three days. I'll take two days." Heck we'll take one day, right? We'll take as much extra time as we can. And so our intent with processes is not to overburden you with process, but to say, "Okay, what processes do you have? What's missing and what's not serving you? And let's tighten that up so that it's serving everybody on the team." Right?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
There's so much more behind a failed RFP than just lost revenue. Employee engagement, decreases with each loss. And a Gallup survey suggests that it cost up to 10 grand in salary per employee with 15% lower profits. If you're ready to increase your win rate consistently and put our winning and repeatable strategies in place, schedule your consultation now at Bit.ly/ChatRFP, that's Bit.ly, B-I-T dot L-Y forward slash Chat RFP.
Lisa Rehurek (07:03):
And then the last process is the debrief process. And the debrief process is often overlooked because people are tired and exhausted. That RFP is out the door. Let's just wipe our hands and move on. But it's really important for so many reasons. It helps the team decompress. You've got to do it soon after you respond to because it's ... And actually, we recommend a double debrief process. One right after it goes out the door so that everything's fresh in everybody's mind what worked, what didn't work. And then once after you find out the result of it, win or lose. Even if you win, you should have a post-decision debrief. So those are the four processes, the RFP receipt process, the assessment go-no-go process, response management process and debrief process. And I want you to think about something around processes. There's a handful of things that are signs that you have a bad process.
Lisa Rehurek (07:57):
So I'm going to just rattle these off. And I want you to think about this. Are any of these things happening in your organization? And if they are, you need to go back and look at your processes and see where something isn't serving you or what might be causing these. So the first one is things are just not right the first time. You're having to do things over and over and over. Sometimes that's going to happen. I get it. But if that happens every time, that happens a lot, there's a breakdown in a process somewhere. Things are taking too long? There is a breakdown in a process. Maybe you're throwing money at a problem, but nothing's improving. Your team is constantly frustrated. There's a high frustration factor. Finger-pointing across departments. If everybody's blaming everybody else, there's something going on there. If managers are spending too much time fighting fires, and it feels like it's always just fire after fire, after fire, something's going on.
Lisa Rehurek (08:54):
So I know that in the RFP world, a lot of this happens, there is often firefighting going on. There's often a lot of crunch time, but it shouldn't be happening consistently. And when it's happening consistently, that's a sign that there's a bad process in place or lack of a process. So think about that. Maybe journal things down, take some notes and pay attention to that because that can really help your organization. If you hone in on where you can improve those processes. So thank you for being here. This was episode number two of the series around the RFP Success Company's four-by-four framework. And last episode, we talked about strategy. Today we talked about process. Next episode, we're going to talk about content and we're going to dive in more to the content side of things. Once you've got all those processes down, how are you writing and how is your message coming across? Thanks again for being here. I'm Lisa Rehurek your host, we'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
This has been another episode of the RFP Success Show with Lisa Rehurek, eight time author, speaker, and CEO of the RFP Success Company. Thank you for joining us. If you have feedback on today's episode, email us at podcast@rfpsuccess.com. No matter your business size, industry, if you have an in-house RFP team or need outside support, RFP Success Company helps increase RFP win ratios by 10, 20 and even 50 percent. Learn more at therfpsuccesscompany.com.