EP115: The Value of Systems and Processes
Are you so busy bidding on RFPs that you don’t have time to build systems and processes?
Creating systems may not be sexy, and it won’t result in an immediate win. But if your proposal team reinvents the wheel with every new RFP, you’re hurting yourselves in more ways than you realize.
So, what is the benefit of setting up systems and processes for responding to RFPs? And what parts of the process should standardized?
On this episode of The RFP Success Show, I explain how standardizing or automating administrative tasks frees up time and brainpower for the creative needs of a response.
I walk you through the five parts of the proposal process that should be systematized, challenging you to build an assessment criteria tool and clearly define each team member’s role in writing.
Listen in for insight on what standardized content should be in your library and learn how to leverage software to create SOPs for preparing an RFP response.
Key Takeaways
How systems and processes promote consistency and make people’s lives easier
How standardizing or automating administrative tasks frees up time and brainpower for creativity
What 5 parts of the RFP process should be standardized or automated
Assessment criteria
Kickoff process
Role definitions
Response calendar
Library content
Why it’s beneficial to build an assessment criteria tool and define roles in writing
What standardized content should be in your library and updated at least quarterly
How you might leverage software to build systems for preparing an RFP response
RFP Success Show EP115 Transcription
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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 and RFP teams are doing to increase their win percentages by up to 20, 30 and even 50%, and meet the industry trailblazers that are getting it right. Let's get started.
Lisa Rehurek (00:24):
Hello everybody and welcome to The RFP Success Show. I am Lisa Rehurek, your host and founder, CEO of The RFP Success Company. Today we're going to talk about systems, and not a sexy topic. Most people are like, I don't want to talk about systems and processes because it just isn't sexy. It always feels arduous, but it's important. We are going to dive in and talk about why it's important, and making sure that you have the right systems and processes so that it's not a burden. Most people cringe at the sound of those word systems and processes. Again, not necessarily sexy to think about, but we have to think about this from a different perspective. We think, hey, we've got this RFP on our plate, let's just get all hands on deck, respond to this so we can win a nice lucrative contract.
(01:18):
We talk to companies all the time who will say to us, "Our processes are a mess, but we don't have time to fix them," or "we know we need your help here, but it's just not a priority for us," because they think the priority is bidding on this RFP or bidding on more RFPs. If we just bid on more RFPs, we'll win more business. But it's a backwards way of thinking about it, because it is not just about bidding on RFPs, it is about winning RFPs. You just can't win when you're not set up appropriately, because it's not just about the system and process itself, it's about what the system and process does in order to support your team in positioning you in the best way possible to win that RFP.
(02:06):
I really understand, because there's a lot of over processing that happens, there's a lot of arduousness, if that's a word, that can come with too many processes. I understand, I really do understand that it doesn't feel sexy or it feels like, eh, this isn't going to get us an immediate win so it's not a priority for us, but it just breaks my heart because I know it's hurting you in more ways than you realize.
(02:34):
Here's the deal. Having systems and processes should not be a burden. You don't want to over process something, and there's plenty of that out there. You don't want to do that. The purpose of getting processes and systems in places is twofold. One, to make sure things are done consistently, and two, to make people's lives easier. Again, we've seen a lot of over processing, so you do want to be careful there.
(03:01):
When you have the right systems and processes in place, whether it's a standard way of doing things or some sort of automation, you make your team's life easier. You make some of the standard tasks a no brainer, which allows your team to move through them quickly without a lot of brain power.
(03:23):
What that does, is it then frees them up to use that brain power towards the more creative things like writing and positioning your company for the win. When we get bogged down in the more administrative type things, our brains don't have enough time and space for that creativity. What happens is your team just then is checking boxes, answering the question in a very robotic way, and there isn't enough time and space for the strategic side of the response. How are you going to position yourself so that you're building trust, you're showing your value, you're differentiating yourself? You've got to have that. That is where the wind's going to come in.
(04:04):
Not only that, it also saves time, which means you can move through those administrative pieces faster, so not only does your team have more space in their heads because they're not bogged down in all that administrative stuff, but now they've got more time to devote to writing an amazing response. Hugely important, hugely important. We cannot be creative when we don't have enough space for that in our brains. You want to give your team that space.
(04:34):
Some of the things that should be put into a standardized process or automated include: automating your assessment criteria tool, building a tool that's automated. This not only helps you make the bidding decision more quickly, but it also takes a bunch of that emotion out of it, which also saves a lot of time and effort. Hugely important, that automated assessment tool.
(04:59):
Another thing is the kickoff process. Having an SOP, standard operating procedure, for how you kick off a new response helps to make it a no brainer to get moving in a standardized fashion, and then there's no question about who's doing what and when. Hugely important. It just becomes very habitual. Here's the exact same thing we do every time. We get an RFP, we say, "Yes," here's what happens next. It doesn't leave a lot of questions for, "Okay, are you taking care of that? Are you scheduling that meeting? How long should that meeting be? Who should all be on that meeting?" It sounds crazy because it feels like how long could that possibly take. It adds up. When you have a behemoth RFP that's due in three weeks, you need every ounce of time and space that you can get in order to put your time and effort into the most important pieces, which is positioning yourself well on that RFP.
(05:53):
Another thing that you should automate or standardize is role definitions, making sure people know what their role in the response is, having those roles clearly defined in writing. What that will do is eliminate problems throughout the process. People need to know what's expected of them. People need to know, and if you leave it up to guessing, 99% of the people are not going to get it right because they've got a different thought in their head than you have in yours. You've got to standardize that. Everybody's going to do it different if there's not something standardized. Make sure people know what is expected of them, have written roles to give them that.
(06:34):
Another piece is response calendar, making sure you have a standardized calendar with all the pieces of the puzzle so everyone has the same understanding going through the process, what and when is expected of them. We have a standardized calendar that we pull out for every one of our clients. We drop in all of the key components in that RFP response down to when all the reviews are going to take place, when it's going to get shipped or emailed, when the Q&As are coming out, when there's going to be a meeting to talk about the Q&A responses. All of that stuff should be built in. It should be standardized so that that calendar doesn't take a lot of time every time, that it just is automatic.
(07:16):
Then the last thing I'll say about standardized process is library content, so making sure you have up to date standardized content that can easily be accessed and then customized for each individual response. Yes, you're still going to have to do a little bit of work to customize it, but let me tell you, it's so much easier and quicker to customize something that's already written and up to date than starting from scratch. You want to keep that scratch writing for things that are specific to that particular RFP and you're going to make your writers' lives a lot easier with that standardized content. When I'm talking standardized content, I'm talking about things like the About Us, a bank of case studies and testimonials, prior experience, write-ups, bios and resumes. I say both because some RFPs ask for resumes, some ask for bios, and it is a point of consternation in every RFP, is resumes and bios. What a pain in the butt. Those should be in your library and they should be updated regularly.
(08:22):
Other things like company information, team differentiators, technology specs, all of that standard stuff that a lot of the RFPs are going to ask you for, have a nice standardized bank of those answers that are easy to access and easy to customize. There's a lot you can have in a repository that will be ready to go. Then you've got to have a process for making sure that content is updated at least quarterly. It's better if it's reviewed monthly just to make sure nothing's changed. Those are just some of the things that you can put into standardized processes or things that you can automate. There's proposal software out there that can help you automate some of that library content. There's software out there that helps you automate resumes and things like that. There are different things that you can do to get this all set up. Have a bank of SOPs around the RFP process. You could probably even automate that calendar. You can use one of the task management tools, like we use Asana. You can build templates in there that automatically have that all set up and ready to go with a checklist of your library content or how the process is going to work.
(09:36):
Think about those things that, even if it saves your team... even if you feel like, well, this is only going to save five minutes, but it saves frustration, it saves inconsistency, it saves challenges around everybody thinking different things. It saves a lot more than just time.
(09:55):
Again, when you have the right processes, systems, automation, whatever you want to call it, you make those things a no brainer for your team, which is less effort, less time, again, less consternation, which opens up the space for the more creative needs of the response. I encourage you to go back, look at what areas you can make more systemized, what you can put into an SOP, what you can do to make your team's life easier. Again, I get that it's not sexy. It's not fun to set up, but I'm going to tell you what, once you set it up, it's going to be sexy and easy going forward because it's going to make everybody's life easier. Thanks for tuning in and we will see you on the next one.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
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 or industry, if you have an in-house RFP team or need outside support, The RFP Success Company helps increase RFP win ratios by 10, 20, and even 50%. Learn more at therfpsuccesscompany.com.