5 Reasons Why Your RFP Sucks
Love it or hate it, it seems like Requests for Proposals or RFPs are more common in the city than Discovery Calls. This irks me and I’ll do another article on why I think we need more agencies and freelancers offering Discovery Calls in their business model, but for now: here’s five issues we’ve found with RFPs.
For the uninitiated, an RFP is a type of business document that IDEALLY outlines the scope of work for a project in order to get bids from contractors. Theoretically, it’s a good way to announce that your company is invested in a project and would like to see who’s out there with the skills and expertise to take it on. More often than not, however, these RFPs have a long way to go in articulating what the client actually needs.
If you’re in the trade of crafting these proposals, please take note to make sure you’re not making the same mistakes below!
1. The Proposal Deadline is Not Feasible
This is a big one so I’m going to put it front and centre. We’ve had proposal deadlines be under 2 weeks from the release of the RFP to our studio. Accommodating this kind of schedule would mean we’d have to STOP EVERYTHING to put together a deck for a project that we might not even get.
Release the RFP as soon as possible so that potential contractors can put together a proposal that is thoughtfully crafted. 4-6 weeks for the initial proposal deadline is fine.
2. Outside of the RFP Doc, there is Slow Communication or No Bidder’s Conference
Some clients host a bidder’s conference where all the contractors can attend and ask questions about the project, or host a tour around the site so that we can see the environment we’re pitching for. A bidder’s conference should be an OBLIGATION if you’re releasing an RFP.
Why?
I think this sums it up:
I just looked at one RFP the studio received recently. It’s a 70-something page document. I had to scroll to page 35 to find any actual mention of the deliverables and specifications.
Browsing through the Scope of Work, I come across ‘Target Audience’. It’s one line: “the target audience would be the visitors of [the location]”. I am sadly not kidding.
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A bidder’s conference or at least opening up the channels of communication (especially when clients set a two-week timeframe) would be extremely helpful in defining the scope of work for freelancers or agencies.
If it’s too much effort to host a bidder’s conference in-person, consider a virtual meeting with all the contractors. We’re in COVID times; this isn’t unusual.
3. The Target Audience is Not Defined
I’m going to circle back to the ‘Target Audience’ bit just to make it clear that one line about your target demographic is NOT OK – in an RFP or otherwise.
If I don’t know the end user, I have no idea what is going to be effective. To add onto this: if we don’t have a clear purpose for the audience, then we’re also missing on a critical piece of the puzzle. Narrowing down your target audience informs our design, marketing objectives and branding strategy.
If you receive an RFP with something like the one-liner Target Audience... RUN AWAY. RUN FAR AWAY. If you’ve written an RFP with a one-liner like this, and a freelancer or contractor still returns to you with a proposal, eyebrows should be raised.
At our studio, we need to know (as a bare minimum):
I) Demographic data: includes age, gender, income, education level, marital status, profession
II) Location data: are we targeting Hong Kong audiences, or is it regional or international? How niche or broad can we go?
III) Psychographic data (this might need a little more thought or some actionable surveys): includes interests, opinions, activities, hobbies, attitudes... e.g. If we’re rebranding an F&B franchise, is your target customer a fast-food junkie, a foodie, a Happy Meal toy collector?
4. The Assessment/Selection Criteria is Ambiguous
What is the difference between “attractive” and “very attractive”? I’m not saying you need to quantify everything in the criteria, but if there’s a 20-point difference in the assessment criteria anchored on the word ‘very’, a little more explanation would certainly help.
Generic adjectives like ‘cool’ or ‘sexy’ don’t help us. Your idea of sexy might be TOTALLY different from mine...
To make sure everything is clear, there’s no issue with adding aspirational images or photography to your RFP if you have a direction in mind. There was one RFP we received last year where the client shared photography of the site and even created basic mockups of what they were envisioning for their project. They just needed the technical expertise and a little more creativity to build on top of the idea. (BTW, that RFP was only 20 pages – and it said everything it needed to say for our team to move forward.)
Having a section for the Vendor Selection Criteria would also be helpful for both the client and the contractor. Although you did reach out to us for the proposal, we can acknowledge if we’re not the right fit for your project if you clearly outline what kind of experience or expertise you’re looking for. It saves time and energy on both sides.
5. The Absence of a Budget
TELL US YOUR BUDGET. I know that it’s very common in Asia to not disclose the budget because traditionally, it’s about squeezing the agency or freelancer and finding the best deal.
But if you’re just looking for the cheapest deal, ask a freelancer for a rates card. If you get every single agency in Hong Kong to create a pitch deck for you, only to judge the work based on the dollar at the bottom of the page, you’re wasting everyone’s time and energy – and creativity.
If you have a million-dollar budget, the agency will pull out all the stops in software, hardware and design/animation. The proposal will reflect this. If you have a five-figure budget, the agency can accommodate that too – and they'll give you a more realistic picture in their proposal.
An RFP invites contractors to show VALUE, not just cost. If you honestly care about the value of the product, then disclosing your budget shouldn’t be a big deal.
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Did I miss anything here? Are you as riled up as me when it comes to a baaaad RFP? Let me know what you think in the comments!