Are you losing RFPs and wondering why? Check if you are answering the questions. I know that this issue has been brought up time and time again, and it seems so obvious, but it is important repeating. Answer the questions.
In honour of back to school season, I'd like to remind all of us of a lesson we all learned way back then. When we were little in school for the first time, many of us where taught to answer a question with part of the question. For example, when asked "what are three things that differentiate you from your competition, you answer "the three things that differentiate me are 1.xxxx, 2.xxxx, and 3.xxxx. Recall this early lesson when writing your RFP response. Answering questions this way may not contain the most erudite prose or the fanciest rhetoric, but it is prose that will get you the points you need from the evaluator. Plus, you'll make their job super easy, benefitting you in turn with more points.
When responding to RFPs your goal is also to tell the evaluators that you have something more to offer, but before you do that you must first answer their questions. When you are responding to each requirement, make sure that the response first and foremost answers the basic ‘ask’. What comes after is the ‘more to offer’.
So, what is the ‘ask’? Most of the time the question is easy to understand, or the ask is obvious, such as “Provide your experience delivering similar services to other clients”. What the client is asking is straight forward…so when answering make sure you provide the information on just that…what is your experience and in particular relate the experience that is similar. Make sure you are answering that ‘ask’. Answering that you have 25 years’ experience does not answer the ‘ask’. It is part of it, but you need to provide the rest of the answer. Explain your experience in providing similar services. Work related experiences into the response.
Approach each requirement with the same thought process…are you answering the ‘ask’? You will have a greater chance of winning if you do.
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