10 Reasons Why I Hate RFP's

RFP's make me want to pull my bottom lip over my head and swallow. 

We all get these calls inviting us to respond to an RFP and everyone gets all excited thinking they really have a chance at getting the business.  The truth is,  many times RFPs go out because the company submitting the RFP is required to request RFP from the public as a legal process.  They typically already have a relationship with the firm they are going to do business with, they just have to include the masses to stay clean legally. 

So below are my reasons why I hate RFP's and why I will typically wont answer them. 

1. No real thought goes into them.  I've received RFP's before where you can see that all the company did was go out to Google and search for similar RFP's, downloaded them, changed the logo and company name and then sent it out.  They put no real qualifying questions for what THEIR company needs from an agency. 
2. No sense of the competitive landscape.  For all we know, this RFP went out to 30 different agencies.  So I'm supposed to invest my time, which as you know is a lot of time when trying to answer an RFP, to have a 1 in 30 shot of getting the business?  No thanks.
   
3. Time to answer them is sometimes short.  I received an RFP today that has a 2 day turnaround time.  Yeah Right!  Now I will say that most companies will be realistic and give us 21-30 days to answer but even then, the RFP's are so huge that you need that much time just to understand what it is they are asking. 
4. No relationship with the company sending out the RFP.  The RFP I received today came from a company I've never heard from before.  I've never met anyone there and neither has anyone on my team.  Why would I want to make the effort in answering an RFP for a company I have absolutely no relationship with.  The RFP's I do answer or have answered in the past were because someone in my company had a relationship with them.  So it was worth our time jumping through hoops to do business with someone we had a relationship with. 
5. Always wanting something for nothing. The RFP I got today (as you can tell the RFP I got today is the one that has sent me off on this tirade)  wants us to tell them how we go about finding the keywords, writing ads, what CTR we feel they will get, what obstacles are there in the current campaign, how much can we get a cost per acquisition for, etc.... etc....   Well first of all, we've never even seen the freaking campaign.  Second, I'm not going to tell them how we do things so they can just go off and do it in house. 
6. I feel like I'm in an unemployment line.  "Please send back 3 copies, stapled in the left hand corner not the right. No bounded copies will be reviewed.  Email a digital version to Emailaddress@company.com. Color versions are acceptable but not required."  First of all, what is the deal with the 3 copies thing?  Perhaps I'm an idiot but if I send you the digital version, make as many freaking copies as you like.  For all the hoops I have to jump through to answer these freaking things, the least they can do is save me some money on paper, ink, postage and over sized envelopes. 
7. I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.  A previous RFP I received indicated that they had to be on a 60 day net for payments.  So basically, my reward for getting the project is that I will have to work for 60 days before getting paid.  WOW!  Where do I sign on that contract?   
8. Government RFP's were created by the devil.  I got an RFP for a city project.  The RFP had to be 30 pages long.  Just reading it made me feel like I was visiting a proctologist.  I for one don't answer government RFP's.  It's not because I'm trying to hide anything but since my company is a small business, we have to spend our time going after business with a higher percentage of closing.  Government contracts are just way to hard to get.  I'm a minority and a veteran and I just say the hell with it.  Your not going to get my finger prints, urine or blood for this RFP. 
9. Show me yours but I won't show you mine.  RFP's always want you to list your references.  As a rule I don't provide references until I know I'm one of the last agencies being considered.  My clients are doing me a favor by being a reference for me so I'm not going to abuse their time with unqualified prospects asking for a reference.  They are arrogant enough to ask for references so early on but most of the time if we ask who their past agency was, they won't tell us.  I would love to know who the last agency that worked for them was.  I would love to call them and ask questions about how high or low maintenance a client they were.  This will help me figure out what kind of aggravation tax to apply to their contract price.  They obviously already lost the business so maybe they can tell me something i need to know before taking them on as a client.  I surely don't want a client that has unrealistic goals and expectations.
10. What are my chances?  1 out of million!  So your telling me there's a chance...Yeah!   I would love to hear from someone that closes more that 1 out every 10 RFP's they answer.  I would think most companies are hovering right around 1 out of 20 or so.  In the end, I feel I have an agency that can compete with the best of them.  However, we are still a small company.  In my opinion, it's a dumb investment of my time and my company's time to go after a piece of business that i have a 1 in 20 shot of getting.  No Thank You!

Of course, not all companies suck at the RFP process.  Just most!  So to sum up my rant and rave, instead of sending out a meaningless RFP to agencies you don't know or have never met, take more time and meet with some agencies face to face and then send it out to a shorter list of prequalified agencies.  You will probably find that the responses you get will be more thought out and meaningful. 

-Anthony Zapata

Comments

[Laura]

Does anyone know where I can find statistics on how many (US) RFP's go out annually, what % convert to award and an average $ amount of award?

[Kinzua Kid]

Stumbled across this as I was preparing a paper for my company on "why you should ignore 99% of all RFPs". I really wanted to point them to people other than myself who have material objections to these onerous monsters. Reading this, I think we might have some of the same customers! Thanks for the chuckles.

[Andy Brudtkuhl]

Hit the nail on the head.

Government RFPs are THE WORST!!!

[David Kutcher]

Trust me, I sympathize. I've written elsewhere my thoughts on how to Raise your RFP ROI [http://advice.cio.com/confluentdave/raise_your_rfp_roi ], but my biggest piece of advice is that you select carefully and thoughtfully the RFPs you feel you have the best chance of winning. Don't respond to them unless you feel that you are 100% guaranteed to be one of the best 3 proposers. That, and visit the RFP Database [http://www.rfpdb.com ]

[Lindsay Olson]

Oh, this is music to my ears! I recently received an RFP from a company I have no relationship with and would much less feel comfortable ethically representing (I'm in the recruiting busines). The person sending out the RFP even stated they knew nothing about the search, but it's in Sales and Marketing, just fill out these 10 pages with all of your personal information and we'll see if we want you. How do I put a price on that?

[Discorax]

wow...I've only been involved in RFP responses after they've been filtered by my boss. I knew it was a pain, and I always heard the grumbles when they arrived, but I had no idea! Thanks for helping the little guys know what's actually happening in that corner office! I think I'll buy my boss a cup of coffee now, he's definitely earned it.