Require an NDA?

This depends on the client. Usually a client who approaches you, at least from my experience, usually has an NDA available to sign. It is not common for me to get a RFP on my desk without some sort of legal protection in place. This answer, however, differs based on what type and breed of client you may have. For smaller business projects, it is not common to see an NDA. Usually the potential clients for these smaller projects either:

A. Do not care about protecting their ideas in the RFP

or...

B. They are not educated to do so

or...

C. Do not have a background in issuing a legal layer into the RFP/Proposal process.


Charging for In-Depth Plans?

In this climate it is extremely hard to charge for anything in a proposal. If you are only doing a proposal, no matter how small or large, you should only be giving the client enough to ensure they understand your strategy, goals and that you are committed to meet all goals on a project, as outlined in their RFP.

If the proposal turns into a Planning/Strategy phase (hopefully the 1st phase in any project), then at that point I would bill for your time, or flat rate a fee for developing and delivering a plan to the client. Lets be clear that a Strategy Plan is different from a proposal. While the proposal includes the initial knowledge base and thinking behind the various aspects of the potential client's project, it should not include all of your knowledge and planning.

My rule of thumb: If you are working on a proposal that at some point makes you feel as though you should be getting paid, that usually means it's:

A: Not the right client for you

or...

B: You are giving too much away

The other litmus test is, "Is the client able to take my proposal, and execute my ideas with someone else?". If the answer is yes, than you are also probably giving too much away.


Trying to Weed Out "tire-kickers"

Ahh yes, the age old issue of "Is this proposal worth my firm's time and money". As a business owner of a creative agency, this is a question I continue to struggle with. As part of our initial RFP/proposal process, I rate the value of the RFP based on several factors and then weigh the value proposition against the time and cost of compiling a proposal.

Lowest Value: The RFP came in from a cold lead. If this is the case, have you done the ample amount of research on the client (i.e. budgets, years in business, other projects they have executed, spoken to others who have worked for them, etc.) The majority of these types of RFP's that come across my desk are tire-kickers.

Medium Value: The RFP came in from a new client, BUT that client was referred to you by an existing client or colleague, then the value here is increased. Clearly a direct connection through your potential new client is a critical thing to know when you decide to draft a proposal. Someone in this category is usually legit, however I have spent time on a plethora of proposals from referrals through existing clients, and conversion rates are still under 10%

Highest Value: If the RFP came from an existing client, that you are currently working for, OR have worked for in the past, this is the highest value and this is usually 100% legitimate. I would not pass up an opportunity such as this one if it was my scenario because the conversion rates are much, much higher here. Plus the fact, you have an established relationship, so there would be no reason to pass on this type of client, or change the RFP/Proposal process.

It's important to mention that my methodology above Is not an exact science, as anyone in this industry will tell you, but it has proven to work for Killswitch over the years.

Considering a New Approach?

Responding to an RFP is a process that is hard to perfect. The expectations of the potential client are never 100% known, even IF the RFP has clear guidelines. Usually the people that make the decisions on a project have nothing to do with the RFP. This is especially true for larger/instituional projects. There is a huge gap in many cases with regards to the behind-the-scenes planning a company puts into an RFP and many times that gap can be detrimental to the drafting of the proposal.

You should always think about different ways to approach the process, but don't loose sight of the initial evaluation of the RFP before making a decision on whether it is worth your time. This initial value proposition exercise, will help any team craft the right proposal for the right client for your particular firm.


This was an answer to a question originally posted on LinkedIn.

You can see the entire thread HERE.