1. Panel Request Response Title:
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
#SXOMGRFP
@toddross
@joerinaldi
@fourkitchens
@happycog
#DellSXSW
2. Section 1: Intro
• RFPs AMIRITE?!?!
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
3. Section 1a: Panelists
• Todd Ross Nienkerk: Four Kitchens
• Joe Rinaldi: Happy Cog
• John Stephens: Dell
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
4. Section 2: Horror Stories
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
5. Section 2: Horror Stories
Q. How many firms were invited to respond to
your RFP?
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
6. Section 2: Horror Stories
Q. How many firms were invited to respond to
your RFP?
A. 364
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
7. Section 2: Horror Stories
Q. How many firms were invited to respond to
your RFP?
A. 364
Q. How many weren’t?
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
8. Section 3: Why RFPs?
Or, Why do bad RFPs happen to good people?
• Why do clients issue RFPs?
• “Competitive Bid” driving the marketplace
• State, federal, and bureaucratic requirements
• Often RFP templates are the first/best option
found in a search
• “That’s just how we’ve always done it”
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
9. Section 3a: Why RFPs?
Do RFPs make sense to your bottom line?
Case study: Four Kitchens
• 30-40 hours per RFP response
• $5,000-7,000 opportunity cost
• Only 16% of work resulted from RFPs
• Won only 22% of the RFP-driven proposals we
submitted
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
10. Section 3a: Why RFPs?
Do RFPs make sense to your bottom line?
On the flip side:
• 84% of work resulted from personal
connections and word-of-mouth
• $2,000-3,000 cost to send a team of three to an
in-person meeting
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
11. Section 3a: Why RFPs?
Do RFPs make sense to your bottom line?
Conclusion:
• RFPs have driven a small, but not insignificant,
amount of business
• It costs less for us to send three people to meet
a potential client than responding to an RFP
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
12. Section 3a: Why RFPs?
Do RFPs make sense to your bottom line?
Minority report:
• We’re really bad at writing proposals!
(But I don’t think so.)
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
13. Section 3a: Why RFPs?
Do RFPs make sense to your bottom line?
Case Study: Happy Cog
• Total Leads
• Quality Wins and Losses
• % RFP Wins and Losses
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
14. Section 3a: Why RFPs?
Do RFPs make sense to your bottom line?
• Travel Expenses
• (Time spent traveling + developing proposal and
pitch + pitch meetings) * blended rate=
Opportunity Cost
• Revenue from RFP wins vs. Opportunity Cost
and Expense
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
15. Section 3a: Why RFPs?
Do RFPs make sense to your bottom line?
Conclusion:
• We wasted time on at least 3 “Sexy Brand”
RFPs this past year, but we won two amazing
projects via RFP: Harvard.edu, Club Nintendo
• My kids think it is cool that I “work for”
Nintendo, want a Yoshi. *Yoshis are not real.
• We have also passed on RFPs from both
organizations, authored by other departments.
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
16. Section 4: Dell, A Success Story
• RFP process is a vendor evaluating the client
too.
• Provide more than just project
requirements, cultural snapshot.
• Internal stakeholders engaged appropriately,
open dialog.
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
17. Section 4: Dell, A Success Story
• Clear internal evaluation criteria among
stakeholders.
• “Office Hours”
• Successful partnership with procurement.
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
18. Section 4: Dell, A Success Story
• Room to improve?
• Maybe limit presentations to 4 agencies vs. 6
• RFP timing, summer RFPs are difficult to
project manage.
• Take steps to ensure the project launch is
synchronous to the evaluation process.
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
19. Section 5: Clients
• For a creative project, allow for a creative
proposal. If it's technical, look for technical. If
both, look for both. BUT NO SPEC WORK!!!
• Don't "level the playing field" forcing people
to use a common font, type size, format, etc.
Let vendors be creative in their own way.
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
20. Section 5: Clients
• Require speaking to the people who are going
to work on the project.
• Avoid a sales “layer”. Sales should be a
facilitator.
• Beware of low bids. Often they are too good to
be true.
• Pre-select, research and vet vendors. No open
bids. You'll get a bunch of garbage.
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
21. Section 6: Vendors
• Ask clients how many other vendors they're
inviting to bid.
• Be open: Ask if it's really worth your time to
respond. Are vendors with existing
relationships under consideration?
• If they're cagey about it, ask how they found
out about you.
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
22. Section 6: Vendors
• Require a phone, video, or in-person meeting.
The proposal should be about pricing and
approach; then do a face-to-face. If budget is
a concern, float the estimate first to get buy-in.
• Evaluate client consensus around
requirements, goals.
• Offer alternatives. As part of any sales or
negotiation process, the evaluation system
itself is often negotiable.
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
23. Section 7: Where do we go?
• Where do we go from here?
• John/Dell
• Joe/Happy Cog
• Todd/Four Kitchens
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
24. Appendix A: Resources
• Stop Writing Project Proposals
Jonathan Wold, Smashing Magazine
http://cog.gd/3l2
• RFPs: The Least Creative Way to Hire People
Greg Hoy, A List Apart
http://cog.gd/28b
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
25. Appendix A: Resources
• 6 Steps to Writing a Better Request for Proposals
Confluent Forms
http://cog.gd/3l3
• Buying Wins
Joe Rinaldi, Cognition
http://cog.gd/30p
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens
26. Appendix B: Future Scope
• DrupalCon Denver (March 19):
No RFPs! Why requests for proposal are bad for
business (and how we can stop them)
http://cog.gd/3jq
SXSWi 2012 Panel Speaker Request Response
OMG Your RFP is Killing Me
#76593.9.toddrossnienkerk.joerinaldi.johnstephens