Over the last year, Small Box has been asked to respond to dozens of RFPs for all kinds of businesses, corporations, and non-profits. Here’s some advice for groups that are looking to solicit work from a company like Small Box via an RFP process… Don’t. Just kidding, sorta.
I suggest instead of sending out RFPs to every company you come across examine the capabilities of the companies you are considering and start conversations with them.
If you like how the conversation is going and the work they have done for others then engage with them on a limited or trial basis. This might mean research and site architecture or just general consulting to help organize the project. If they are the right fit you will know after that limited engagement. If not then walk away with the work they did and keep looking.
This gives you a real chance to find out how they work, and in the long run saves you the time and money associated with an extended RFP process and subsequent “marriage” to the chosen vendor. What if that vendor is really only great at 2 of the 5 things you need? Now you have a vendor that is stretching to do work that it shouldn’t be doing.
Instead find one team to lead and manage the project and work with them to bring in secondary vendors as needed. Rely on the lead team’s knowledge and experience to help pick these secondary vendors.
An RFP can be a useful document and a good starting point for a conversation but most of the time the scope of a Web project will change, often dramatically, once the planning and design phase begins. The Web is both a wonderful and frustrating thing. It is ridiculously flexible as a platform which creates endless possibilities.
A smart company will engage with an agency that is willing to explore the possibilities, make informed choices, put together the right team to get it done and then circle back around to evaluate those choices after they have been implemented. Too often companies, and agencies, get pulled by the “idea of the day” creating endless scope creep and headaches for all involved. The resulting site is usually a messy melting pot of half baked ideas. Explore, make decisions and stay focused. You will have a much more successful project in the end.
- PJ with contributions from Jeb
RFP’s are an accepted part of life for most web companies. I’ve found that the only way to make it worth my while is to convert the experience to a sales or consulting engagement.
I don’t mind doing some work up front if I know 2 things. 1)That I am 100% qualified to fill the specifications of the project. and 2)That I can demonstrate these qualifications to the prospective client and get the business.
To determine these two things often requires asking some tough questions up front. An RFP is never enough to get real answers.
We find much of the same frustrations with RFP’s that you mentioned. The opportunity for the potential client to see the true value that the firm can provide is never realized in an RFP process and the creativity and innovation of the firm is stifled.
We actually wrote a very similar blog post not too long ago that addresses the same issue. Seems we’re not the only ones who encounter frustration with the RFP process.
Good post!