Bid Work 101 For Dealers
organizations have a dedicated proposal manager or team and that the average time for writing a single RFP response is 32 hours. That’s a signifi cant investment on behalf of a business, so it’s vital for dealers to ensure they are only picking projects that they truly have the capability and availability to win. Identifying those promising projects is not always straightforward, but it can help to develop dispassionate scoring criteria for evaluating an RFP to make a bid or no bid decision. VisibileThread, a company that specializes in business communication, recommends weighing several factors. Criteria can include familiarity with the client, similar successful work the dealer has completed, delivery deadlines, and any red fl ags in the RFP. One such red fl ag may be if the RFP is written to give an advantage to a preferred supplier. Dealers could closely read any questions in the RFP or requests for specialized equipment to determine whether they indicate that there is a preferred supplier. If so, respondents will need to weigh whether their company can overcome that predisposition and win the bid. Finally, businesses could take care to respond only to RFPs where they are confi dent the client won’t share their proprietary bid information with competitors. This is vital to a fair and honest bid process and necessary to protect competitiveness.
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Careful Selection
Responding to an RFP is time consuming and can eat up a lot of staff hours. Loopio found that 55 percent of surveyed
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It can help to develop dispassionate scoring criteria for evaluating an RFP to make a bid or no bid decision.
12 FEDA News & Views
Read the
RFP Closely A thorough RFP is usually packed with information on equipment specifi cations, deadlines and expectations for the supplier. Dealers will want to read the
RFP carefully to ensure their response addresses all criteria and that they understand every deadline. In some cases, the dealer will want to review those requirements with outside stakeholders, such as equipment manufacturers, to verify whether they can deliver the requested items or services on time. Responses that have incorrect dates or have incorrect products listed are likely to be the fi rst ones rejected by the client. So, equipment dealers should double check their work lines up with the RFP before submitting the response. Additionally, some RFPs may have specifi c equipment requests. If a dealer is unable to procure that exact equipment model, they can offer an alternative comparable to the desired item and note this replacement.
Responses that have incorrect dates or have incorrect products listed are likely to be the fi rst ones rejected by the client.
Identify Your
Win T emes When drafting the response, dealers will want to give themselves and the client a sense of their win themes, which
VisibleThread defi nes as “compelling reasons why your organization should be awarded this work over any other bidder.” Understanding those win themes early in the drafting process can help the proposal team stay focused on its messaging throughout the bid process. The fi nal response should not only provide all the information the client requested but convey to the client why the business can deliver the best outcome and why they are experts in this area. An executive summary at the beginning of the
response can help to quickly set the stage for what a dealer can do for the client by reinforcing those win themes while honing in on the project’s objectives.
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