Before & After RFPs: Enabling a Cycle of Improvement.
To bid or not to bid; that is the RFP question. It is said that the most strategic thing you can do sometimes is to say no. Which is why evaluating RFPs in a flat market is so challenging. If you are set up with resources to respond to everything, more power to you. If not, hopefully you have some process to drive the bid decision.
Start with due diligence – check your CRM for relationships, your finance system for billing trends, your proposal log for any prior pitch history, your experience database for relevant experience, and check resources like Monitor Suite to learn more about the competitive landscape. That will prepare you to review some basic vetting questions with the attorneys.
- Is there actual work to be won or is this a process to be part of a counsel pool?
- Is the work aligned with the strategic plan for your firm or practice group?
- Is the work profitable and aligned with your rate structure? How rate sensitive is the client?
- Are you the incumbent? If yes, did you know this RFP was coming? If no, do you have a strong relationship and do you know if the client is really looking for change?
- What do you know about the reason for the RFP and your competition?
- Do you have the time and resources to respond? Do you have the right team to propose?
- Can you ask questions of the client before responding?
Of course, if the fine print of the RFP declares you must have an office in a specific location and you don’t, or that hourly fees can’t be above $200 and that’s not feasible for your firm, your bid decision is bit easier. Most times it’s not so clear cut, and in a continued flat market, every opportunity tends to look good.
Win or lose, you can come out ahead with a debrief of your proposal. Responses to RFPs take time, including attorney time, and you want to make sure you are investing that time wisely, given the fact that win rates are still generally well below 30 percent. You can maximize your return on investment if you track more than just wins and losses.
Whatever you call it – a debrief, post mortem, after action review – you can learn a lot from reviewing your proposal with the client to learn where your perceived strengths and weaknesses were. This debrief process is never meant to be a controversial exchange – you are trying to “learn from your mistakes” in a constructive way after significant business development opportunities. A phone call with a couple of basic questions is usually the best route to get meaningful information.
- What went well in our proposal/presentation? (What were considered any significant strengths or value-add in our proposal?)
- In what areas could we have been more competitive? (What were considered any significant weaknesses or deficiencies in our proposal/presentation?)
If you have an opportunity to expand the discussion, you can also ask about the competition (who bid and who won, etc.) or more about the evaluation criteria used.
Often clients are happy to share feedback (although maybe not the winning rates), and you can learn things to help you leverage what they saw as strengths and shore up what they saw as your weakness. Without that feedback you could be missing out on clear ways to refine your content or response strategy to help improve your win rates going forward.
Be sure to listen to the ILTACON 2016 session “RFPs: Is There a Better Process?” for additional insights on the RFP process from both the law firm and law department perspective.