RFPs Suck! How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Win Big Business - Hardcover

Searcy, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0982473907 ISBN 13: 9780982473900

Publisher: Channel V Books, 2009

Synopsis

It used to be that you could ignore RFPs. Only a small portion of the market used them in their buying process and you could work around those companies. Today, governance rules dictated by boards and administered by finance have made RFPs and RFQs a dominating component of the large-deal world. Not only can you no longer ignore them, but you need to know that companies use RFPs-and increasingly purchasing and procurement-for many reasons that have little to do with the opportunity offered in the official document. The result? We all have no choice but to go through the expensive and time-consuming process. And though you might like to believe the system is fair, if your company is pitching a disproportionately larger client, you're at a disadvantage from the moment you begin the process. WHY? Because the RFP system is not built for you. It's built for big companies and government institutions that benefit from RFPs. But no matter how hard you try to avoid them, there will inevitably come a day when that irresistible RFP lands on your desk. It's almost like it was written for you. This book is your best guide on what to know, to question and to do when faced with that RFP. It will also help you develop the confidence and understanding to know when to quit the process before it even starts or when to stay in it and win big.

About this title

About the Author

Tom Searcy is a national speaker, author, trusted authority on large account sales, and founder of Hunt Big Sales, a fast growth sales consultancy and thought leadership organization. Searcy's primary expertise is working directly with companies and sales teams throughout their big sales "hunts," helping them to compete and win disproportionately large sales in highly competitive markets. His philosophy and process, both of which are documented in his 2008 book Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Deals and Transform Your Company (with co-author Barbara Weaver Smith), have resulted in over $3 billion in new sales for his company and its clients.

Before entering the national stage, Searcy headed four corporations, each of which he was able to take from annual revenues of less than $15 million to over $100 million--all before the age of 40. Since then, Searcy has helped more than 100 companies grow exponentially with his proven process for fast growth and company-wide transformation.

In RFPs Suck!, Searcy shares his rich understanding of the RFP process with companies across the board to help them conquer the RFP system once and for all to win corporate and government contracts.

From the Back Cover

RFPs are a mixed blessing. If you Google "answering RFPs," you'll get 30 articles detailing how awful the whole RFP process is for every one article advising you how to actually deal with it.

It used to be that you could ignore RFPs. Only a small portion of the market used RFPs in their buying process and you could work around those companies. Besides, only the mega-deals required that kind of rigor. Conventional wisdom prevailed and we all felt just a little cocky when we were the incumbents writing the specifications with the client, who was only putting out the RFP because the board required it. We would write our own answers to our own questions and then look over the shoulders of the evaluation group as they used our rubric to score our competitors' responses. We just knew we were going to torpedo past the competition.

Those on the receiving end--who spent weeks slaving over the RFP in hopes of winning the business--had every right to feel bitter. In fact, it was hard not to. RFPs are often designed to favor the incumbent or are nothing more than the buyer's means of gathering free consulting or market research from the participating companies. Because of this, it's not surprising that several organizations have vowed to never answer an RFP again, no matter what.

I suspect it was once an easy promise to keep, considering the complexities and politics of the process, but times have changed. Governance rules dictated by boards and administered by fi nance through groups like purchasing or procurement have made RFPs and RFQs a dominating component of the large-deal world. So now, not only can you not ignore them, but you don't have access to write the specs for them either (but neither does your competition).

And if the deal has adult money in it, you'd better believe there will be an RFP, an RFQ or another qualifying process that looks amazingly similar. The bottom line is if you don't want to get stuck in the land of little dreams or little deals, you're going to need your `A' game when handling RFPs.

Even for those of you who are still adamant about avoiding RFPs at all costs, there will inevitably come a day when that irresistible RFP lands on your desk. You know the one: you glance at it and can almost smell the boatloads of money and hear the accolades of your business associates.

"I think we should do this," you'll say to yourself. "Now, who's the best writer we have?"

Sound familiar?

Between the companies I've run and the companies I've helped, I'm sitting on $1.5 billion+ in landed deals through the RFP/RFQ processes. I almost never wrote the specs for the RFP before it went out. Instead, I figured out a system that allows me and my clients to know when we should quit the process with confidence before it even starts, and when we should stay in and kick ass.

This book is your best guide on what to know, question and do when faced with an RFP. And it's dedicated to YOU, the CEOs, salespeople and all others looking to land big sales.

May you find great success in your undertaking.

Edition details

• Publisher: Channel V Books
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0982473907
• ISBN 13: 9780982473900
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160