Blogging My Life...
I so hate RFPs, request for proposals. Typically, if I get one, I won't respond or politely deny it. We are privileged to be able to pick our clients.
There is something about RFPs that just seem wrong. Write up a large document, send it out to 15 potential vendors to fight over and pick the last one standing. It reminds me of throwing a piece of steak to a hungry pack of dogs.
I just got a call about an RFP, I decided to ask - how did you hear of us. The person who called did not know. She said, "my boss gave me your number." So she sent me the details via email and I replied politely asked for how her boss got our number. If it comes from a client, I may respond - if not then I will tell them I am not interested.
Do you feel the same way about RFPs?
Tweet This!
Comments
I evaluate RFPs by the questions asked in the request itself. I'm not going to submit a proposal if I feel the need to spend half of it teaching the prospect what the differences are between legit SEM vendors and ripoff chop shops. Won't bother to try to compete against someone promising "first page rankings in 7 days!!!!11one" if I don't think the prospect can smell the BS.
Posted by: handsome rob | December 12, 2007 3:16 PM
I used to be the one who had to fill out all of the ridiculous documents when we got requests for tender at my previous job. It was a ridiculous amount of paper work, and we rarely got to the contracts.
It was a pain, because the boss insisted we bid on every single tender we received, even though we didn't need the contracts (we were not desperate for contracts by any means), and rarely actually won the bids.
To me, it felt like a waste of time filling out all the paperwork, when we could have been focusing on the clients we already had, instead.
Posted by: Adam Snider | December 12, 2007 3:17 PM
Yep! Hate them with a passion. It is amazing the info some potential clients want - financials, how many people assigned to them, how many times we go to the bathroom each day, etc. Okay, kidding on the last one. ;-)
Posted by: David Wallace | December 12, 2007 3:18 PM
Can't stand 'em either!
Usually a big waste of time.
Although I generally appreciate a client who has a strong idea of what exactly he is looking for, instead of the type who wants "just a store to sell a few things - we can do the expensive stuff like a backend or a database later when we have money" or "I need some buttons..." - those are the worst.
Posted by: mike | December 12, 2007 4:12 PM