Have you ever wished there was a magic button to answer request for proposal (RFP) questions? A button that would magically fill in answers to all the questions. That might work if you have a fairy godmother with a magic wand. But most people do not.
The magic to answering RFP questions is a resource with knowledge and skill. Answering RFP questions requires knowledge of your company, your products—or where to find the information that you need to convey, and an understanding of the specific solution that each client seeks. From the skill perspective, answering RFP questions requires superb communication skills with the ability to tailor answers to each client and their required solution.
Let’s say you are fortunate to have a great RFP Specialist on your team and that person leaves the department. Who will answer those RFPs and how? Do you search through previously-submitted proposals? Do you ask subject matter experts in your company to contribute to the sales effort and answer the questions? Chances are, they’ll act like the evil stepsister, and tell you that they’ve already answered the questions, and that they are too busy to write another version.
Of course, this fairytale has a happy ending. Using RFP software as a resource, you can enable team members with the knowledge and skills to respond to RFPs.
RFP software allows you to store all those well-written answers in an easy-to-search repository. The process to answer RFP questions, with subject matter expert-approved content, is much faster when there is just one place to search. And it’s easy to get new team members up-to-speed quickly when they have a database full of great content at their fingertips.
The moral of the story is RFP software may be the magic wand you need to more effectively answer RFPs.
Assess Your RFP and Proposal Resources
To improve your RFP response process, we invite you to download How to Streamline Your RFP and Proposal Process. This assessment guide asks the questions that you need to answer, including:
- Where do our RFP responders currently find answers?
- Who is managing this content? Who ensures its compliance, accuracy and branding?
- How are proactive sales proposals created? Who controls the messaging and branding of each client deliverable?
