13 RFP Response Examples & Strategies For Superior Results

We’re currently reviewing the RFP, and we’re pleased to say your requirements are aligning well with what we offer. That said, we do have a few comments and questions and would like to schedule a [30 minute / 1 hour] session with you to make sure we’ve covered all the bases. It sounds blindingly obvious, but the key to nailing a proposal is to understand what the RFP issuer wants and to give them just that. Or, in the rush to finish, you might overlook a key detail or make a mistake that’ll kick your response to the bottom of the pile.

DocuSign first introduced Loopio to 25 users in their Northern American team before expanding to 132 global users. The engineers in charge of tackling technical inquiries were so grateful to have a tool that could centralize answers and save them a lot of grunt work. They can now respond to three times more RFPs than before using Loopio. Today, most prominent brands in the software industry use a dedicated RFP response tool. World-class brands like Slack, DropBox, SurveyMonkey, HubSpot, Qualtrics, and many others benefit from RFP automation.

When and Why Do You Need to Issue an RFP?

The RFP issuer will probably set out their requirements in order of priority. So, if the RFP starts with the specifications and moves on to price, don’t start your proposal with price. This makes it easier for the issuer to check your proposal off against their priorities and shows them you have a deep understanding of their needs.

And avoid smothering the person on the receiving end with complicated, overly technical language that makes a solution feel inaccessible. While we think decisions are based on facts and figures, in most situations, we actually make our initial choices based on emotions. Only then do we rationalize our selections with the technical details. ‍The secondary goal is to offer an effective solution for a challenge your potential client is facing.

Project Goals

Before you submit your RFP response, take a little time to review your documents for typographical and formatting errors before you submit. When we get to the technical part of your RFP, things get a little more complicated. This part of an RFP will probably be the longest for a software company. The more information you provide here, the more accurate the offers you can get from potential suppliers. Briefly describe the history of your company and the project in which it’s involved. This section provides suppliers with the background information they need to assess the health of your business and decide if they want to work with you.

• In addition, maintaining a knowledge library will improve consistency and reduce the risk of creating an incomplete request for proposals.
• It is a rough to-do list to compose a comprehensive software development RFP that helps to think over all critical points for inquiring offers from vendors.
• RFPs also advise bidders on how to prepare proposals, with specific guidance on how the bids should be formatted and presented.
• By eliminating manual tasks, you can collaborate with both the proposal client and your team more quickly and effectively, to keep you on target with these two goals.
• Demonstrate your expertise, the quality of your delivery, and the outcomes of implementing your solutions with other clients.

We use third-party services to perform vulnerability/application security scans annually. You don’t have to pivot away from your main selling points to insert some emotion. If you feel your story could be more engaging, tell your customers’ stories as part of yours. rfp software development Salesforce is the top customer relationship management platform in the world. Tracking customers through sales cycles might not exactly trigger love, so Salesforce took another approach. Their story is as much about their customers’ stories as their own.

When you use an RFP template for software development, involve people familiar with the project. It is perfect if these are the same experts who will evaluate the return proposal. Depending on the team composition and size, these can be business analysts, a product owner, etc. Selection criteria
Before choosing a software vendor for your project, provide a list of evaluation criteria that suits your needs. This enables vendors to showcase their experience, expertise, and services while also showing them that you take their proposals seriously with thorough research.

What to Think of When Making an RFP

Thanks to Loopio’s sample RFP response for software development, the sales engineers can answer correctly 90-95% of questions. Essentially, Loopio streamlined Clari’s https://forexhero.info/ process so they could close deals at a more rapid pace. Small businesses may have limited time to evaluate bids or engage with the RFP response process.

Click here for tips and tricks for writing the perfect cover letter. Kelly Barnard, RFPIO’s Response Management Strategist, even included her go-to example. “At ____ SEO Consultants, we value partnership with our clients. First, we’ll meet with your content strategists to help devise a plan to leverage your strengths and highlight your values. On average, we will deliver a detailed SEO strategy within X months.

Before Drafting a Software Development RFP

Some clients from this area cannot invest enough funds on their own and want to participate in the process as micro-investors on shares. To make it easier for you, we have prepared a brief description of them with software development RFP examples from real Cleveroad cases. The RFP refers to a process-oriented practice and some rigorous rules regarding the elements. In spite of this, many details vary depending on the timing, specifications, etc. Therefore, there are no strict requirements about what to include — just make sure it’s neither too much nor too little. It’s a kind of bridge between the expectations of one side and the capabilities of the other.

JaneDoe Company is looking for an IT provider to develop a video conferencing
platform in the healthcare industry. We want to create an app that connects
patients with doctors in real-time anywhere on the planet. Learn the 6 key strategies to write wining proposals in just one hour. Most RFPs will include a presentation after the proposal deadline. Often the proposal portion is used to narrow down the list of presenters.

Startups are especially vulnerable to falling into the trap of searching for the lowest price on the market. It might seem obvious, but vendors with the lowest rates might end up being the most expensive ones. With a low price, you can expect lower quality, less functionality, and most importantly, a slower development process. Time is critical for any product, and flaws in quality and execution might lead to rebuilding certain elements or an entire project. Yes, there is no standard RFP format for software projects, and every document is unique.

It would be best if you were mindful of including a timeline for significant achievements in the project and a date for its completion. It would be a good idea to mention an earlier completion date so possible delays and disruptions won’t hurt business. We prioritize integrity in cooperation and focus on long-term and successful partnership, quality development, and delivery for the success of your product. In RFPs, terms are indicated quite approximately, but it is crucial for vendors to know them to assess capabilities reasonably and not bother you if they do not meet expectations. It is advisable to model your vision of the schedule, key milestones in the roadmap, and the mechanism for revising the deadlines in case of force majeure.

Depending on the size and scope of the project, this review may be a multi-level process involving a number of committees. Government agencies, particularly, are not known for moving nimbly. RFPs follow a fairly rigid format, although that format may vary among the agencies and companies that prepare them. Interested parties submit proposals meeting the requirements outlined in the document. Based on the proposals received by the deadline, the Department of Transportation establishes commissions for further review and development of the proposals.

Throughout this article, we’ll be covering effective methods that help you create a winning formula for building effective response documents. Creating proposal response documents involves significant amounts of time, money and effort, which can affect every part of your business. Too many teams spend all their time writing answers but never organize them. If your team can’t find and reuse past RFP responses, collaborate on content and easily see team responsibilities and next steps, you’ll end up constantly reinventing the wheel. Beyond hitting the goals for each RFP section outlined above, winning RFPs have great content. I’ve reviewed content from countless winning RFP response examples and they all have a few things in common.

Plan your production schedule to allow time to meet the deadline if there is a technical issue or an delay in shipping (for hardcopies). Most organizations will share a list of all questions that were asked and the answers with all bidders. For some private sector RFPs, they will instead respond to you directly and not share the questions. We have seen requests for proposals containing more than a thousand questions. In our experience, the optimal number of questions ranges from 50 to 200.

Rather than directing them to an attachment or a URL to find the answer they’re looking for, answer their question within the proposal itself. In addition, you can always provide an attachment to expand on your answer or offer supporting evidence for it. Proposal management software makes it easier for both parties to communicate and collaborate.

What mistakes do entrepreneurs make when creating an RFP for software development? Our experience in the market for more than nine years shows that we build effective and strong partnerships, providing the highest quality software development services. We сoherently handle each project and deliver first-class solutions per RFP requirements.