Not much escaped 2020 unscathed. How sales and request-for-proposal teams approached their responsibilities and their potential customers was no different.
There already was a steady increase in RFPs prior to the pandemic. This trend accelerated in 2020 as organizations looked for ways to fairly procure software. Organizations had to find ways to respond to more RFPs with the same (or fewer) people and with increased win rates. At the same time, collaboration became more difficult. These pursuits needed to shift online, making digital tools fundamental to their success.
Sadly, many organizations reduced headcount due to a rapidly constricting economy. This put an extra burden on many proposal teams, but automating as much of an RFP response using AI and reusable content libraries helped to fill this gap and introduce new levels of efficiency.
Getting the Contents Right
Pitches and proposals have to reflect the culture and personality of the salespeople and the company at large. This effort boils down to the writing style used in cover letters and executive summaries. It includes the imagery and brand energy that shines through in the document styling. The final presentations need to contain slides that reflect your culture and purpose.
In the new world of digital selling, it is critical that your proposal clearly articulates how your product meets the needs of your customer. Make sure its value and relevance are stated clearly and economically. Having content preloaded from your preferred vendor will help you use the right words and diagrams to define this.
Closely mapping the experience of your consulting team to the customer’s needs is another key element for success. This means easily finding who in your organization is best suited to working on the account and making sure that their latest résumé is presented (and even tailored) to the specific solution being proposed.
Channel-based sales and RFP teams can effectively communicate information to potential customers and personalize RFPs to meet those customers’ heightened expectations in 2021 by focusing on four actions:
Develop. You need a content database of reusable content and dynamic answers to draw upon when responding to RFPs. Make every effort to ensure the content is of superior quality and easily adjustable so you can personalize each response accordingly.
Track. You need to know what content helps you win RFP responses, then refine and reuse this content as much as possible. Keep collecting insights during weaker campaigns so you can learn from mistakes and make the necessary adjustments.
Invest. Try to implement tools that use AI to help you answer as much of the baseline RFP as possible before further tailoring answers or assigning questions to subject matter experts. This investment in proper tools is especially helpful when team members are separated and working remotely.
Compete. Manage each RFP response as a pursuit. This means recording the win themes, understanding the potential value and cost of response, and assembling a winning response team of writers and subject matter experts.
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