FAKE RFPs!

I capitalized the subject because yes, I’m fuming mad! Okay…I’ll take a step back. Let me explain.

As a small business, how do you decide how much information to provide to a potential client either in the first exploratory meeting or in responding to a request for proposal (RFP)? This is a question I’ve struggled with for years. While you definitely want to differentiate your company and provide the “edge” that makes you better than your competitors, you also don’t want to give away the shop. It’s a balance but a very important.

A small business has to use every resource and minute wisely. So it’s extremely important to be able to read the potential client - either through the RFP provided or, if you’re lucky enough to have a face to face meeting, by the detail they’re asking you to provide. What I mean by “read” is to determine if the prospect is serious about hiring you/your firm for services or if they’re fishing for free consulting.

Unfortunately, it happens that companies out there use this unscrupulous tactic (and I’ll go as far as saying unprofessional approach) to gaining marketing insight under the guise of an RFP but with no intentions of hiring you or any firm for that matter. This just happened to me and my team. We receive many RFPs and respond to the ones that we feel would be a great win-win relationship if we were awarded the job. We invested hours in the response and were invited in to meet with the company’s team of “professionals.” We spent an hour and a half more than we had scheduled to be there with them, answering questions and having a dialog that we thought would definitely lead to a beneficial and inevitable partnership.

Unfortunately, I have to kick myself one more time as this firm went out of their way to make their attempt for free marketing advice look “legit.” I did see some red flags throughout the process that looking back should have stopped me in my tracks but in this day and age, when you assume you’re dealing with professionals in executive level positions within a well established firm, you can easily justify those flags. So I did only to get a “thanks but no thanks” email.

As a regular part of our process, when we don’t win an award, we follow up with the prospect to learn what we could have done better and what it was that made them decide not to hire us. In this case, the response I got was quite telling that we were taken for a ride. I don’t have proof but when you see it enough, you recognize it.

So here’s my point. As a small business owner who is trying to do everything from manage existing client/customers, grow the business and meet payroll, you really need to be quite cynical when reviewing RFPs. I’m seeing this tactic used more and more and it’s down right “bad business.” You don’t have the time to waste and the example I just shared with you; cost me a lot of money. Be careful. Listen, ask questions, and determine if the prospect’s intentions are genuine. Don’t justify your red flags. Ask more qualifying questions if you have them but don’t give away the shop.

A legitimate prospect should be happy with your track record of success versus having to understand your “process” in order to make a decision to award the contract to you. Your “process” is your edge. Don’t give it away for free.

Has this happened to you? What did you do/would you have done in this case? Would love to hear from you!