The Decision

Again, my first and second jobs got in my way of blogging -- I had to prepare for school vacation week. Although I didn’t get the final RFP post done before I left for vacation, we did make a decision.

After the final agency presented we had a quick hallway conversation rather than a big meeting. (Funny how we were all pretty much on the same page.) There was one agency we wanted to put in front of the VP of Marketing and two “maybes.” We realized that if you combined the two maybes you would get the agency we liked best. So we just brought that one back for the VP sanity check. But we did not tell them that they were “it” -- just in case something went wrong.

By far the worst part of the process was calling the agencies that we did not select. Since I’ve been in their shoes before I wanted to try to give them insight into our decision. I thought it would be better than sending a generic email that left them wondering. While it was the right thing to do, it wasn’t easy.

After defending our choice to the other agencies and the VP of Marketing, I felt good about the decision. We selected Shift because they:
- understood our challenges
- offered the most complete program
- gave us rationale for all the pitch ideas
- had a good conversation with us
- integrate PR & social media
(and I don’t know anyone there, which I think matters)

As I mentioned in the last post, it was necessary for us to go through the whole RFP process to come to our decision. We learned something important about each agency at each step -- the questions asked during the input call; the answers given in the written response; and the content and quality of the presentation.

It's funny, I never thought I would like Shift. After competing with them for years on the agency side (especially during the last two years at Blanc & Otus), Shift was at the bottom of my list. Not because of anything they did or didn’t do, or anything I had heard, just for “stealing” business from B&O. Now that I've gone through the process, I understand why.

The RFP Presentations

Before I write about the next phase in the process, I wanted to add a note. I’ve talked to a lot of people this week and it made me think about why I’m really writing this series. My intention was to give people a sense of what the RFP process is like on this side of the table. When I was on the agency side we didn't always know why people made their decisions. I thought this might help someone. It was never meant to be a commentary on individual agencies. For that reason, I removed the chart with my notes on specific agencies.

The presentations were interesting and I really felt for the people on the other side of the table. It wasn't that long ago that I was sitting in their seats. We gave people an hour to present to make sure they could be concise. It’s the time limit I was used to working within. Only one agency got through their whole presentation in the allotted time; one group wasn’t even close.

The agencies ranged from one extreme to the other in almost every aspect of the presentation:

• presentation skills


• types of people in the room


• energy level


• amount they told us about themselves


• understanding of our needs


• creativity of ideas


• scope of program


• integration with social media


• international capabilities (or even discussion of one)

However, there was also something very similar about all the presentations; almost everyone included:

• some kind of media tour with Jeremy Luchini, host of “Let’s Go Design”


• some type of design competition


• infographics


• thought leadership program


• over-arching theme


• SWOT/Situation analysis (it made an appearance in this round)

I made up score sheets so we could take notes during the presentatino to judge agencies on the same criteria. I don’t think anyone used them. I did take notes. We also had few questions for anyone. Maybe I should have had a list, but I did feel like we got a really good sense of everyone during that hour. We also didn’t need to have a big meeting to discuss all the presentations; we had a strong contender.

I saw that Todd Defren blogged about the need for the formal RFP process and whether there was a way to simplify it. I have to say that it was necessary for us to go through the whole process. We learned something different during each phase. The people who had strong written responses were not necessarily those that gave us the best presentation. We’re not choosing who we thought we would. I may respond when the whole process is finished.

RFP Response Review

The meeting with my boss and the social media manager to discuss agencies didn’t take too long. They contributed to the development of the RFP, so we were all on the same page about what we needed. The things we were really wanted to see in the RFP responses included:
- creativity of programs
- social media experience
- understanding of SolidWorks’ needs
- personalized response
- CAD experience

The agency that sent their proposal late also sent something incomplete. After a lot of back and forth, they sent more. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. They were one of two more less “tech-focused” agencies and neither made the cut. We thought that the need to reach mainstream audiences was a good reason to branch out beyond tech agencies. In the end, the focus wasn’t the issue, it was their approach. One was very branding focused and we don’t need to redo the brand. The other had very little social media experience and it’s one of our biggest needs. Those were the “easy" choices.

Another easy choice was the first “yes.” One agency really stood out above the others. They sent us three very creative programs, demonstrated good integrated social media knowledge and presented case studies that were similar to our needs. Everything we wanted to see.

One of the other “yeses” was a big agency, which was a bit of a surprise to us. But they showed an understanding of who we are and gave us a couple great ideas. The two other bigger agencies were quite the opposite. They submitted proposals that could have been written for anyone. They lacked creativity and did not demonstrate an understanding of our needs. Surprisingly, one of them was our incumbent’s parent company. The response didn’t reflect any of the 10 years of history that we were hoping to see. Those were the next two on the “no” pile.

That left us with four “maybes” and we didn’t all feel the same way about each of them. I really wanted one, Matt wanted one and Laura thought we should bring back our parent company’s agency. One agency was left. They had a good grasp of who we were and presented a couple good ideas. But at the end of the day they had the least CAD experience or explanation of why that didn’t matter. So they didn’t make the cut.

We wound up bringing 5 back to include the agencies that currently represent pieces of the extended family. I sent out the notification emails and had calls with most of the “losers.” That part wasn’t fun.

The presentations were. Stay tuned...

The RFP Responses

We gave a Friday deadline for the written proposals. The first one came in at 11:00 and then they trickled in all day. The proposals came in all shapes and sizes. I knew our email had a size limit for attachments but didn’t think it would be an issue for an RFP response. One agency asked me for a FTP site days before the deadline in anticipation of the restrictions. Another sent me a link to their site. A third called me to let me know they were having issues and we worked out an FTP site. The last agency emailed me at 8pm to let me know the file bounced back. I sent them an invitation to my Drop Box and learned that he didn’t have the file with him; it would have to wait until Monday. Big points off for lack of “hunger.”

At first glance a lot of the proposals were similar. I’ve been in PR a long time and there is something very much the same between agencies. I always thought so when I was pitching -- how do you stand out when everyone can do almost the same thing? How would I be able to judge 10 proposals? It was a little easier than I thought. I figured the best way to assess the agencies was with a scoring criteria. Here’s how it broke down:

• two power point presentations; the rest were Word docs - they ranged in size from 16 pages to 58 -


• one included a situation analysis


• two had overviews or letters of introduction


• a couple actually took the “what 3 things would you do first” question and gave us three creative ideas; others told us about how they transition new accounts (which was a separate question)


• a couple of the bigger agencies seemed to do a “find and replace” to their standard proposal


• one agency ignored the question about target media


• one didn’t have any real social media experience


• one answered our question about what it took for an agency relationship to be successful with a list of things we need to do


• I found a couple spelling errors, including our founder’s name


• agencies that have worked with us listed us as references (I found that funny)


• we didn’t give out a specific budget number on purpose -- we wanted to see what people came up with. Most agencies came in around the same price; one was double.

I found it kind of interesting that not one of the agencies included a SWOT. At B&O we considered it one of our differentiators and we always included it. It was part of the “we don’t guess” philosophy of the agency. So I really appreciated the RFP with the situation analysis. I had my list of yeses, nos and maybes. Next step was meeting with my boss and the social media manager to get their votes.

The RFP Input Call

Many of the RFPs I’ve participated in allowed the agencies to ask questions to help them develop the response. I decided to do the same thing. I wanted to make sure the playing field was level, and thought it would give me some insight into how the agencies were preparing. I was right.

All of the agencies, except our parent company’s agency, participated in the Q&A. (I found that interesting since we’re pretty different than DS). I have an existing relationship with all but three of the agencies, and for one of those, the proposed account lead and I have mutual friends. I wonder how much that shaped the calls. Some were more casual than others.

Each agency had half an hour for the Q&A. My boss was able to sit in on most of them -- I figured she would be able to answer some of the historical questions that I couldn’t (most of my 5 month tenure with SolidWorks was consumed with SolidWorks World). Some of the agencies were more prepared than others and ran though a list of questions. A couple sent questions ahead of time. One agency sent me a list of their standard new business screening questions (at least 20) and then didn’t ask any of them. We had a great conversation instead.

The questions covered sales, marketing, the industry, and the RFP itself. Some agencies were more focused on the marketing team -- how we use social media, how integrated we are with the rest of the team, and where they would fit in. Others asked more questions about sales -- specific audiences, why people buy, why we lose sales, and market perceptions. We got questions about our relationships with users, VARs and our parent company (only two asked). Questions also came about our challenges, who we want to be when we grow up, and how we would describe in one sentence why media should care (we liked that one).

While it was a little exhausting to sit through 9 rounds of questions, many of them the same, I got a sense of the personalities involved. And based on the calls, I’m not sure if I could work with some of those personalities. I couldn’t wait to see the responses.

My assessment of the responses is next.

The three little letters PR people dread -- RFP

I fully intended to keep up with the blog after I started my new job. I just underestimated the adjustment back to a working schedule. I thought my first “employed” blog post would address how I found my job.That post might have to wait. In a nut shell -- good ole fashion networking trumped all the social media tools.

I was prompted to blog again by the SolidWorks’ RFP. Having spent 15+ years in PR and half at agencies, I’ve been through countless RFPs before. And a good part of the last two years were spent filling out one RFP or another, including participating in a pretty massive RFP that half won. This is the first time I’ve been on the other side of the table, and I’m finding the process very interesting. So it made sense to blog about it; maybe someone will learn something. I won’t share anything until I’ve told the people involved.

Telling the existing agency was difficult. However, the wheels were already in motion before I started; I just confirmed everyone’s suspicions. Of course they were invited to pitch. I had an email conversation with the head of the agency that was a little too much like those we had with CA a year ago. “What did you like? Who do you like? Should any one be on the team if we give it to our parent agency?” I told them to field what they think is the best team. I didn’t want to put anyone through what we had gone through. The emotional turmoil was worse than the the RFP process.

I developed an RFP based on some that I liked when I was on the agency side. We started out inviting a couple of the agencies I had met during my job search. If I liked them enough to work there, it made sense to work with them in this capacity. When we added recommendations from our ad agency, branding firm and parent company, the list grew to 10 agencies.

I’ll tell you about the input calls in the next post.

Tips for Fighting PR Complacency

During my job search I have talked to a lot of internal marketing folks about a wide range of topics. I was amazed at how many of the issues were similar -- need for more leads, expanding markets and dissatisfaction with their PR agencies. Having worked at four agencies throughout my career (one of them twice), I know that clients always find something to be upset about (warranted or not). What really surprised me was that almost every person told me their agency had become complacent.

Really? Complacent? [kuh m-pley-suh nt] pleased, esp. with oneself or one's merits, advantages, situation, etc., often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied: The voters are too complacent to change the government.

I found this definition interesting because of the phrase, “often without awareness of some potential danger or defect.” It’s almost worse than being just plain lazy. How does anyone become complacent in this economic environment?

Because it seems to be a widespread problem, I decided to provide a little free advice to all those complacent agencies out there. The following ideas should sound familiar -- you just forget about them when you’re busy resting on your laurels.

1. Pay attention to what’s happening in the industry. Read articles, blogs, research, etc. What trends are emerging that your client can address? What’s not being covered?

2. Check out your client’s competitors. What piece of the story do they not have that your client does? Who is covering the competition that should be covering your client?

3. Read your client’s content. Blogs, white papers and customer stories are all good sources of new pitches.

4. Listen. What issues come up on every client call that you haven’t addressed? What’s on the wish list that you could tackle?

5. Dust off your annual plan or the pitch you used to win the business. What did you promise that hasn’t happened?

And one more for good measure….
Remember there is someone out there who is desperate for a new client and is willing to do what you do for less money, and willing go out of their way to prove it.