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.
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.
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