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.