“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” Paul J. Meyer shows us the power of having a dedicated system.
For subject matter experts (SMEs) involved in the RFP response process, the need for a dedicated system continues to be a moving target. In a recent RFPIO survey, 68% of subject matter experts revealed that increasing efficiency through better processes was their primary goal.
RFP software positively impacts the response process for teams every day. By staying committed to a plan, responders are experiencing more focus in achieving revenue objectives together.
The positive impact of RFP software on process
A recent APMP U.S. Benchmarks Report revealed promising insights. The majority (90%) of these organizations have a dedicated proposal management team, 70% have established best practices, and two-thirds have a documented proposal process.
Having an RFP response process is definitely a step in the right direction. But, is that process working well?
23% of APMP members said their process was working “very well” and 59% said “somewhat well.” RFPIO clients continually find opportunities to improve their RFP response process—and they combine their systematic approach with RFP software to achieve success.
1. RFP software allows you to respond to even more RFPs
In 2020 the Accruent team only managed 5-6 RFPs at a time. Two years later that number increased to 15-25 live projects at once, because RFPIO is a highly collaborative work environment that makes it possible for multiple RFP projects to happen simultaneously.
SMEs are called in to review content for accuracy, rather than spending time shelling out repetitive answers. This ability to multi-task means your team has ample time to pull together quality responses, increasing your win potential while moving forward with other revenue opportunities, like RFPs.
2. RFP software speeds up your completion turnaround time
When an RFP came through as a spreadsheet with 4,000 questions, the Illuminate Education team did not have a proper system in place. They had RFPIO up and running in ten minutes and they began submitting RFPs with tight turnarounds well before the deadline.
SMEs no longer need to stay up late to scramble with content contributions, since the RFP project starts and ends smoothly. Your team imports the file (spreadsheet, document, or PDF) then begin divvying up RFP responses. Export functionality makes the finished deliverable cohesive, without the need to fiddle endlessly with formatting.
3. RFP software helps you overcome large RFPs with small teams
The Tantalus team received an RFP from a company that was new to this step in the vendor selection process. The RFP issuer sent an enormous, complex spreadsheet and their team of two was suddenly tasked with 20,000 responses. They made it happen with RFPIO.
Although organizations have dedicated proposal management teams, SMEs still respond to RFPs and security questionnaires as an additional function of their primary job. Easy collaboration is key. Since our RFP software integrates with Slack and Microsoft teams, you receive clarifications and details from other team members with less email to keep up with.
4. RFP software saves you time through savvy content management
“Exact same question, exact same answer” became an anthem for the Finastra proposal management team. Repetition did not make their response management process any easier, as they had a disorganized content management system. Once they started using the RFPIO Content Library, it was a game-changer.
Your Content Library is a database. When cared for, from deduplicating to refreshing, you grab the most up-to-date RFP content and tailor as necessary. In this case, repetitive content is a good thing as RFP software recognizes the questions and matches the best responses, doing most of the work before you step in with your expertise.
