Why does one agency win over another in an RFP? Hint: It's not your "culture."

For more than a decade, RFP Assistants has been coordinating and facilitating agency review processes for all types of advertising/marketing programs and projects. In that time, there is one question that both our clients and the agencies we work with ask us over and over...

“Why does one agency win over another?”

Of course, all participating agencies have to be able to accomplish the goals set forth in the RFP – but let’s face it, that’s the easy part. So what is it? The worst part of my job is informing agencies that they have not won an account….they always want to know what happened. Why didn’t they win? Many times the response I get from my clients is, “it just felt right with the other agency.” When you are not ‘the other’ agency, it is a bitter pill of randomness to swallow.
So why is one agency selected over another? The answer, in my humble opinion, is not arbitrary at all and it’s been staring us all right in the face – it’s the people and the process.

People

So many agencies talk about their mission and their culture with prospective clients. Stop it. It’s the wrong audience. That stuff is important to your recruits, your staff, your investors…prospective-clients don’t give a hoot. Trust me.
What matters to prospective-clients is the people they work with from an agency – their direct account-team. Who are these people? What do they bring to the table in the form of talent, resources and personality? And let’s face it; we all know account teams within an agency are not equal. You have your work-horse-team, your growth-sales team, your complacent-renew-as-is team, and so on… So choose the account-team you present to any prospective-client carefully and purposefully.
Talk about the value your planned account-team would offer to the program. Every RFP starts with goals for success, the dreaded KPIs. Assign a team that can achieve those goals. Demonstrate how they’ve been successful in the past. And always bring them to the pitch! Prospective clients are happy to meet the agency-head but they REALLY want to meet the people they’ll be working with daily. And let them be heavily involved in the pitch. Meeting a potential account team is the RFP-equivalent of test-driving a car. The right mix of people is crucial to RFP winning!

Process

Many agencies will say, “Hey we talk about process!” Trust me, you don’t. You talk about what you’ve done for others, case-studies…it’s not the same. Focus on how your agency tackles a new project, step-by-step. Keep it simple and walk through the steps you take to achieve goals and create success for your clients.
It shocks me how many agencies only talk about their culture, their products/services and their awards and accolades. While these things are nice, they describe nothing about your agency that is relevant to the prospective-client and the task at hand. Walking through your process for tackling a new advertising/marketing program will show the prospective client how you work. If it matches how they work [or more importantly, how they WANT to work] your agency will be the one hired. I guarantee it.

It’s really simple math! Purposeful account team + desired process methodology = winning agency.

So now when I have to tell an agency that they didn’t win and the client gives me the response of, “the other agency seems like a better fit” I can tell the agency to look at the account-team they assigned [or many times didn’t assign] and their process for getting the job done. It seems simple to include these two things, but rarely do I see an agency do it, or do it well. When they do, they tend to win new business over and over. Now go win some new business!

Agencies ask me, “How do I win an RFP?” The right question is “How can I lose an RFP?”

Agencies ask me, “How do I win an RFP?” The right question is “How can I lose an RFP?”

For over 12 years my firm has been conducting advertising and marketing agency RFPs and reviews on behalf of national-level advertisers. These reviews focus on print, online, search, OOH, email, branding, creative…you get the idea. My “fly-on-the-wall” perspective is a unique vantage-point to ad-agencies.

As you can imagine, many agencies I’ve worked with will ask for tips to help them become more successful in agency reviews & RFPs. “How do I win?” is what they want to know. And that response is as unique as every RFP process. And that is the response I give to each and every one of their disappointed faces. They want the proverbial philosopher’s stone. And there is one! But it’s not one that can help you win – it’s one that will help you not lose.

What is it? 

Simple.

Proof-read.

Who wouldn’t proof-read a document worth a multi-million-dollar account?

Well, evaluating and analyzing RFP responses is 90% our work and I’ll tell you our numbers are scary! 1 in 3 RFPs have typos, errors, omissions, etc. in them according to our current count. We find it astounding! Astounding not that the mistakes are made, but because in most cases the mistakes are glaring signifying that there is NO WAY anyone proof-read these RFP responses before they were sent out!

One RFP I received years ago had the prospective client's name wrong throughout the document...everywhere, every time! The client was furious with me, and rightfully so! I had recommended this agency and what they delivered was embarrassing. Due diligence demanded I call the head of the agency and the person who prepped the RFP was fired. I was stunned and riddled with guilt.

I waited until the RFP was complete and I called the head of the agency and asked if she had read the RFP before it was sent out? She hesitated and then replied, "No." I told her that I was a bit taken aback that one person would be held responsible for an RFP response worth a potential $15M in new business. I reminded her that that RFP-response represented her whole company yet no one else showed any interest in even reading it let alone proof-reading it. She agreed, and I’d bet my last penny she has multiple people proof-read everything that leaves the agency now. Yes, it's THAT important!

Always proof-read your RFP response materials for errors and content continuity. Then give it to 2 or more others not on the pitch team to proof-read before submission. Have your accounting department read it and pay close attention to your financial offer to see if it falls in line. Have your account team leaders read it and focus on your capabilities section to determine if it is inclusive. Shouldn’t your analytics team read it and gauge your proposed metrics-generating reports? Of course!

Remember that every RFP response is worth the whole value of the prospective account. 

So that is my #1 advice to an agency. When something represents everything you are as an agency - get everyone you can to read it! Simple things should never be forgotten or neglected. It's THAT important!

Conducting an agency review & RFP is part of due diligence for advertisers. Loyalty to agencies is something to be admired but not when it is at the cost of complacency and loss of the competitive edge in marketing. Media continues to change rapidly and advertisers must lean on their agencies to keep them at the right stage of the game with regard to the continuous media evolution. Our agency reviews and RFP services give our clients that edge and security of being with the right agency at the right time.