RFPs: What To Do After Coming In Second

One of the worst feelings in consulting is going through the Request for Proposal (RFP) process and losing out on the project or client. But many times, coming in second doesn’t have to be a total loss.

Submitting an RFP takes a lot of time and financial resources and isn’t a pursuit that any vendor can whimsically take without encountering overhead costs. 

It gets worse when you advance round after round only to be beat out by one remaining competitor. It’s worth looking into navigating the RFP minefield and considering some tips we’ve seen work in vendor relations.

Now, if you do fall short of victory, one needs to quickly get over the shock, frustration, and confidence blow of coming in second to make the most of the experience. 

You can harvest a lot from the process (lessons learned, relationships made, and information acquired) if you look beyond the short-term defeat. 

Remember: RFP’s are a gamble considering the personal relationships, politics, and arbitrary bias/preferences that often factor into the process. 

But you can control for some of these variables and utilize effective strategies to assert your company or product properly. Here are a few things to consider:

Weigh the rationale of the decision.

Always ask the client the product features, traits, or skills that went into the final decision. Don’t counter a contested decision, but respectfully ask for the core area where you were bested. This should help identify a weakness or area of improvement that you can better in the future. 

Ask for a referral, if possible.

You’ve spent considerable time and money in putting together a product or services pitch. You’ll have developed a professional relationship with a decision-maker who’s got a network of contacts. You may not be the right fit for their organization, but coming in second doesn’t have to be an outright loss. 

The decision-maker or firms involved saw something in your product or service. It’s worth asking them to make some introductions or connections within their industry. Anyone that truly believes that advocacy is a relationship-based business likely won’t have a problem sending an email or two on behalf of someone that took the time to pursue work with them.

Plan to follow up next year, or not.

Sometimes an RFP process will leave you fatigued, even angry. Advocacy professionals will push back deadlines, not answer emails or calls, and decide to go with another firm just when you fully expect to win the bid. 

Don’t burn a bridge. Keep the door open for future pitches and the opportunity to evaluate the service or product during the next go around. 

But if you lose an RFP two consecutive intervals, take a few years off before investing the time again. An RFP is an integral business decision and it doesn’t make sense for you to lose time and time again. Think of your second pitch as the bonus round.

Set your calendar reminders to stay connected.

Not every selected proposal matches the organization well. We recommend contacting the RFP issuer at the 60-day mark and making sure everyone is happy with the marriage and the resulting work product. We have seen instances where things aren’t going well, and the client is open to hiring its second choice.

Beware of organizations using RFPs for fishing.

Sometimes organizations will launch an RFP and close it down without deciding — only to re-open it later. That’s a waste of everyone’s time and should be avoided at all costs.  

Advocacy professionals shouldn’t launch an RFP without a real probability of accepting a product or service, nor should they use this tool as a fishing expedition to get ideas from vendors that they’ll eventually use in-house. 

If you want to try to get some free advice, schedule a coffee meeting instead. A persistent disturbing trend in advocacy is RFP’s being launched by organization without a genuine willingness to purchase a product or a lack of budgetary resources to make that decision.

RFP etiquette is a two-way street and advocacy professionals have a responsibly to the vendor community and vice versa. 

Joshua Habursky is the Head of Federal Affairs at the Premium Cigar Association and Adjunct Professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.

Mike Fulton directs the Washington, D.C., office of Asher Agency and teaches public affairs in the West Virginia University Reed College of Media’s Integrated Marketing Communications program.