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Proposal needed... now what?

by kemdev
14 replies
I guess hard work pays off. I've recently been invited to bid on a fairly large government website re-design project. Just got the email this morning with my RFP and outline of what is required in the proposal.

Like most of you, I don't really do proposals. Most of my sales are face to face with local business owners and I've never had to write a formal proposal for a project. This time, however, one is required. New territory for me definitely.

I have a few questions for those of you who've had to deal with formal proposals before. First off, I'm not even sure how to format a formal proposal - if anyone could point me in the direction of boilerplate templates to get an eye for what's needed, it would be very beneficial.

Secondly... how can I make MY proposal stand out. I already have some great ideas that will definitely be unique (I can't see any other provider suggesting what I will be), but I'm interested in how I can make the presentation of those ideas better. What have you all done in the past to make your proposal stand out from your competition?
#needed #proposal
  • Profile picture of the author jackc2107
    This is the proposal template I use most often

    Print Templates - Proposal Set | Volume 1 | GraphicRiver
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnRussell
    Don't do RFPs...only 2 things will happen - either you'll waste time and lose the contract or you'll get the business at a price that makes you resent the customer. Only do proposals if you have an agreement in principle.

    IMHO.
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    • Profile picture of the author Anthem40
      Originally Posted by JohnRussell View Post

      Don't do RFPs...only 2 things will happen - either you'll waste time and lose the contract or you'll get the business at a price that makes you resent the customer. Only do proposals if you have an agreement in principle.

      IMHO.
      It depends on who the RFP is for.

      For the OP, this RFP could be a massive investment in his future. Saying that XYZ Government selected you to do their web design is huge, and word will get out around town.
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      95% of IM'ers have great relationships with clients who also advertise offline and with other people. Stop missing out on that cash and leverage into it. PM me if you are an established marketer and want to find out how.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnRussell
        Originally Posted by Anthem40 View Post

        It depends on who the RFP is for.

        For the OP, this RFP could be a massive investment in his future. Saying that XYZ Government selected you to do their web design is huge, and word will get out around town.
        There are more lucrative ways to build a rep.
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        • Profile picture of the author Anthem40
          Originally Posted by JohnRussell View Post

          There are more lucrative ways to build a rep.
          If he submits an RFP and doesn't undermine his rates, that is a perfect way to build a reputation. Obviously there are many other paths to build a rep, but there i nothing wrong with winning a RFP for a city/state gov.
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          95% of IM'ers have great relationships with clients who also advertise offline and with other people. Stop missing out on that cash and leverage into it. PM me if you are an established marketer and want to find out how.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnRussell
    You are right...there is nothing wrong with winning an RFP if he doesn't undermine his rates as you put it. I just bet it isn't going to happen.
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    • Profile picture of the author kemdev
      Originally Posted by JohnRussell View Post

      You are right...there is nothing wrong with winning an RFP if he doesn't undermine his rates as you put it. I just bet it isn't going to happen.
      I submit my own price point. Getting skimmed on price isn't a concern whatsoever - as I said this is a large overhaul and will be priced as such by all bidders involved. Furthermore, my only time involvement for a potentially huge gain (both monetary and for my reputation) is to create a proposal. Opting not to submit one would be both lazy and stupid.
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      • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
        Originally Posted by kemdev View Post

        I submit my own price point. Getting skimmed on price isn't a concern whatsoever - as I said this is a large overhaul and will be priced as such by all bidders involved. Furthermore, my only time involvement for a potentially huge gain (both monetary and for my reputation) is to create a proposal. Opting not to submit one would be both lazy and stupid.
        I agree with John. Don't forget about opportunity cost. I'm not saying DONT do it. But, if there are larger companies bidding, they will be able to underbid you, and you wont get it.

        Or, if you do get it, the price will be low and you will hate it. The only way I would recommend doing it is if you can bid low enough to have a chance at winning, and still feel very good about the price.

        How ever many hours you spend doing the RFP and all related admin work, you could have been making other money.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnRussell
    Most RFP's I have seen are not a small time commitment but maybe this is different. But maybe I am just lazy and/or stupid.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    I'm on my town's Promotions Board. (Which is why I did not bid.) Small historic, tourist town in the mountains. For our new website we just selected, through a very informal RFP process, the most expensive of the five who responded - $2500 to $8500. I'm sure you have more criteria for your proposal.

    He won because he was the most technical and well rounded of the group.
    He is a Drupal programmer with a computer science degree, and all the other's were Wordpress (which would have worked for what we need). He has marketing and design
    people. He also has experience with government - notably the library website for a large city. (Which other library systems are copying in Drupal and he is getting some referral business.)

    Overall the well rounded part is very important. The other proposals were from people with marketing or journalism backgrounds and their proposals came from what they know most about. One firm was mainly an SEO firm that also happens to do websites and they talked SEO first and website second - and we did not put SEO in the RFP. The journalism person had some pointers for publicity and Twittering journalists, but she did not really know web dev and mobile.

    The one we selected is well versed in all areas of web dev and IM, AND he really conveyed that he understands how - by mandate - our Board is responding to our citizens/business owners and the historical and tourism aspects of our town.
    (We have some nationally noted museums and a mining history as well.)

    And, he will train and make it easy for us volunteers to manage the content.

    So, I guess what I'm saying is ABSOLUTELY COVER WHAT IS REQUESTED
    and THOUGHTFULLY add to it and LISTEN.
    Convey your teams' technical expertise.
    Convey your teams' IM marketing expertise (if that is a concern).
    Convey that it will be easy to manage the content. Understand how it will be managed from their end after it's built and make that easy.
    Convey that it will be easy for another company (documentation) to take over if you leave for some reason.
    Convey that you understand the written and verbal pressure they have from the constituents.
    Convey that it will be easy for the site visitor to use as intended.

    Get a really good understanding of what the entity sees as it's drivers (history and tourism I our case, also our large big horn sheep herd and historic train).

    I think that it cannot hurt to do the proposal and don't assume that because it's gov you will have to low ball (don't shoot me if I'm wrong). Guesstimate or find out how much the last one cost and try to catch the political winds of that situation.

    And, you are right that it will be good for your portfolio and lead generation if you do get it.

    Good luck and feel free to PM for no obligation help.

    Dan
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    "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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    • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
      Originally Posted by bizgrower View Post

      I'm on my town's Promotions Board. (Which is why I did not bid.) Small historic, tourist town in the mountains. For our new website we just selected, through a very informal RFP process, the most expensive of the five who responded - $2500 to $8500. I'm sure you have more criteria for your proposal.
      I guess I didn't think about smaller governments. Since most of my Gov experience has been Federal, my mind automatically jumped there.

      If it is a smaller city or county Gov, the process might now be too bad! Never done it though.
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      Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
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      • Profile picture of the author Anthem40
        Originally Posted by Dan McCoy View Post

        I guess I didn't think about smaller governments. Since most of my Gov experience has been Federal, my mind automatically jumped there.

        If it is a smaller city or county Gov, the process might now be too bad! Never done it though.
        Yep! This is why I am encouraging him to fill it out. But it probably also has a lot to do with I am a work 7 days a week, single guy-sort-of-person.

        Time and bid price are certainly the two major factors to balance out, no doubt about that.
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        95% of IM'ers have great relationships with clients who also advertise offline and with other people. Stop missing out on that cash and leverage into it. PM me if you are an established marketer and want to find out how.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    Yeah, Dan. I'm fairly new to the Board and was surprised at the ease. The only criteria we had to meet was to advertise the RFP in the local paper and have a 30 day period to submit proposals. Not a strict deadline in our case. I know with other government entities that the process is much more rigorous.

    I should add that the winning proposal was the most formal - probably based upon a
    good template, or what he's been through before.

    Incidentally, two town websites ago they paid $50,000 up front for the site. That was done back in the day when it was all hand coded HTML and custom design and the webmaster did the content management - no CMS. That relationship fell apart and the webmaster took the website down. The next website - for reasons beyond my comprehension and before my time on the Board - was a ridiculously bad Flash template.
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