RFP Consultant
What Does an RFP Consultant Do?
An RFP Consultant assists companies in formulating responses that adhere to the oftentimes complex requirements of Requests for Proposal (RFPs). While this may sound like the job of an RFP writer, there are actually a number of differences between an RFP Writer and an RFP Consultant.
Though there are instances where the role can be condensed into a single RFP Writer Consultant, typically an RFP Consultant builds upon the work of the RFP Writer. An RFP Consultant also provides an overarching viewpoint above and beyond all the intricacies of the RFP itself. This guiding perspective ensures that the RFP process anticipates any pitfalls, such as difficult-to-navigate certificates or registrations. While Requests for Quote (RFQs) are generally less open-ended than RFPs, the same principle applies for RFQ Consultants.
Among the piles of potential compliance paperwork and requirements, it’s easy to lose track of the forest for the trees. An RFP Consultant can help clear the fog, creating distinct plans and timelines to ensure your proposal includes complete responses that excel in telling your story, and why your firm is the best choice.
To choose an RFP Consultant (or an RFQ Consultant, for that matter), you need a dependable, task-oriented organizer that can help your firm navigate through the potential sea of compliance requirements. Engaging the right bid consulting services assures that a fully responsive document will undergo a process that transforms it into the most competitive and compelling response possible.
Why Do You Need an RFP Consultant?
Depending on the RFP at hand, a bid’s level of complexity and timeline may require more expertise and project management specific to the response process than your firm maintains in-house. Or perhaps the RFP itself is simple, but it offers the possibility of such a large award that you need an expert to triple confirm your document is fully compliant and competitive.
These and other questions may lead your organization to search for a competent and experienced RFP Consultant to ensure your proposal hits the mark and stands out from the competition.
Typically, it’s best to find an RFP Consultant before starting the process of building a proposal. More often than not, however, firms find themselves lost later in the process, after attempting to create a response themselves internally or for the very first time.
No matter where you land in the process, most important of all is that your company responds to the RFP completely and competently to give you the best chance of winning the bid. Whether the RFP is a must-win or a strategic opportunity, accessing skilled RFP consulting services can help you avoid losing the bid and wasting valuable resources.
What Hats Do RFP Consultants Wear?
The Navigator
Not all RFP Consultants are created equal!
There are many different types of RFPs. Depending on the sector (private or public), the government level (federal, state or local) and/or the jurisdiction, RFP requirements and nuances can be vastly different.
For example, are you preparing for a federal contract? Or for one offered by your local government? Either of these categories has its own set of standards and common practices, full of potential snags for the uninitiated. This is where bid consulting services come in.
An experienced RFP Consultant will provide deep expertise to help you navigate through and overcome these obstacles. With the right partner helping you steer the ship, you’ll be able to decipher which RFP is best for your business and maneuver through the process, from start to finish. An RFP Consultant can also share current industry standards to make your response more competitive, just one advantage they bring on board based on frequently submitting RFP responses.
The Auditor
One of the most common mistakes in RFP writing is to be eliminated from consideration due to an unaddressed issue or incomplete response. An RFP Writer might craft a compelling response and present your ideas succinctly, but if you don’t answer every question and meet each requirement, your proposal will be kicked out of the process.
Some compliance issues are more complicated than merely applying a response you may have used before. They require the nuance and know-how of an experienced RFP Consultant who can scrutinize your proposal to ensure it will complete each round of review.
By certifying that every aspect of compliance has been thoroughly covered, the RFP Consultant can help guarantee your proposal will be deemed responsive and bring you one step closer to boosting your balance sheet.
The Storyteller
However, it takes more than a complete and responsive document to win a bid.
Beyond simply checking every box and fulfilling every requirement lies that extra bit of effort and experience that crafts the winning bid. A seasoned and capable RFP Consultant turns your bid into a convincing narrative, applying best practices from winning past proposals and successful bid consulting services.
Why not just use a template? The fact is that no one template can be used across the board to fulfill a particular RFP’s Scope of Work. An RFP Consultant can help you avoid the easy-to-fall-into template trap, creating a unique RFP that will stand out by telling the story of why your firm is best-placed for the contract. Beyond compliance and responsiveness, it’s this knowledge of which aspects of your firm’s proposal to emphasize that makes RFP consulting services a worthwhile investment to match the one already expended on creating the proposal.
Help Me With an RFP!
Should I Hire an RFP Consultant?
Now for the most important question: Should you make the move and hire an RFP Consultant?
It’s true that there may be project managers and writers working internally at a company. But, it takes no small amount of time and effort to divert resources from a currently existing workflow and apply them to the intensive content generation, creation, editing and proofreading required by an RFP. Before you change your team’s current to-do list, consider whether you can take that risk. This represents the potential to waste both time and money on a possibly unsuccessful bid.
The peace of mind that you’re not completely disrupting your team’s productivity is one of the biggest advantages of hiring a proven RFP Consultant — along with augmenting your firm’s overall capacity to respond to RFPs to grow your business.
Further, while internal resources such as marketing material or brochures serve as great resources or starting points for responses, they’re simply not suitable on their own for a fully fleshed-out proposal.
However, by integrating this content with the knowledge and expertise of a winning RFP strategy, our RFP Consultants can propel your proposals from merely compliant to competitive, winning bids!
Why Us
Positivity. Anyone can do the job. Only we do the job with the right attitude, even when deadlines are tight.
Flexibility. Every firm has its own way of doing things. Our RFP writers will work around your people, processes, and schedules.
Reliability. Our team has never missed a deadline, and we don’t plan on starting anytime soon.
Quality. Our 4-eye review process ensures that even the smallest of errors are caught before work is submitted.
Transparency. Have any questions during the process? Call us and we will share the status of your bid at any time.
Our Clients Love Our Bid Consulting Services
We are absolutely committed to our clients, and strive to serve as an extension of their teams. We are more than consultants, we are partners. But, don’t just take our word for it. See what our clients have to say below!
”We love working with The Bid Lab’s team of experienced and hard-working consultants. I am always surprised at how consistently they can deliver RFPs that would take us dozens of hours to complete. We probably would not have pursued — and won — the business we did in the last year without The Bid Lab finding the opportunities and helping us win them.”
-JR Denson, Prekindle
“Working with The Bid Lab is like having our own secret weapon to win these competitive bids. They serve as our quarterback and leader when it comes to legal RFPs. They coordinate our various team members’ differing strategies, strengths and schedules. By having an outsourced resource to keep us all coordinated, we know we’re working with a non-biased, positive and experienced firm that has our best interests in mind.”
-Paul Napoli, Napoli Shkolnik
“I absolutely hated completing RFPs before working with The Bid Lab. Maurice and his team find a way to make every step of the way organized and efficient. I can’t believe I am saying this, but I actually looked forward to my calls with The Bid Lab because I knew they had my best interests in mind to get us winning.”
– Cal Hutson, Quality Transcription Specialists
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