Do You Respond to RFPs Without Having All the Information You Need?

In these difficult economic times, it seems that more clients than ever are putting their work out to bid. Because you obviously want to prepare the best possible response, you need to make sure that your response demonstrates that you can meet a client's specific needs. This distinguishes you from other law firms that are also responding.

Of course, this is easier said than done, since the information you'll need is often missing from the original RFP that you receive. The only way to solve this dilemma is to obtain the information you need by directly asking the client for it.

Many clients hesitate when I suggest they reply to RFPs with questions of their own. They are concerned that their clients will be annoyed by the questions or will be insulted by the suggestion that the RFPs were less than complete.

My response: Don't be shy about asking! If the client is serious about the RFP process, they should welcome your questions. In fact, the more questions you ask, the more focused and relevant your response will be. By being more knowledgeable, you will save the client time and provide them with the information they need to make a good decision.

These are the 10 questions I recommend you ask before even starting to prepare your response:

1. Why are you conducting this RFP? There are many reasons to conduct RFPs: cost reduction, dissatisfaction with existing counsel, consolidation to reduce management time, etc. Knowing the client's motivation helps determine what's needed to win their business.

2. Why did you include us? You want to know what the client already knows about you and your firm. You can then use this information to distinguish yourself from the competition.

3. What criteria are important to you in selecting a firm? How would you rank the criteria? This will help you craft a focused response, honing in on the issues that are most important to the client.

4. Do you have a timeline for making the decision? If the client has no timeline, they may not be particularly serious and you may want to reconsider your participation.

5. Are there any special circumstances or "hot buttons" of which we should be aware? Forewarned is forearmed.

6. What kind of relationship do you want with your outside counsel? The client may be looking for a partnership, a way to expand head count without hiring another inside lawyer or a second opinion. Each relationship dictates a different response.

7. What role will pricing play in the decision? What issues are of concern about pricing? Predictability? Risk/reward sharing? Cost reduction? Believe it or not, not all RFPs are about cost reduction (even in the current climate), and even those that are may define cost reduction in different ways. Knowing the answers to these questions will help you determine the pricing structure that will appeal most to the client. Many an RFP response has included an alternate fee proposal that did not meet the client's needs.

8. Are there documents we should review or people we should speak with prior to responding? The more information you can gather, the better you can address the client's concerns.

9. Who is responsible for managing the competition for this project? Who else will be involved in making the decisions? You need to know who your audience is to craft the most appropriate response. If the CFO is managing the process, there's a lot of information in that fact alone. You want to communicate differently with businesspeople than with highly specialized lawyers.

10. How many other firms are competing? Which other firms are competing and which lawyers from those firms? In order to distinguish yourself from your competition, you need to know who that competition is. Some people won't answer these questions, but it never hurts to ask.

Responding to an RFP is a time-consuming process. Before you invest that time, make sure that you have a good chance of winning the contract by discovering if it is an open competition, what the client is really looking for, and what it will take to make you and your firm stand out.