6 Tips to Optimize the Proposal Process for Winning RFPs

Imagine this scenario: Your organization receives a Request for Proposal (RFP) and you are the one tasked with completing the response. You talk to your sales department, gather content to include within your proposal, and eventually submit a carefully-crafted response.

One problem though: The content has inaccurate information about your company, which means your response fails to win new business. This problem, according to Reanna Dempsey, VP of Customer Success at RocketDocs, is a result of a core inefficiency known as “Content Chaos.”

In conversation with Mimeo, Dempsey explains how Content Chaos exists when you are unable to locate the content you need, which causes slow, inefficient and incorrect responses to RFPs. A prime example of this comes from a RocketDocs client, who realized their agreed Scope of Work (SOW) contained out-of-date information. This required sales teams to go back and renegotiate new terms.

Since RocketDocs specializes in helping clients achieve business goals with team performance solutions, Dempsey took the time to emphasize these 6 virtues of content management that can create a perfect response and eliminate Content Chaos:

1. Authorize a single source of truth

We don’t sit back enough to think about the content we create. Creating too many images, videos and written assets can lead to them getting tucked away on computer drives until they are no longer needed or used.

Today, 60-70% of content in B2B organizations goes unused. To decrease the amount of unused content in your organization, start employing a clear source (team drive, folder, etc.) for storage of all content. This way, all parties within your organization will know where to go to get what they need for proposals.

 

2. Assign ownership

A lack of accountability in an organization can spell disaster for your content management. Take time to determine who is responsible for each piece of content and task them with the job of updating this content as time goes on.

This way, you will not be faced with the challenge of updating countless pieces of information on your own. Distributing the responsibility between team members will allow you to meet with others to ensure you have the most up-to-date content without carrying the burden on your own.

3. Set an expiration date

Every organization is different when it comes to expiration dates, but it’s still a good idea to determine when each piece of content will become no longer valid. This will prevent your organization from submitting information that was once offered by your business, but is no longer provided.

Attention to detail is key for this tip, so take time to draw up guidelines for when certain content expires. This way, you can keep track of content updates through monthly and annual reviews, thus keeping you prepared for an upcoming proposal submission.

4. Engineer and follow taxonomy

Another important step to managing your content is to employ proper search taxonomy so you can locate each piece of content at a moment’s notice. Ensuring your content is easy to find will be a benefit to your team members and help with making updates to certain documents.

The type of storage structure you use is entirely up to you. Dempsey, for example, used a folder structure on her drive to minimize duplicate content and simplify any searches by her team.

5. Appoint content librarians

Having a content librarian will provide your library with a custodian to keep track of updates and edit content as needed. Empowering one person will lead to better results in your content management and keep your content ready for any RFP.

Think of this librarian as a guard on your library’s wall, protecting it from a Content Chaos breach. Having a guard on duty will provide safety to your content and keep it from becoming disorganized.

6. Track key metrics

Lastly, you must identify what is important to track in your organization and then build out a reporting structure to track KPIs. Although this demand for reporting can vary by organization, those with heavy legal compliance guidelines will want to know the accuracy of the content provided in proposals.

Establishing key metrics will allow for a more accurate measure of success, while keeping your information up-to-date.

Managing your content using these tips will ensure that your team can submit more accurate RFPs faster. That means you have more time to perfect each proposal response, and win more business for your organization.

Ready to dive deep into these tips? Watch the full webinar, “Optimizing Your Proposal Process for Winning RFPs”