RFPs are a bad idea and why brands should stop asking for them

Since before most of us were even born, RFPs have been a standard in our industry. They’re also a wasteful of time. These seemingly simple requests for proposals may seem appealing to brands, but they are detrimental to the brand-agency relationship. We stopped doing them and we don’t believe anyone else in the industry should either.

1) They are a waste time and agency resources.

RFPs often request spec work or proofs of concepts. We know that no one wants to work for nothing, but we have spent a lot of time trying to understand the brand’s needs. This is because RFPs can be written in such a way that it’s almost impossible to understand what the brand wants. Why?

The goals can be vague. You want to increase brand awareness. What does this mean? How do you intend to measure success? We are strategic thinkers and can offer creative solutions. We can’t help you if you don’t tell us what you want.
They don’t always specify the budget for the brand. They request an estimate from agencies. Because these parameters are so vague, it is difficult to provide a solid concept that is both realistic and accurate. We can pitch you a video campaign worth $100,000 or $1 million. What do you want us to know?
It is also unclear what the timeline will look like. It takes time to produce quality work, but RFPs can be confusing about the timeline. This confusion can affect our creativity recommendations, our creative capabilities, and our ability to provide the best work.

While there are methods to create better RFPs (e.g., outlining budget, goals and timeline)span style=”font weight: 400 ;”>, this is not enough. Responding to RFPs can be a tedious process with low return rates. This is often due to the core problems. Because the output (aka response) is only as good or worse than the inputs, they set agencies up to fail.

2 They also waste time and energy for the brand.

You can often spend more if you are trying to save money and nickel-and-dime everything. Brands must do the legwork to solicit this work. This includes creating and sending out RFPs, reviewing responses, scheduling pitches, attending pitch meetings, and following up with reviewers.

You’re probably not seeing the best work of an agency (see point 1), because RFP responses often turn into a competition to see who can kiss the most.

It would be more efficient to spend all that brand time on work with one agency. In many cases, even with a higher-rate agency, it would be cheaper.

“It is my best guess that Canada annually spends $5 billion on wasted time and effort each year due to inefficient RFP processes.” Cal Harrison

In fact, I have yet to meet a brand or marketer who didn’t hate the RFP process.

3) RFPs can be detrimental to our clients.

This is a serious problem. We are using part of our clients’ budgets to respond to top RFPs and fund the free work of another brand. This adds to our workload and saps our creative energy.

Deep, collaborative relationships are the best way to do great work. We’d rather spend more time with our existing partners, creating ideas and strategies to grow those businesses, than on an RFP that has a low win rate and a large time investment.

4) RFPs do not facilitate equity or partnership.

One excuse for RFPs that promote equity in agency responses is a common one. Actually, it does the exact opposite. RFPs simply seek:

The lowest price
The most beautiful proposal
Free work

It has champagne taste, but it is also a beer budget. They’re not getting the best they can get.

Creativity is not a commodity. Each agency does things differently. Every website, every visual identity, every brand messaging engagement, every global campaign or content strategy are different. While there are some similarities in theory and process, brands often don’t recognize each agency’s unique value as they review proposals. They see one website is $100K, and another website is $50K.
Many RFPs restrict access to decision-makers. RFPs are often managed by procurement or another third party. While this may seem fair and equitable, it actually hinders agency’s ability interact with real stakeholders. The brand/marketing team is often not the one who chooses the agency. Instead, it’s often the procurement or finance team. This means that they don’t feel a strong sense or ownership over the work being done and the people they are working with. This is important not only for the information exchange (again, point 1) but also because it will determine whether or not you have a good working relationship. If you truly gel, a brand-agency partnership will only work. You’re going to be blind if you don’t have that access.

Although RFPs can encourage brands to work alongside any agency that can make lowball promises and make good pitches, they should also be careful about choosing who they partner with.

5) The Finance department is the only real winner.

We joke that RFPs can be used by Finance to select the most affordable agency. This is often true. The only group that leaves satisfied is the one who spent the least amount. Brand loses because the best agency didn’t participate, or was told they were too costly. Most likely, the winning agency has some resentment about having to go through an RFP process and being treated as a vendor (not a valued partner). The worst part is that the winning agency often gets hammered by finance/procurement during the negotiation phase. This can be very frustrating if they have submitted an estimate using discount rates to be selected.

All of this leads to subpar work and a disappointed end user.

The Better Way

Although I understand that the industry will not change its old ways overnight, I will fight for a more productive and beneficial process for everyone. Here are some ways I believe brands can change their approach and get better results.

You should research agencies that are in your field of expertise. You can narrow down the agencies that you like or are interested in learning more by doing a quick Google search. To determine who is the right fit for the job, look at their past work. It is possible to save hundreds of people hundreds and hundreds of hours by dedicating a day to research. Reach out to 2-3 agencies you are interested in learning more about. These additional tips will help you find the best agency for your needs.
To get to know them better, schedule intro calls. Get to know your goals and prepare the questions that you will ask them. Ask the same questions to all of them. This will give you a good idea of their answers. These are the core questions you need to answer.

- - Are they qualified?
  - Do they appeal to you?
  - Are you a part of the same values?
  - Do you gel together?
Prioritize collaboration over price. You want to establish a productive, mutually beneficial relationship with your agency. This will allow you to feel like they are an extension of your team. You don’t have to call the agency and tell them that they are a vendor. It doesn’t mean that you should treat their creative work as a commodity. It is important to learn from each other and improve on their ideas.

Remember that the best work comes from great relationships. So be thorough in your research and choose the people you feel most comfortable working with. If you’re ready to begin your search with us, we recommend that you learn more about our brand, check out our FAQs or reach out directly. Although we are selective about our partners, we are always open to doing great work with new people.

The post Why RFPs are a Bad Idea and Brands Should Stop Asking for them was first published on Column 5.