EP128: Shred with Ted: Assessing the RFP
Shredding an RFP is a phrase that those of us in the proposal industry use to describe how we will get an RFP ready for the proposal process, right after we receive the solicitation but before we begin writing.
What does it mean to shred an RFP? And why would you add this extra step to the process when you could just jump right in to writing the response?
On this episode of the podcast, guest host Ted Koval, Senior Proposal Manager at the RFP Success Company, walks us through the steps of shredding an RFP, explaining how it helps you identify every RFP requirement and track your progress.
Ted describes how to build a compliance matrix, the tool we use to ensure that every question in a solicitation has been addressed and manage the process of meeting with SMEs.
Listen in for insight on using the compliance matrix as the final check before you submit a response and learn how to shred an RFP and increase your chances of winning a deal for your company!
Key Takeaways
What it means to shred an RFP and why you should do it before you begin writing
How a compliance matrix helps us identify each RFP requirement and track our progress
What columns to include as you build a compliance matrix in an Excel spreadsheet
Why we suggest building an RFP template that mirrors your compliance matrix
The benefit of setting up your response in the same order the solicitation was released
How the MUST, SHALL, WILL sentences in a solicitation reflect the requirements you’ll be scored on
How the compliance matrix helps us manage the process of meeting with SMEs
How the shredded RFP serves as a final check before you submit your response
How an RFP reflects the attention to detail you’ll likely have if you get hired for the job
Why we use the compliance matrix in the agency debrief to identify lessons learned
RFP Success Show EP128 Transcription
(0:00):
You are listening to the RFP Success Show with eight time author, speaker, and CEO of the RFP Success Company, Lisa Rehurek. Tune in each episode to learn what today's capture and RFP teams are doing to increase their win percentages by up to 20%, 30%, and even 50% and meet the industry trailblazers that are getting it right. Let's get started.
Ted Koval (00:24):
Hi, and welcome to Shred with Ted, a podcast dedicated to helping you manage your RFP process. I'm your host, Ted Koval, a Senior Proposal Manager with the RFP Success Company. In today's episode, we'll be talking about the best way to shred an RFP in order to respond to the requirements and hopefully win a deal for your company. But first, what is shredding an RFP mean? So I'm a music enthusiast and particularly from the 70s, 80s, which I guess gave my age away, but when I first heard the phrase shredding an RFP, I immediately imagined one of my favorite rock bands shredding a guitar riff. So some great guitarist ripping through a set of chords like nobody's business. But what I found out was that shredding an RFP really wasn't too far off from the arena rock and power ballad memories of my youth. Shredding an RFP is a phrase that those of us in the proposal industry used to describe how we will get an RFP ready for the proposal process, right after we receive the solicitation, but before we begin working on it,
(01:29):
Shredding is the art of isolating each requirement so as to allow us to focus on that requirement once responding to it. Here's how I like to think about it. Imagine in the old days before the electronic submission of RFPs, RFPs were received in paper format. The proposal manager would literally tear out or shred the RFP so each subject matter expert or SME could focus on their specific requirements. With today's technology and the ever or useful cut and paste tool, shredding an RFP has become almost an automatic exercise. Yet in my work with clients on RFPs, I often find that while I don't expect them to know the fancy terms we use in the proposal biz, I'm often surprised that the processes of shredding an RFP or breaking the requirements into those individual items is something that many companies are just not familiar with.
(02:24):
The first question I usually get is why go through all the work to shred an RFP? It's a good question, but before we get to that, let's look at the topics we'll cover in today's episodes of Shred with Ted. When shedding an RFP, I've set up a series of steps I like to follow and a few tools and techniques I like to use. These steps really include developing a compliance matrix. This is the main tool we'll use when you want to identify and document each RFP requirement with a list of owners, due dates, and notes. Then we'll look at what goes into a compliance matrix, that's the shredding part. After that, we'll discuss how to best use this tool once all the shredding is done. And finally, we'll discuss how the shredded RFP and the compliance matrix serves as a final check to make sure we're ready to submit our response.
(03:11):
So let's Shred with Ted. Like many of our clients, you might be asking why go through all the work and time to shred a solicitation? As I said, that's a good question. I mean, why waste the time that could be used just jumping right in and getting the response written. After all, we don't always get a ton of time in between the release of an RFP and the due date so it doesn't make sense to use every available second or waste it at all and use it, every available second that's available to you. Well, while that may seem like the natural thing to do, shredding an RFP and creating a compliance matrix while time-consuming can actually save you time in the long run, including making sure that you don't get rejected by the evaluators. As an evaluator, one of the biggest mistakes I see vendors make is not answering the requirements or the questions that are in the RFP.
(04:00):
It happens so much that I never go into an RFP response without a compliance matrix. Most of the time, requirements are missed not because they don't comply or because they don't know how to answer it. Most companies know how to answer the questions. Most of the time it's because they fail to identify all of the requirements within a requirement. So RFPs are not often the best written prose that's out there, and one of the mistakes RFP writers make and I'm talking about the agencies that write the solicitations that we're responding to, is including too much information, or questions, or even in just one requirement. I've seen one requirement have up to 10 requirements or 10 separate questions in just that one requirement. They're getting everything into that one requirement, everything and the kitchen sink. And often, not all of the requirements that are stuffed into that one requirement are really asking about the same thing.
(05:00):
So you might find that several requirements within that one requirement have nothing to do with each other. That happens often. That's where the gift of shredding or separating each of those requirements or questions into their very own question or requirement comes into play, so that's where the compliance matrix comes in. As I mentioned, this is the main tool we use when you want to identify and document each RFP requirement with a list of owners, due dates, and notes. The compliance matrix will be the key document that will be used throughout the RFP to make sure that all requirements and questions have been addressed. The key to this, using this tool, is to track each of these requirements. So to do this I typically use an Excel spreadsheet to build my compliance matrix. If the RFP is simple, the compliance matrix can be simple with just a few columns.
(05:53):
If it's more complex and you need more room to track more requirements, then you'll need to add additional columns. Typically, I have at least the following columns in a compliance matrix when I'm shredding an RFP. Make sure to have the RFP section numbered so you can easily go back and look at what RFP section you're thinking about or talking about. You have the RFP page number to make it easy to go back and look in the RFP. The third column, which is usually the actual requirement, is a word for word description of the actual requirement that's been pulled out individually. After that, you want a column that identifies who will be responsible for the content, and that's the subject matter expert or SME that they might write the content that you then will edit as a proposal manager, or you may interview the SME for the content, or you may be even able to pull the content from a previous RFP or any collateral the company has.
(06:49):
Regardless, you want to capture and track who and how you will get this content from. Next, I'd like to identify any differentiators the client has that are specific to that requirement. Include those key things that make your company stand out from your competitors. That's the best way to make sure that all of this is included and you want to track it in your compliance matrix. Next, I'll have a column for the due date, when the content is due from the SME, and then if any graphics should be included to help explain that requirement. Oftentimes when you have requirements separated like that, it forces you to think a little bit more of, hey, this might actually look good in a graphic or this might actually look good in a table. Finally, I leave a column at the end for any notes about that specific requirement. If the requirements are particularly complex or the RFP is large, and you know this because of the notes section in your compliance matrix, you can add additional columns to manage this complexity.
(07:47):
But usually I keep all of my compliance matrix to this level of detail regardless of the size and complexity of the RFP. It's just easier for me to manage it that way and that way it's familiar to me, my colleagues, and my clients each time we work on an RFP. Also, I found that when dealing with a lot of moving parts in an RFP simplicity is best, but the point is here is that you should adjust your compliance matrix to the way it works best for you and for your clients. If the RFP is particularly large or complex, you add a few extra columns. You want to make sure that you include any conversations that you have with your SME and when you may have actually met with the SME or when the SME returned the content to keep track of that timeline so you know with each requirement where it stands. And if anyone else is tracking the progress of the RFP, they'll know exactly where the team is for each requirement.
(08:41):
I sometimes add a column called ready for review when a requirement is ready for review, whether that is by SME, the editor, or anyone else that needs to look at our response before we submit. Again, you can build your compliance matrix to whatever process that works for you depending on the size and complexity, but the key is to use this tool to make sure you answer every single requirement and question. That's what the compliance matrix helps you to do by breaking each of those out. So build a compliance matrix that helps you build and track the best RFP. As additional step and related to this, I like to build my RFP template at the same time. This is the document that will actually become the RFP response and should exactly mirror my compliance matrix. So the template I build has the requirements or questions that exactly mirror the way the RFP was built, the way the compliance matrix was built.
(09:36):
That is you should be able to see a one-to-one match of the requirement in the compliance matrix to the requirement in the RFP response template. I also matched the requirement in the draft with the SME responsible for helping me get that content for that question, as we discussed earlier. This allows me to easily move between the compliance matrix and the RFP response and make sure that it's easy for the SME to find the requirements they're responsible for in the response. Matching the compliance matrix and the response template question by question required by requirement allows me to use both as checks and balances to ensure every single requirement and question is addressed in my response, even if there are multiple questions or requirements in just one question or requirement. Remember, this process is designed to make sure that you don't miss any requirements or question that could eliminate you from consideration.
(10:29):
Once you've confirmed that all the requirements and questions have been tracked and have been answered, you need to make sure that they're put exactly the way they were back into your template as they were in the RFP. Remember, you want the actual response to mirror the way the solicitation was released by the agency. So once we've identified all the requirements that need to be separated and have put them in the compliance matrix, next we'll look at what goes into the compliance matrix. That's the exciting part. That's the shredding of the RFP. Again, in building compliance matrix, we identify each and every requirement in the RFP that we need to focus on. We're looking for the must, shall, will sentences, the must, shall, will sentences of the solicitation. These are the requirements that the evaluator is expecting to see in your answer. These are the requirements that the evaluator will be scoring you on. So when you're shredding these requirements, you need to laser focus on separating each and every requirement.
(11:27):
Now, that may sound easy, but remember, as I said, there may be two to three or even five to six individual requirements in just one single requirement. Find each of those and separate them into the compliance matrix line by line. This way you're laser focused on every requirement, making sure that you don't miss a thing. A key part of this step is that while you're separating each requirement, make sure that you keep in the exact same order in the compliance matrix as they are listed in the RFP. Remember, we're going to be organizing all of these requirements the same way they were in the original RFP since this is how the evaluator will expect to see your responses. Additionally, they'll be looking for your response to each requirement from a checklist that matches their order, so make it easy for them to see how you and your company are the best choice by keeping everything in the order that they delivered it in the original RFP.
(12:22):
As an evaluator, I show you that if you're making me work to find your responses that aren't the way they were in the original RFP, you run the risk of lower scores because to me, it's an indication that you might not follow instructions for me as a vendor for this project. So while you're separating each requirement in each question, do so in the exact order that they were in the RFP. So now that we've identified and gotten every requirement into the compliance matrix, even those requirements within a requirement, they're in the compliance matrix for tracking and identification. So now we have a document that's chock-full of great information, staring right back at you while the response clock is ticking away. So how do we use it? Well, once you've incorporated each and every individual requirement signed and content owners, and you've got due dates and whether or not you'll use graphics on each question, we start tracking our work on each requirement every step of the way as we do in the actual response.
(13:21):
As we're working on responding to the RFP, use the compliance matrix to identify who's the SME you need to get in touch with to get the content and answer the question. I like to give those SMEs a general schedule of when and what we'll be discussing so they can be prepared. If you have a large number of SMEs you need to meet with, you can also track when you've contacted them, when you'll meet with them, and when you have met with them, and if that requirement is complete and ready for review. Trust me, when you're knee-deep in answering a ton of requirements, it's very easy to forget where you are in getting content on every requirement. Let the matrix do the work for you in managing this process. It should be an easy check to see where you are in the process and what step is next in gathering content. Finally, let's talk about how the shredded RFP and the compliance matrix serves as a final check to make sure we're ready to submit this response and any responses in the future.
(14:13):
Responding to an RFP is many things, including setting the tone of voice, incorporating differentiators, standing out from your competitors, and building trust with the evaluators while you're telling your story. In addition to all that, responding to an RFP is an exercise in constantly assessing completeness. As I mentioned, remember as an evaluator, I'm looking at all of your answers and whether or not you can do the job, but I'm also keeping a close eye on whether you actually answered all of the requirements on questions. Why? Well, because it shows me if you're able to follow instructions including to the tiniest detail, it's a reflection to me of the attention to detail you'll have if you actually get hired for the job. Forget to answer a question, that tells a lot. Forget to answer part of a question, that tells me a lot too, and it means you might miss some small stuff when we're on the project.
(15:05):
So as a project manager for 30 years, it's often about the small stuff that wrecks a project or causes delays. So how do you avoid that? Well, you have the best tool in your tool box, the compliance matrix. Double check to make sure all of the cells in every single row are marked complete, when you've completed your response. Read and clear out any notes, make sure that someone didn't mark the section complete but still has a note in there that we're waiting on something. We had a proposal once where the client marked the section complete on the requirement, but put a note that said, "This section is complete just waiting for Joe to get me the certification." Well, Joe didn't see the note and it turns out that the certification our client was waiting on was the most important certification in the RFP and could have cost them the RFP opportunity.
(15:54):
The writer figured it was an easy get, so he figured he would just mark it complete. He goes, "Who would I forget to include that certification?" Well, almost forget they did, but looking at the notes saved the day, we got the certification included and they went on to win the opportunity. I often do one more comparison of the compliance matrix and the final draft just to be absolutely sure it's all in there. After you submit, you now have a great tool that you can use for your lessons learned. Use it at the debrief with the agency, whether you win or lose the opportunity, and you can use this as a guide for future RFPs. It's just a gift that keeps on giving. So today we discussed how and why we should build a compliance matrix as the main tool we use when we want to identify and document each requirement with a list of owners, due dates, and notes, we looked at what goes into the compliant matrix, the shredding part.
(16:43):
Remember to focus on every single requirement, including all of the requirements within a requirement. We discussed how to best use this tool once all the shredding is done and how it serves as a final check before submitting. Now, we looked at how the shredded RFP and the compliance matrix serves as that good check and make sure we're ready to respond and then use it for future RFPs as well. I hope this review of how to shred an RFP was helpful and will serve as a guide in your next RFP. I'm Ted Koval with the RFP Success Company, and this has been Shred with Ted.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
This has been another episode of the RFP Success Show with Lisa Rehurek, eight time author, speaker, and CEO of the RFP Success Company. Thank you for joining us. If you have feedback on today's episode, email us at podcast@RFPsuccess.com. No matter your business size or industry, if you have an in-house RFP team or need outside support, the RFP Success Company helps increase RFP win ratios by 10%, 20%, and even 50%. Learn more at the rfpsuccesscompany.com.