Five dirty truths about RFPs: why we quit participating in requests for proposals.

• Author: Robbins, Ken

This article was originally featured on Ken Robbins' blog: Ken Robbins--Thoughts Business Strategy, Marketing, Ideas (www.kenrobbinsblog.com/ why-we-quit-participating-in-rfps).

We do not do RFPs. We do not enter them. We do not defend the account if a client RFPs us--even if it's a "due diligence" review. RFPs are a waste of an agency's time. They are most definitely a waste of a client's time.

I write this [article] at the risk of sounding bitter, but actually, I am filled with a sense of empowerment over our new business policy. It's liberating. I calculate our company will save approximately 3,000 hours of staff time and at least $80,000 in travel each year by not participating in the coin flip called an RFP.

As I review all the business Response Mine Interactive (RMI) has landed over these nine years, and as I look at our best clients, only one significant piece of business was won in an RFP and another one retained. In both cases, we lost those clients within 30 months in subsequent RFPs after all the client's marketing staff changed over.

Any client can review its agency without a formal selection process. They just have to pick up the phone and ask a competing agency to come give a "capabilities" pitch. Doing this does not publicly harm the incumbent, and it doesn't place a crazy presentation burden on a dozen agencies pitching. A client can have these conversations at tradeshows, on-site and off-site with ease. That is to say, it can do so discretely.

A formal RFP is different. A public RFP says to the world, "We're not sure we have the right partner." This immediately disrupts the incumbent and puts them on defense in the relationship. Partners trust each other. An RFP is a statement of distrust.

I entered eight RFPs last year and lost them all. We were frequently told we were the best at paid search, but other agencies had "other capabilities," "were bigger" and very often "have done projects for us before." Maybe they were just saying we made a good showing to make the phone call easier. If you won a lot of RFPs last year, then you think I am just a bad presenter. You may be right. But I don't care.

I could give you a dozen stories where we were invited in to what was promised to be an objective process only to find out that it was not objective.

Here, in my opinion, are the "Five Dirty Truths about RFPs":

1. An RFP is often a company's way of pretending it's not political, or (gulp) that a winner hasn't already been picked. R Fiather than starting with participants saying, "Let's find a good vendor," the deciders usually start with some preference. That preference is based on brand impression or having a friend at an agency. This is what makes up "politics"--when colleagues want different...