5 Things That Attract the Right Agency Partner to Your RFP

I’ve been thinking about RFPs a lot lately. I keep having the same conversations with peers on both sides of the table, agency folks and people running procurement processes, and there’s a consistent sense that the process needs an evolution (or revolution) to make it work better for everyone.

Before writing this blog, I asked my LinkedIn network if they could wave a magic wand, what would they change to make the process better for everyone involved. I got everything from practical process suggestions to one person who’d eliminate RFPs entirely (fair). Most of the friction is fixable, and most of the fixes benefit the organizations running the process as much as the agencies responding.

1. Include a budget or budget range

When there’s no budget in an RFP, agencies have to guess at scope. Depending on who’s responding, you could end up with proposals ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 for the same brief, making evaluation nearly impossible.

A range gives potential bidders enough to right-size their response, or to withdraw if the scope isn’t feasible for their pricing structure. Either way, you end up with a more comparable set of proposals and a much easier evaluation process. As one person in my network put it, a good process delivers uniform information, and a budget range is the most basic version of that.

2. Write a brief that gives agencies what they need, and be selective about who you send it to

The more clearly you can articulate your challenge, your goals, and what success looks like, the better the proposals you receive will be. When the brief is vague, agencies fill in the gaps differently and you end up comparing completely different interpretations of the same project.

That includes your evaluation criteria, and how you’re scoring the responses. Transparency here helps bidders respond well. If cultural fit matters as much as experience, say so. If price is a significant factor, name it. The more specific you are, the more useful the proposals you’ll get back. (I promise!)

It also pays to do a bit of research before you send the RFP out. A targeted invite list means the proposals you receive are more likely to be relevant, and closing the loop at the end of the process becomes a lot more manageable.

3. Be intentional about your question period

Most RFPs include a question window, which works best when designed thoughtfully. Having enough time to answer questions well ensures agencies can incorporate the responses intentionally in their proposals.

Sometimes the Q&A period surfaces new questions or realizations for the issuer that weren’t anticipated at the outset, and having that buffer built in means the process can absorb those moments without throwing off the timeline.

A call with each participating bidder (or a group call) is one of the most underused parts of the process. We see it as a chance to feel out the chemistry, see how the team thinks on their feet, and get a good sense of whether they’re asking smart questions and whether they seem invested in the challenge. 

IMO, a good conversation almost always produces a stronger proposal.

4. Be realistic about your timeline

A tight turnaround tends to favour larger agencies with dedicated business development or pitch teams. Smaller and mid-sized shops are more likely to pull in the people who would actually be working on your account to help build the proposal. Those people need more time, and the proposal is better for it. A realistic timeline gets you more considered responses and keeps the playing field level.

5. Be transparent about your process, and close the loop

Are you actually exploring your options, or do you already have a sense of who you want to work with and you’re validating that instinct against the field? Both are legitimate starting points, but they call for different RFP structures, and agencies can usually tell the difference anyway.

If you’re exploring with an open mind, say so. If you’re stress-testing a preferred direction or a leading contender, being transparent about that gets you better engagement from the agencies involved, because they understand the playing field they’re on.

Once proposals are in, agencies are often left waiting with no sense of where things stand, sometimes for weeks, after investing significant time and energy. A brief update when you’ve moved into evaluation, or when timelines shift, costs very little and goes a long way.

When you’ve made your decision, tell everyone, and give them something useful. A form rejection that says “it was a tough decision and you were a strong contender” doesn’t give anyone anything to work with. Specific feedback, even a few sentences, tells agencies where their proposal landed, what was strong, and what could have been sharper.

To be honest, this one benefits the agencies more than it benefits you, at least in the short term. But it reflects well on your organization, it keeps the door open for future work, and it makes the next RFP process you run better because the agencies coming to the table will be stronger for it.

If an agency follows up asking for feedback, respond thoughtfully and truthfully. So often the feedback will focus on all the great things about a proposal, but less common is constructive feedback on what could have been better or what other other agencies did that made them stand out. After spending weeks immersing themselves in your brand, and putting an incredible amount of effort into a proposal, this type of feedback goes a long way. Don’t worry about hurting feelings, agency folk are thick-skinned 🙂 

The RFP process is one of the first impressions your brand or organization makes on a potential partner. How you design it, how you communicate through it, and how you close it out tells agencies a lot about what it would actually be like to work with you.

A thoughtful process gets you better proposals, and better proposals lead to a better decision. 

Find the right partner, and the work benefits too. It also happens to make life easier for your agency partners – but the point is helping you find the right one!