Creating winning RFPs requires more than just meeting section goals; it's about crafting exceptional content. Here are some collected best practices and examples for enhancing your RFP responses.
Center the Customer in Your Answers
Focus on how your solutions benefit the customer, making their operations more efficient and profitable. Your responses should emphasize benefits to the customer, not just your company's capabilities. For example, instead of saying, "Our company improves efficiency and cost savings," a more effective response is, "XYZ solution empowers ABC company to optimize efficiency and maximize savings."
Keep it Clear and Easy to Read
Given that evaluators have limited time, write in a clear, concise manner and use formatting that aids skimming, like headings and bullets. Avoid technical jargon to ensure readability for a broad audience. For instance, transform a complex response like, "With XYZ solution, which optimizes collaboration and automates RFP management..." into a simpler, bullet-point list detailing how the solution improves collaboration, automates processes, and centralizes functions.
Incorporate Visuals
Utilize charts and graphs to visually communicate your impact, making your data more accessible and impactful compared to spreadsheets or dense text.
Review Thoroughly
Ensure your content is free from typos and inconsistencies. Reading aloud can help identify errors and awkward phrasing. Adhere to guidelines that eliminate long sentences, passive voice, and empty words for more compelling content. For instance, refine a basic response like, "Our software solution saves financial services customers time and money," to a more specific and impactful one, "Our software solutions provide financial services customers with life-cycle savings of $250,000 or more in software development costs by reducing the fraud prevention software needed to be developed in-house, and accelerating time to market."
By following these practices, you can enhance your RFP responses, making them more customer-focused, readable, visually engaging, and error-free. Arphie has included many of these best practices directly into the RFP process into the Arphie platform, making it simple for everyone on your team to put these best practices in use. Best of all, Arphie can help generate great first-draft answers that already incorporate these best practices.
