You say toMAYto, I say toMAH to?

8/9/2007

Posted by BJ
A friend, colleague, “one-of-the-gang when we’re at APMP” (no names here but she’s works in the St. Louis area, is a very talented poet as well as proposal writer and she prefers NOT to be called “Sandy”) recently wrote and posed the question, under the subject/title, ‘Tomatoe, Tomaato?’:

Which would you rather see in an RFP response?
“…twenty-five (25) blah-blah blahs..” or “… 25 blah-blah blahs…”

I replied (copying Jon and our associates, knowing they’d have an opinion, and a strong one at that no doubt) using a style that I thought would bring a smile and which would hopefully evoke the excitement of an eager child in school (which is just how I felt, having just eaten a PBJ, which I washed down with a glass of pink lemonade.)

“I know the answer. I do, I do. I know it.
Oh! Oh! Pick me! Pick me!
Pleeeeeaaassse.
Aw c’mon. Let me answer!”

Sandra replied, “Okay BJ. You’re picked.”

I replied with (again trying to be clever. Jury’s still out as to if this was indeed viewed that way):

“The answer is….

(Wait for it) – scroll down

…

A question actually (scroll further)

…

With which style is the customer most comfortable? Confirmation/indicators of this would be the RFP, previous correspondence, website style, press releases or the best way. Ask them!

How’d I do Ms. Spooner?

Ms. Spooner replied with “Well done BJ, and here’s your Gold star.”

Jon then replied as follows:

“Not fair: the whole game got played overnight UK-time, so I was asleep at the time! (Being good like that, and not having to work on proposals until the early hours of the morning. This week, at least!)

I want a recount: I think I disagree with BJ. (BJ’s note: Big surprise that, eh dear readers?) There are no circumstances in which a customer is so stupid as to need reminding that “twenty-five” is actually the same as “25”. Even if they feel in their RFP that their bidders are so challenged as to need the extra clue.

Interestingly, this often comes up when I’m training purchasing folks. We see this “twenty-five (25)” in their RFPs, and I ask why they do it. They all seem surprised, then slightly embarrassed, then confess that they have no clue whatsoever why they do it. I think it’s probably just force of habit, picked up from spending too much time with contract lawyers – without stopping to think about the difference between the body of the RFP and the Ts and Cs.

Please, miss, can we blog about this exchange?!

So, here’s were the real fun begins. Game on. Weigh in. Let’s discuss, shall we?

4 Comments

Connie Sanford

3/26/2016 05:14:34 am

Jon, I must disagree with your assertion that there are no clients stupid enough. Those ’stupid’ clients are the same ones that ask the same question 2, 3 or 4 times in a questionnaire. We don’t draw their attention to their mistake, we just answer the question again and move on. For small things like that, it’s best not to rock the boat. The person who wrote the RFP may judge my proposal as flawed if my choices do not match the RFP.

That’s my two (2) cents worth! :)

Lesa C

3/26/2016 05:14:47 am

I agree with Jon that it’s probably a hold-over from too much stuffy contract language only a lawyer could appreciate. There’s no real need to say it twice, once grammatically and again numerically.

2 more cents! : )

Jen

3/26/2016 05:15:01 am

If we were not sure what the client preferred, then I think a good guide can be stolen from New Media best practice (web writing) – write one to ten in words, then 11 onwards in numbers.

However, ultimately I would suggest offering the client thirty (30) instead. This may swing the deal.

Jon

3/26/2016 05:15:18 am

Connie – oh, how I understand the shortcomings of client RFPs: I spend a fair amount of time working with procurement folks helping them to reconsider the way in which they engage with their bidders, in terms both of the quality of the RFPs and their overall process. It’s amazing to watch the light bulbs switch on above their heads when they realise some of the oh-so-common errors they make, which result in them receiving poorer solutions and proposals from the supply market than is necessary.

In my experience, the scenario of “repeated questions” tends (often) to result from the buyer’s RFP being a collation of separate sections, each authored by separate stakeholder areas. Each area of expertise throws in their own list of issues, in relation to the areas of the solution that they would evaluate and – ultimately – own. And the same core concerns may well come up more than once for different groups. So while the words of the question are the same, it’s not necessarily the case that it’s precisely the “same question” being asked in terms of the information that they hope to get back.

As an example: “Describe your Quality Assurance procedures” in the opening section may beg an answer discussing your overall approach and certifications. The same question in the section on “Technical Solution” cries out for an answer with examples showing QA in action for the bidder’s products/services. The third time it appears under “Services”, the answer needs a flavour of quality assurance as it applies to taking and handling calls, support processes etc.

It then becomes a fine line for the proposal team to determine how much to cross-reference between answers (especially if the document is being physically split up for evaluation).

It also amazes me how few procurement teams have a decent process in place for RFP development. After all, their challenges – presenting an opportunity to bidders, collating information from different internal stakeholders, trying to present this in a coherent and professional document, working to often tight timescales – is not dissimilar to those that we proposal folks face process-wise in responding.

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BJ Lownie and Jon Williams are the co-founders of Strategic Proposals.

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