If your team is losing too many RFPs, our latest service may be a game changer. Our Viewpoint Analysis RFP Response Training is designed to teach a sales team the inside tips for having a better chance of winning an RFP bid.
Viewpoint Analysis acts as a Technology Matchmaker and we run Rapid RFI and Rapid RFP processes on behalf of companies looking to buy new enterprise technology and services. We read hundreds of RFP responses each year, and watch hundreds of vendor presentations. There are some key factors that always make such a difference. If a path is followed it can almost always lead to a good chance of success - but there are lots of ways of dropping the ball and falling behind in the process.
What is RFP Response Training?
RFP Response Training is training designed to educate a sales team on the art of responding to an RFP. It is particularly relevant for teams or employees who have either not responded to an RFP before or are finding they are losing too many.
Every RFP is an investment of time and an investment of money. In many cases, a traditional RFP process continues for weeks (and sometimes months). It is one of the few processes that a sales team engages in that can bring employees from across the company together, and the investment (particularly of time) is almost always considerable.
RFP Response Training is designed to win more RFPs by understanding how and where to invest the time (deciding when to qualify-in or qualify out), how to engage professionally, where to stand-out, and what customers see from their point of view.
How is our RFP Response Training delivered?
The RFP Response Training is usually built specifically for the client and their needs. It tends to take the shape of two engagements:
1) The first step is the RFP Response Training itself - this is delivered remotely (usually via Zoom or Teams) to the sales team that needs the training. The training takes two to three hours and can therefore be easily consumed in a morning or afternoon session.
2) The second step is an ongoing engagement to work alongside the team as a mentor when they engage in an RFI or RFP process. At this stage, we work with the team to reinforce the training content, but also ensure that we are making adjustments as part of the process. Having an experience pair of eyes assessing the response from the customer's perspective can be a game changer.
What do we cover in our RFP Response Training?
Our training covers a number of different areas but some of the key themes are as follows:
What it feels like to run an RFP process
What a customer sees when they run the process
What good looks like - and what bad looks like
How to make it easy for them to go forward with your proposal
How they are going to score the RFP
How to complete the RFP spreadsheet to differentiate ourselves
The importance of following process and showing a professional approach
How to add value at every step - setting our response apart
Being the lowest-risk option whilst being the most exciting option
Who can benefit from the RFP Response Training?
The training is bespoke to the customer's needs, and therefore, we cater to any client and any team. The first thing that we will want to do is to understand your particular issue - why do you need this training, in your opinion? Once we know this, we can build or tweak our usual training to fit like a glove.
Our typical attendees would be in the following roles:
Sales leader / Account Manager
Sales Director
Pre-Sales and Pre-Sales Leader
RFP Response Lead / Admin
Note that the size of the class will determine the cost of the training.
What are the aims of our RFP Response Training?
We aim to ensure that the team (as a group) improve their chances of success in EVERY RFP response. They will learn what it feels like to run an RFP and what it feels like to score an RFP - and crucially, what a good one and a bad one look like.
Following our insight, the team will be able to improve the way they assess whether to bid or decline - and with each RFP response investment, they will see an increased chance of success.
Learn more about our RFP Response Training
If this sounds like a training course that would be useful for your team, please contact us to have an initial chat or take a look at our RFP Response Training service page,
You can also learn more about how we help companies to run Rapid RFPs and Rapid RFIs for further background reading.