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Welcome to The Healthcare Marketing Connection! This week we are talking about submitting formal RFP's (request for proposal). Whether you are an RFP veteran or have been asked to complete one for the first time, they can be daunting, time consuming, and stressful. Because they are usually for larger accounts, winning them oftentimes means a lot for your business. Read this week's feature article to get a few tips to reduce your RFP stress and make your RFP's stronger than your competitors.

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6 Steps to Submitting a Winning Proposal

Part of growing your business is bidding on projects, which can be a difficult and stressful thing to do if you haven't done them before. Some companies will ask you to either submit an informal proposal which include the rates we charge, while others have a more formal process and send out an RFP (request for proposal) to many companies.

Completing formal RFP's can be daunting and time consuming. If done right, completing a formal RFP is a great way to shine above your competitors. Answering questions like what you should charge, what the client is looking for, and how you can best highlight your company's accomplishments and strengths are standard. Because formal RFP's must often be done in a very short time frame, we sometimes don't have the time or make the effort to put 100% of ourselves into the process.

In many cases you are asked to commit a lot of information about yourself and your ideas without understanding the full scope of the project you are bidding on.

Let's go over a few things you can do to make completing RFP's successful and less stressful.

1. Review the RFP carefully when you first receive it. During the first 24 hours think about and write down any questions you have for the company. In most instances it's OK to call and ask specific questions about what they are looking for. In fact, I find that calling and asking smart questions gives me a definite advantage over my competitors. I have the opportunity to talk to (and sometimes meet for the first time) the main contact, and therefore a relationship is started. By asking smart questions I also have an advantage of answering the RFP questions better and more specifically to meet their needs. When you call the prospect you may ask questions like…does the company have specific reasons why they are looking for a new vendor or to add these new services? What problem (pain) are they experiencing that they are making a change? If there are questions they've asked you to answer in the RFP that are unclear or you would like more information about be sure to ask those too. After you ask your prospect specific questions its imperative you specifically address anything you learn in your proposal.
   
   
2. Is there any way to include what's going on in the news today, for example trends or current events that can be relevant to their company's future? For example, does the fact that over 16% of the population is baby boomers and they are turning 60 effects their business in any way? Demonstrate how you are a leader in your field by tying in relevant information and how you understand that may affect them.
   
   
3. Other ways to show your excellence may be to include any awards you've won, experience you have, or leadership positions you hold. Perhaps you are active or on the board of a related business association.
   
   
4. After you've answered each question and finished the RFP, carefully review that you have specifically answered each question they asked. When writing grants we often underline the exact sentence that is specifically addressing the question. It's ok to do that in RFP's too. Also look for ways you can strengthen your answers. Do you give examples of how you've accomplished tasks they are looking for in the past? Can you include numbers to demonstrate results?
   
   
5. Do a final double check for grammar and spelling accuracies. This may seem obvious, but if you are rushing to complete an RFP and several people in your office have worked on it for a few days, there are probably errors no one is seeing. Have someone outside of the process do some copyediting. By now you have spent a lot of time on what you have to say, don't let the little things like spelling and grammar blow it.
   
   
6. Follow all the guidelines in the RFP to the letter, including number of pages, due dates and times, and formatting guidelines. Many companies will start their review process by seeing who followed directions. The ones that did go in one pile, the rest go in another...in the trash.

(c) 2007, A Marketing Connection

Want to use this article in your e-zine or web site? No problem! Just let me know at info@KellyRobbinsLLC.com. I'll send you a short bio to include at the end of the article.

This week Kelly recommends Customer Focus Calculator. This free analysis tool counts certain words in your site or your copy that are indicators of whether the focus of your copy is on the customer or not.

If you have any other great resources you'd like me to share with everyone, let me know and I'll check it out. kelly@KellyRobbinsLLC.com

247coaching - Tuesday June 12th 11:00 MT: How to grow your ezine list

247coaching - Thursday June 28th 11:00 MT: Writing your own marketing materials…

Annual SHSMD conference in Washington DC - October 3rd - Kelly will be presenting a 3 hour workshop, entitled It's Lonely Out Here...How to Connect with Customers When You're on a Limited Budget.

To learn more about healthcare copywriting and marketing, visit my Web site at www.KellyRobbinsLLC.com/article_archives.shtml. There are tons of fr ee articles on a variety of helpful topics.