What do suppliers fear the most when writing proposals for you?
What do they assume will happen if they give you a proposal that describes how they can help you minimize cost and maximize value?
They worry about time wasted in crafting a perfect proposal. They are apprehensive about you taking their ideas and handing them off to their competitors.
Others will worry about you taking ideas from their proposal and handing it to other suppliers willing to charge the absolute lowest price — resulting in them losing out on competitors regardless of whether or not they came up with cost-saving or value-creating ideas.
You may say you would never give a supplier’s ideas to a competitor.
But how is the supplier to know that? Don’t expect them to assume that. They won’t.
It can be helpful to put a blurb in your RFP saying something like, “[Company Name] will make its supplier selection by identifying the proposal with the optimal balance of measurable value creation, cost reduction, and risk minimization. Therefore, [Company Name] encourages you to propose ideas that will contribute to these goals. You can rest assured that [Company Name] will not share your responses with other suppliers.”
Just that little bit of reassurance can be the difference between getting proposals that serve as a roadmap for the highest potential positive profit impact and getting proposals that give you the minimum amount of information possible.
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Recommended Reading
- RFP Templates: Use ‘em, Don’t Abuse ‘em
- Request for Proposal (RFP) Template
- Sample RFP Preparation Letter
- Supplier RFP Scorecard
