Any golf fans out there? Happen to notice anything odd in the last big tournament? Yes, that’s right: the amazing Tiger Woods failed to make the cut in the recent US Open, and so was eliminated after just two of the four rounds.

The golfer’s cut is, I suppose, the equivalent of the purchaser’s RFI. The field is scythed down: only the most likely winners survive.

When responding to an RFI, many teams have a simple view of the task in hand: to make it through the cull, so that they receive the RFP.

Simple - and, to my mind, somewhat simplistic. When responding to an RFI, I don’t merely want to make it onto the shortlist. Wherever possible, I want our RFI response to help to position us at the forefront of the customer’s thinking - at least being viewed as the “one most likely to” win, and ideally shaping the buyers’ views so that their subsequent RFP plays to our strengths.