Blind RFP’s and Squirrels

I had a mail recently requesting information as to what percentage of “blind” RFP’s win.I replied,

“Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while but that’s not an appropriate basis for a (successful) business model.”

Said differently, my professional opinion is that the percentage of responses which win a competitive opportunity in which there was no previous contact is below 1%….and I suspect is closer to 0% than to 1%.

I’ve stated in the past,

“If you haven’t been involved throughout the customer’s RFP process, ideally from conception, and/or don’t immediately recognize the opportunity as one for which you are uniquely positioned or in a position to effectively compete, throw the RFP away or use it to line your birdcage.”

And I stand by it.

This article was written by BJ on 2 July, 2008 and filed under Processes & best practice. If you found it useful, you can with others. To receive automatic updates, subscribe to The Proposal Guys via RSS or Email.

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