An RFT serves the same purpose as an RFQ and indicates a stakeholder is confident in their decision to purchase the goods or services they seek. 

I bet you weren’t prepared to learn a new language as part of the RFP process. Rest assured, it’s not as complex as it may seem. Just like Costner’s character had to learn to plow his land and construct a baseball diamond, I have full confidence you can learn the lingo that is popularly associated with this process. 

TIP: Learn more about another form of an RFP, called a grant proposal^[15].

Preparing to write an RFP

Writing is not everyone’s strong suit, and some people can get lost or overwhelmed trying to make an impression with their words. For this reason, it’s important to start making plans before the writing process even begins. 

Drafting the proposal can be easier if you set yourself up with effective strategies. Going in blind can result in a lot of oversight and the need to redo or re-evaluate parts of the proposal. You have to remember, the quality of your request could affect a candidate’s interest. If you want to receive positive attention and feedback, consider the following before submitting. During this process, you and your team should be taking a lot of notes, sharing ideas, and collaboratively developing a group mind for what this RFP should contain.

Select the right team: We discussed this briefly earlier, but a huge part of writing a quality RFP is having the right people in the room. What’s worse than knowing someone ignorant to your needs has control over documenting the project expectations and guidelines?

An RFP can be created by one person, or it can be spearheaded by a team of people, all depending on the nature of the company, project, and budget.

If your company consists of 10 employees, you probably don’t want seven of them spending days on this document. But if you have a larger company, you may be able to assign an entire team to the quality completion of your RFP.

You may also want employees across team lines to participate in the construction of this document. Although a project may be spearheaded by the marketing team, it could affect sales or development. If a marketing team is outsourcing new marketing material, that content could be used to enhance sales pitches. For this reason, it might benefit your company to assign employees holding different roles to work on the RFP.

Determine Goals and Measurements of Success: What does your team want out of this project? Perhaps you’re hoping to contract a successful marketing agency to help you build out an effective Facebook ad campaign. How will your team determine your definition of an effective campaign? Is it by leads developed, clicks that draw traffic back to your main website, or by total return on investment (ROI)?