7 Reasons to meet the client before RFP release

1. The better you understand a new business opportunity, the more likely you are to make an informed decision about whether you should bid.
2. Similarly, the better the government understands your firm’s capabilities, the more likely they are to want your company to compete. Meeting the client is an essential first step in this process.
3. You must conduct face-to-face information-gathering meetings with clients to increase your knowledge about the opportunity and to begin positioning your firm as a leading competitor for the procurement. While market research provides a running start at understanding the opportunity, the clients are the ones closest to the opportunity and can provide information that outsiders cannot.
4. By holding true conversations with a client as soon as possible in the opportunity identification and qualification stages – versus holding thinly veiled marketing meetings – you can gather information that helps you to understand the client’s requirements and objectives,  tailor your capture strategy to the client’s needs, and identify other key client staff with whom you should be meeting.
5. When you meet with multiple client staff, you begin to understand more fully the opportunity, the different desires of the individuals involved from the government client’s staff, their preferences, and their concerns. This interactive process not only helps you to understand the requirement and objectives, but if done well, can establish your company as one of the top competitors in the procurement and influence potential decision makers to favor your approach.
6. These client conversations improve your ability to prepare for an RFP and are essential to making an informed qualification decision.
7. Your goal is to be the best-informed competitor because we all understand that as Bob Lohfeld succinctly puts it, “Best informed wins.”

By the Lohfeld Consulting Group Team