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RFPs: Building Better Beauty Contests
Timothy Wilson
Law Technology News
February 5, 2007

Your firm's intellectual property group hears of an opportunity to manage the IP portfolio of a Fortune 500 company. The next day a large pharmaceutical company calls concerning regional litigation support. The week ends with the state university looking for bond representation.

All present significant billing opportunities for the firm -- and all issue requests for proposals (RFPs) with a deadline in eight days.

What's your next step? The answer may be mass customization. Companies of all sizes, and with billing matters ranging from $10,000 to $10,000,000, now employ formal RFP processes.

Why? For starters:

General counsel and legal departments have budgets to manage, and incentives for reaching cost-reduction goals.

Some legal work is routine, and can be standardized.

Great work is no longer a differentiator -- it is an expectation -- from clients.

Many companies want to consolidate the number of outside firms, and focus on relationships with a few firms, which also can help lower costs by negotiating for higher volumes of work.

Clients issue a formal RFP invitation to obtain a consistent body of information from prospective counsel to help them compare service, and offers, from multiple law firms.

Data may include information about the range and price of services; firm history and financials; diversity; technical capabilities; references; relevant case histories; pricing; staffing; and proposed approaches to the matters at hand.

Typically, the company establishes a set of vendor-selection criteria. Usually, from the pool of respondents, the company selects three to five firms for the "beauty contest" (in-person presentation), and then chooses the service provider.

The selection process may or may not involve an outside consultant to guide the company through the process.

If your firm doesn't have established protocols for processing RFPs, attempting them can be highly disruptive and expensive. But here's where mass customization comes in, providing an efficient, effective method to RFP response.

There are three key stages to this system:

Assessment and decision to respond;

Response;

Post-analysis.

1. The Decision: Fostering a new business development attitude is essential in these competitive times, but assuring that the right companies, under the right conditions, become firm clients also is imperative. So this first step is the most critical. Your firm is defined as much by the clients you decline as by those you accept.

A simple checklist can help you avoid the wrong clients. The first questions you should ask are "relationship" issues:

Do we want to do business with this client?

Can we maintain firm ethics and quality of work?

Is it worth the effort? Do we have a chance to obtain the work?

These preliminary questions help the firm say "no" when needed.

Here are other issues your checklist should address:

Conflicts review.

Return on investment:

Costs of the response (timekeepers, out-of-pocket and lost alternate opportunities);

Billing potential for the matter and future revenue streams;

Investment opportunity to develop a relationship or expertise;

Expectations and goals of the company.

Understanding the "audience":

What is the company's business category, business model, key players, business relationships, financial stability, litigation and legal representation history?

Who are the company's decision makers?

What barriers exist?

Why is the company changing counsel?

What jurisdictions and geographic locations are involved?

Your firm's resources:

Who at your firm already knows people within the company, and what insights could they bring to this opportunity?

Ethical and politically wise marketing dictates that even though the RFP came to your unit, that you be certain the appropriate people within your firm know about it and endorse your actions.

Competitive issues:

Can the firm compete effectively for the work?

What gives you an edge over the other RFP respondents?

What benefit will the company receive from your firm, that it cannot obtain from others?

2. Response: This is where the concept of mass customization will help you make the RFP response process more efficient and effective -- rapid response has become a business essential.

Replicable and standard (mass) RFP questions are handled by your marketing team. Standardized tools are available to streamline this process; among them ProposalMaster and RFPMaster from The Sant Corp., and Proposal Generator by Thomson Elite's Hubbard One).

However, many firms develop their own customized software.

In any case, the right tools alone are not enough -- successful proposals require thoughtful content that goes beyond simple plug-and-play automated delivery. To win business, your firm needs responses that demonstrate why your firm is the best for the assignment (customization).

The next step is to develop the right team.

Assign two leaders: a relationship partner who "owns" the day-to-day relationship once the matter begins; and a second person (who may be a firm executive rather than a partner) to drive the RFP process and response.

The second leader is responsible for assuring:

That attorneys in relevant practice areas are involved;

Consistent writing style and tone on the RFP;

Internal approvals for pricing have been received;

The RFP clearly articulates the benefits of working with your firm;

Deadlines are met.

Showing creativity, personality, differentiation and value is better than telling the prospective client you have it. David Garfield, deputy general counsel of Wells Fargo & Co., says, "I look for the team that clearly understands my issue, has direct or at least relevant experience and demonstrated success. It is not enough to trot out senior attorneys with established reputations. I want to know what a firm can bring to my matter early and effectively -- to resolve my issue, not just work on it."

Build time into your process for critical assessment and feedback before anything is finalized. One tip: In addition to content review, allow an extra day to proof, print, produce, collate and ship. That buffer day can save your proposal if something goes wrong.

3. Post-Analysis: Every RFP helps you increase your "intellectual capital" resources for the next bid. Create a central repository containing the history of responses, accessible both in terms of standard phrases, casework and practices. Use knowledge management tools to manage your data, with a strong taxonomy. Training all attorneys and sharing your learning will further streamline responses, and improve the quality of both your "mass elements" and your customization efforts.

Tomorrow, when the e-mail invitation to respond crosses your desk, you will be prepared to face the day.

Timothy Wilson is principal of The Wilson Group, a marketing/business development consulting firm based in Minneapolis. He can be reached at timwmn@aol.com.