The RFP is such a standard part of the agency selection process that it’s practically become like wallpaper. But what if there was no need to RFP at all? What if you just took an agency for a test drive?
My son just turned 16, and we’re staring down that teenage rite of passage: buying his first car. It’s been an interesting process, to say the least. In some ways, the experience is exactly like it was when I was his age. There’s the fast-talking, hand-shaking salesperson who accosts you as soon as you enter the dealership and follows up incessantly. On the other hand, a lot has changed. Today, there are aggregation websites, pricing tools, reams of historical service and safety data, and services like Carvana and Autotrader Private Seller Exchange.
Interestingly, the experience got me thinking about how clients buy services from agencies like Infinum. And even more interestingly, it raised an intriguing, perhaps even radical question: could we do away with one of the cornerstones of the agency-client relationship – the Request for Proposal (RFP)?
A time-intensive and costly process all around
I work in business development, and a large part of my job involves responding to RFPs. When clients recognize they have a need like a website rebuild, new mobile app, or custom software tool, they send RFPs to dozens of agencies, commencing a lengthy vetting process that can last for weeks or even months.
In their search for an agency, prospective clients sift through stacks of decks, PDFs, case studies, Google drives, and more. In a weeks-long process, they winnow the list to a handful of contenders and then conduct interviews that last from one to four hours each.
On the agency side, all of the aforementioned details are absorbed, and teams are put together to evaluate the prospective client’s question and begin crafting a response. After these documents are turned in, if the agency is fortunate enough to make the first cut, they commence a series of meetings and interviews. It’s not always clear how many agencies are in the mix, but we’ve had as many as 50.
For those doing the requesting, the workload is no less daunting. Prospective clients sift through stacks of presentation decks, PDFs, case study links, Google drives full of (hopefully) relevant assets, and more. Over a few weeks, they winnow the list to perhaps a half-dozen contenders, then set up and administer a series of interviews that can last from one to four hours each, working their way to a single agency.
Get ready for some sticker shock
If you do some rough napkin math, say the 50 agencies each put in 40 hours of effort. That’s 2,000 collective hours input into the process. On the client side, for rough math, assume it’s 25 hours of reading and 50 hours of interviewing and administrative work to get through all these submissions. If there are five senior-level participants, that’s 375 person hours.
Using more napkin math (sorry, we’re using a lot of napkins here, but bear with me), let’s say, this client time is worth an average of $250 per hour. That 375 hours translates to an equivalent value of about $93,000.
The crazy thing is, after all the time and money spent, clients have no idea what it’s like to actually work with the agency. They only know how good their sales process is.
At the end of it all, the client and finalist agency sign a contract and begin their project, which can be worth from a few hundred thousand to a few million dollars. And the crazy thing is, after all this time and money spent, clients have no idea what it’s like to actually work with the agency. They only know how good their sales process is.
And while sometimes these relationships blossom into long-term partnerships, oftentimes the match doesn’t meet the initial expectations, and the partnership ends up tailing off, or worse, results in a failed project.
Back to my son’s car
Imagine for a moment that the car buying process was set up like the agency RFP process. First, my son and I would send out a lengthy request document. In response, we’d get 50 decks about different cars outlining their fuel efficiency, speed, road feel, safety, etc. We’d hear from different car owners by way of testimonials. We’d read and listen to all the materials and then narrow the field.
For our next step, we’d interview the carmakers themselves. “Tell me about the new Malibu.” “Explain why the Tesla Model S is a great choice.” Shockingly, what we would never get to do is actually drive the cars. We’d rely on the words, images, and testimonials trotted out in response to our queries. And then we’d take a massive leap of faith, swipe a card or obtain financing, take the keys, turn the ignition, and hope the car drove just as we were told it would.
Crazy, right? But that’s what folks do all the time when hiring an agency.
I know what you’re thinking. What about so-called “spec work,” speculative work agencies perform for no guaranteed fee in the hopes of securing an agreement with a client? Fair question. But, first of all, most negotiations are concluded without spec work. If the stars align and spec work is done (cue pigs flying), there are numerous issues to contend with.
Spec work is done for free and under the burden of numerous process shortcuts dictated by the time and zero-budget constraints of the circumstance. What’s worse, spec work is uninformed by thorough data and research. It’s little more than a guess at what will be right. Keeping in with the metaphor, the agency would make you a beautiful motorcycle while you really wanted an SUV. Even worse, the motorcycle might be created by a designer in a totally different division. Let’s table this inherently flawed idea.
Enter the Agency Test Drive
What if we re-framed this process to be more like a car purchasing experience? Rather than sending out an RFP into the wild and waiting for 50 comprehensive written replies, clients would first ask a handful of knowledgeable friends and industry experts they know for recommendations. This will result in five to 10 options tops, and they can quickly trim them down to three based on research, follow-up questions, and instinctive impressions.
Instead of putting $93,000 of time into the labor-intensive vetting process, what if clients split the amount between three agencies to do some real work? This is the closest approximation to being in a specific car and doing some actual driving.
With this approach, they’ve already saved a lot of time and energy. But here’s where things get interesting: The Agency Test Drive. Instead of putting that aforementioned $93,000 of time into the labor-intensive vetting process, what if clients spent the amount a bit more effectively and split it between the three agencies ($31K per agency) to do some real work? This is the closest approximation to being in a specific car and doing some actual driving.
What this assignment will be is up to the client, but we’d suggest choosing something related to one of the thornier aspects of the future project. There’s no need to aim for completion, just a small and discrete enough task for the client to get a real understanding of the people, process, and capabilities of the agency they’re potentially engaging in a long-term project.
Assuming an agency rate of $215/hour, that’s about 145 hours of effort – or approximately three weeks of a small team’s time. That’s enough time to get an honest feel for what to expect from an agency. How does the agency kick off projects? What are their people like? How do they collaborate? How do they communicate? Do they propose new ideas and novel ways forward? How do they react to challenges? This is the agency-selection version of my son punching the accelerator, jamming on the brakes, or testing the blind spots while changing lanes in a demo car.
As an additional bonus, you can also learn a little bit about the agency’s legal, accounting, and payment processes. It won’t be the same as a large negotiation, but it’s another touchpoint. And the more touchpoints you can have, the better.
Shift your selection process into a higher gear
At the end of the day, nothing can replace the experience of being in the trenches with an agency over months or years. But this kind of process can be much more effective – not to mention faster – than the typical agency RFP process. As a result, you can have far more confidence in the relationship’s success, and what could be more important as clients and agencies engage in this complex dance?
As for my son, we’ll leave the buyer guides and webpages behind, and we’ll be test-driving a small handful of models this weekend. The grin on his face when we pull back into the lot will signal when we’ve gotten it right.
