on being a good customer
I recently submitted a response to an RFP that would have been the biggest project I’ve secured since I formed my own company. SPOILER ALERT: I didn’t get the project.
I don’t take it personally. There could be a host of reasons why they didn’t pick me. I’m a one-man-show. I write, produce, direct, shoot and edit. That might have caused some anxiety on such a huge project. Too many eggs in a 5’5” basket.
I’m going to be gone for a month on a holiday, right as the project kicks off. Oops. Bad timing.
They may not have liked my demos, feeling the style of production didn’t suit the project.
They may have thought my budget was too high, which I thought was fair based on the information provided. They may have thought it was too low, based on their expectations. And, they may not have liked my creative approach, which I admit was… sparse.
But there’s the rub.
The RFP lacked the information to come up with both a solid creative approach and an accurate budget. All I could do was provide my best guess and a general plan to approach the project. In the end, I provided a couple of ideas and a budget that would cover every possibility. I also made it very clear that the creative and budget would change once we got into the minutia of the project and developed the creative approach. Still, no project.
My work style is to always collect as much information as possible before making recommendations. I use the analogy of construction. If someone asks you to build them a house, you don’t start by picking up a hammer. You start with a hundred questions about budget, lifestyle, expectations, location, limitations. You get the idea.
My advice to any company requesting creative for a project, particularly if it’s a big project (over $100,000), is to hire a freelance producer to help put your RFP together. There are many producers skilled at crafting RFPs. An experienced producer would have flagged the lack of information immediately and pointed out that the RFP would likely handcuff the candidates. It needed more.
If you can’t hire an outside producer to represent your company, understand the full breakdown of the requirements. In this particular case, there were video shoots in remote Alberta locations, but they couldn’t say where or how many. To be fair, they didn’t know. But it doesn’t change the issue when it comes to creative and budget.
I feel, in their particular case, they’d have been better served by hiring a writer and developing the material in-house, then putting the production out to tender. It was far too nebulous as submitted.
On the flip side, if you find yourself replying to an RFP, whatever the field may be, don’t be afraid to ask the questions that will help you do your best work. And don’t be afraid to walk away if you don’t get answers. Live your values.
I look forward to seeing how the project turns out and I wish the company all the best. Maybe after I see the video, I’ll agree that I wasn’t the right choice – maybe.
