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why i don't do RFPs

10 Mar 2022

my first consulting gig was in 2014. (sidenote: looking back at it, i undercharged by approximately one million percent. :’D)

over these past 7-8 years, i’ve developed a lot of stances in my work. they evolve, of course, but one that hasn’t changed much is this: i don’t do RFPs. i talk about this stance a few times a year but a recent email exchange made me realize i want to write it down.

so here we are. enumerated below are the reasons i don’t do (apply to) RFPs.

the power dynamic is wrong

for me as a black, queer solo consultant & small business, RFP processes typically reinforce uneven power dynamics. they reinscribe the “my labor is yours” dynamic with clients (which is something i’ve learned to push back against) by requiring that i produce things for you before we even have any agreements together.

but just because i don’t work for an organization full-time doesn’t mean i don’t have a vision i’m trying to advance in the world. i want to be just as choosey about who i work with as people hosting RFPs want to be about who they hire. RFP processes set the power dynamic to look like the person most at choice is the client. (obvi if i don’t want that particular work, i could just not apply, but still…)

RFPs also pit me against older, bigger orgs that have had more resources and time to invest in their work. that’s bad for me because it reduces my chances of success. i think it’s also bad for clients because it means they miss out on smaller, newer folks who have the capacity to be more nimble and often bring fresher approaches.

also, i have no idea how many other ppl are submitting. am i in a pool of 3 or 300 applicants? this privileges the client. it also means i can’t adjust how much energy i put into my application. if i know i’m one of 3, i might put a lot more work in because my chances are better. but without that info, i’m just guessing.

they are free labor

to submit an RFP, i have to do work to think out my approach (which i often customize based on client context and what’s happening in the world at the moment). then i give you that for free in exchange for the possibilty that you will hire me… but with no guarantee of compensation.

on its face, that is shitty.

but it gets worse.

underneath that, it’s actually free client education. by gathering lots of different peoples approaches, the RFP host learns a ton about how other folks would approach the work. there is literally no way that all that information doesn’t shape how the client is thinking about the work.

and the worst part is that i have heard multiple horror stories of firm A submitting an RFP, finding out firm B got it, and seeing firm B use elements of firm A’s proposal (because the client had seen it and shared they “thought it was a good idea”) with 0 acknowledgement. as a black, queer person you better believe there’s no way i’m gonna easily let that happen.

they assume a static world

most RFPs i’ve seen are for processes that are 6 months or longer. they assume that you can assess a problem from the front end and craft an appropriate approach. in the cynefin framework, that is imagining we live in the clear/obvious or complicated domains. but, in my opinion and the opinions of many others who (ie. two of my teachers, gibrán and curtis have been writing about our volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (vuca) world since 2012/2015 and thinking about it since before), we are living in increasingly complex and sometimes chaotic times (see the cynefin framework). the idea that someone could foresee an appropriate approach from the beginning of a project is just not realistic (if it ever was).

they prioritize the written word

i won’t say much about this because tema okun has gone way deep on it via the white supremacy culture work. what i will add is that RFPs prioritize submissions that make it onto paper well. this means you have to be good at translating your work/approach into words. but for those of us who use embodied/somatic, relational, and/or spiritual approaches, paper doesn’t cut it. when your approach is experiential (more than logical), writing down a months long plan just isn’t a good use of time.

they don’t give me enough info

i learned this next piece from maureen white so i want to credit her with this thinking even as i’m the one to write it down. and in this moment i’m not sure if she learned it from somewhere else so if i find that out, i’ll update this.

maureen once said in our consultant community of practice (paraphrased): “if you were in need of medical assistance, you would never look at your symptoms, write them all out, ask many doctors to submit plans for how they would treat you, and then pick one based on a comparative analysis.”

doctors are the experts here. you go to the doctor to get a diagnosis based on your symptoms (and maybe your webmd research). you don’t go to your doc with a diagnosis.

but, in essence, that’s what the RFP is. RFPs define the problem as the client sees it.

but what if i assess the problem differently? i will need all sorts of info that isn’t included and i likely wouldn’t get until deep within the client ecosystem. (and no, having a few phone calls doesn’t solve this information gap).

all that said, this post isn’t me trashing RFP processes in general (although i realize it’s not that far off from that lol). this is me saying why i don’t apply for them. there are reasons for folks to apply for rfps in some contexts:

i’m in neither of those camps and so my chances of competiting against other subbmiters feels not worth my free labor. given my reputation and the amount of work i already turn down, it’s much easier for me to follow what’s already flowing towards me than shooting in the dark. (note: i think that sounds kind of prideful but it’s also what’s real. i turn down probably 60% of work asks i get.)

since we’re here, i want to name that i can imagine some places where it does make sense to use an RFP process:

i might add more to that list as i think on it but for now, that’s really all i can think of.

phew! that took me much longer than anticipated. forgive all the typos above. i’m mostly gonna not edit this because, unless you are new at reading english, you get the point.

thanks for coming to my TED talk.

ps - there are some equity implications of this but i’m still thinking them out. if you see them, bring em up, challenge me, leave a comment! i’m open. strong beliefs, loosely held.

other inspiration:

words / writing / post-processing
1308w / 49min / 20min

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