The Benefits of RFIs

(part of Chapter 6: RFIs and RFPs)

 

Taking time to write either an RFI or RFP may seem like a burden, but in the long run as a form of damage control that saves you both time and money. For market research, it is more common to go straight to an RFP.

But in some cases starting with an RFI can “filter” a long list of possible companies down to a more manageable set. Read on to learn how to write RFIs and RFPs for market research.

 

RFI and RFP content recommendations/ Planning for easy comparisons/ Finding potential agencies

If you want your MR project to precisely meet your goals, you will need a precise RFP. The RFP is necessary to document your research needs and expectations. It also gives you an opportunity to ask for free advice.

Do exceptions exist? Do some clients successfully hire agencies without a formal RFP? Sure. I have clients I have worked with for years, and sometimes they just send me a brief email, send an informal memo, or make a five-minute phone call to convey their needs. These are clients I know—I know what types of research they find most useful, I know what challenges they are likely to face, and I know their typical budget levels.

Unless you have a long-standing relationship with an MR agency, I strongly recommend going through an RFP process. It mitigates a lot of risks and ultimately will save you a lot of time.

 

But I Don’t Have Time to Write an RFP!

Taking the time to write an RFP can be problematic, but it’s a worthwhile investment for any project over $25,000 (and in the world of custom, primary research—that’s most of them). If you don’t write an RFP, you will waste much more time on things like the following:

Trying to compare proposals that are based on entirely different assumptions. When all the proposals are based on the same specifications from the same RFP, comparing them is much easier.

Issuing an RFP later because none of the proposals met your expectations. You then have wasted one or two weeks waiting for proposals that were, in effect, useless, and you have to start all over anyway.

Arguing with a research supplier down the road, because it made an assumption that you find objectionable. For example, do you really want to be three weeks into a project only to find out that the supplier’s fees were based on the assumption that you were providing the sample? There are many assumptions made in pricing a research study; you really don’t want to have to argue about fees once it’s underway.

RFP formality varies greatly, depending on the size and scope of your research project. In most cases, it really is fine just to go straight to RFP, to the companies from which you’d like to see proposals. But there are cases when issuing a request for information (RFI) first makes sense. What’s the difference?

 

RFIs

Let’s say you’re about to do a market segmentation study, and you’ve identified 10 different companies that all look like potential candidates to meet your needs. You might not want to get 10 actual proposals, because reading and comparing proposals is a very time-consuming process. You might want to add an initial weeding-out phase by sending out an RFI.

The RFI is a form to identify key characteristics of companies in the consideration set, so that you can screen out companies based on important criteria. The goal is to create a manageable short-list of 3 or 4 agencies from the initial larger set (10, in the example above).

For example, in the RFI, you might ask in what countries the company has direct offices, or what percent of its work is consumer versus B2B related. That way, if you’re only interested in candidates with offices in three specific countries and that does at least 50% consumer work, you can easily thin the herd.

Pssst … the sneaky thing about an RFI is that it gives you a chance to learn about potential suppliers before tipping your hand as to what you actually want. You can send out an RFI without telling candidates what the ultimate project is about. This way, you are more likely to get an objective profile of their resources and expertise.

In contrast, when you send out an RFP for, let’s say, a logo testing study, you get a skewed view. Guess what types of responses you will get? Responses that showcase logo testing expertise—even if a little exaggerated.

RFI information is pretty basic. Typically, the RFI asks for information about agency size, history, and areas of specialty. Often, an RFI also requests customer case studies, references, and biographies of key staff members and the executive management team.

An example of how common RFI information requests are stated is shown in Table 6-1, along with a description of why each type of information might be important to you. But remember that the content is up to you; just think about it in terms of screening criteria. If you know you will only pick an agency that meets Criterion A, translate that into an RFI question.

 

Table 6.1 Common RFI Information Requests
Common RFI questions	And why you might ask them
List of countries with direct offices	If you are planning a global study, you might prefer an agency that operates in your key markets. This is especially true if localization will be an issue.
Number of full-time equivalents	Is this company primarily relying on subcontractors?
Vertical industry specialties (for B2B)	Some agencies dabble in all industries; others specialize.
Demographic specialties (for consumer research)	Does it specialize in particular segments? For example, some agencies specialize in teens and others in specific ethnic groups.
Methodology specialties	Does it specialize in particular methods? Does it claim a particularly strong skill set in an area of interest to you?
Revenue	You might want to know something about the sales volume, although many agencies are privately held and might not disclose.
Year founded	Has it been around for some time?
Headquarters location	Is it close to you? This is not necessary, but can come in handy for more complex projects.
Links to articles or blogs authored by key employees	Has it published materials that give it relevant credibility? Do you like its style?
Management team list and biographies	Is the company run by researchers? By academics? By business operations professionals? How many have graduate degrees? Do they have backgrounds in your industry? Do their biographies reflect any real passion for research?

The RFI process can be very valuable, but in many cases, it’s overkill. The truth of the matter is that you can ask for a lot of the same information in a proposal, so if you’re under the gun in terms of schedule, and there are only three firms under consideration anyway, there’s nothing wrong with going immediately to RFP.

 

This is an excerpt from the book, "How to Hire & Manage Market Research Agencies," which is available on Amazon. Published by Research Rockstar LLC. Copyright © by Kathryn Korostoff. All rights reserved.