Those three little letters STORY BY LISA HOPKINS, CARLSON MARKETING Winning new business and demonstrating points of difference.

RRPs, RFIs, RFQs. Three letters which mean two things for companies in the business of managing meetings and events – a great opportunity to win new business, and a huge amount of work and effort to demonstrate a real point of difference from the competition. To those not familiar with the terms, they stand for Request for Proposal, Request for Information and Request for Quotation and they are a traditional practice in our business. And the way in which the process is used differs tremendously by client. Some use it as a pure benchmarking exercise, comparing price for price, while others use it to understand the strengths of the various suppliers in the market place. So what are the components of a truly good RFP?

Objective
What type of vendor are you looking for? Someone who can fulfill a one off project or a long term partnership? Perhaps the right vendor is someone who can simply follow instruction, or one who can provide more strategic value to the relationship. Understanding from the outset what the objective of the process is will determine the type of RFP and language needed.

Stakeholders
RFPs tend to be driven through procurement, and it needs to be respected that procurement practitioners have differing criteria than marketers or sales people. However, if the event owner of the project is ultimately sales and marketing focused, price becomes just one factor and not necessarily the most important one. Therefore, the RFP should be geared towards the specific criteria of the owner to ensure the right vendor for them, and the project.

Alignment
In many cases, the best price does not necessarily mean the right supplier if the cultural and philosophical fit is not there. Working with a vendor who is in alignment with your company values, and can demonstrate the flexibility or strategic importance which will contribute to your own organisation’s success, should be given high priority. You need to feel 100 per cent comfortable with who you are working with.

Pricing
Without question, this is an imperative in any RFP process, and you rightly need to understand clearly and transparently the pricing methodology of the bidding suppliers. However, also understand that asking a large group of bidders to pitch on the same business, in the same city, at the same hotel with the same components will not necessarily give you the desired result. Instead you instantly lose the advantage for your successful supplier in negotiating best pricing. The destination is already assured of winning the business either way, and hotels tend to play on a level field with suppliers, providing everyone with the same rate and conditions. Also, our vendors tend to get a little disgruntled when six meeting and event planners contact them for exactly the same thing. Neither the suppliers, the hotels, the destinations nor the DMCs are given the opportunity to truly demonstrate best practice, creativity, relationship strength or procurement prowess through this method. Which means, no one wins. Carlson Marketing recently went through a process where we were asked to simply pitch on a three day event in a country of our choosing, with certain parameters and inclusions. This enabled us to exhibit our pricing methodology and creativity, while at the same time promoting a great destination and hotel who worked closely with us to demonstrate their first class attributes. The client told us that it truly opened their eyes to the value of engaging a meeting and event management company, as well as to the incredible options available to them. Some of the suggestions they received, they would have never considered previously. An RFP should ultimately be about finding the right vendor for your organisation. I can assure you that blood, sweat and the odd tear can be shed during the process and most suppliers pour their hearts and soul into the final document for your consideration. Use the process to truly bring out the best in those bidding to be you partners in business. You’ll find that the outcome will be more than just a great hotel deal!

Lisa Hopkins is based in Singapore and is the Asia Pacific Director for Meetings and Events, Carlson Marketing specialising in the strategy and logistics of meetings, incentive travel, conferences and events. Carlson Marketing is located in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Lisa can be contacted on lisa.hopkins@carlson.com