The small business guidebook to managing RFPs
Chapter 6 - Simplify evaluation
As a buyer in a small business, comparing proposal items side-by-side can help to determine which one is the best fit for your business.
Once all the proposals are in, you as the buyer are responsible for preparing all the proposals for evaluation with the stakeholders.
Laying out all the vendor proposals on the table for everyone to read themselves is not elegant. Each vendor usually presents their proposal format that looks very different from one another. Buyers should take a more scientific approach by utilizing Microsoft Excel (or other available applications) to put together a comparison grid.
Create analysis categories and feature comparisons and compare each vendor’s proposal items side by side. This may involve some follow-up communication to gather more info, but the effort will be worth it. Additionally, this may also involve normalizing the answers for comparison. For example, vendors will provide a 52-week schedule while some others will provide a 12-month schedule.
Normalizing these numbers will ensure that you’re comparing apples to apples. Remember, Good information will lead to a good decision.
Chapter 7 - Presenting key findings and summarize
It is your job to present proposals and your analysis and guides the stakeholders on an informed decision.
Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Know what you are looking for
- 2. Be precise on your email subject line
- 3. Always pre-qualify your suppliers before the invite.
- 4. Organize the information as it roll-in
- 5. Keep track of your vendors