If you’re in the service industry, you’ve probably been approached by a company with an RFP.  When Fresh Tilled Soil first started, we were quite excited about the fact someone found us, read our site and asked us to submit a proposal for a seemingly cool project.  More often than not, the company was a real player and we thought that being able to say we had worked in conjunction with them would help prove we were a big time player.  It would also be a great way for us to have more visibility and show off our talented design skills.  These companies normally find us through search engines and recently we’ve had a flood of RFP’s coming into our email in-boxes.  To be perfectly honest, unless these companies fit into our internal potential client lens and other RFP guidelines there is definitely more of a chance of a blind person hitting a hole in one… Of course that happens, but very very rarely. 

Even if you complete the RFP to their exact guidelines, there is no guarantee that you will make it to the short list and actually have a chance to show relevant work that has been accomplished by your firm to the potential client. 

To be honest, my suggestion when receiving a RFP is to graciously reply that you don’t work off of RFP’s and send them 3 referrals they can contact to find out more information about your company. 

The second option is to run, very fast the other way.