Treatments

Below is a list of RFP MD’s services. Click on headings for details.

Proposal Audit and Recommendations.

As we mentioned in our diagnosis section, before working on any new proposals, we review a few of your old ones and give you an objective assessment. Are they well written? Do the proposals clearly reveal your company’s point of difference? Are they persuasive? How well are they designed?

We’ll give you our feedback in every area. Then, we’ll recommend ideas and strategies to improve your proposals moving forward.
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RFP Participation Analysis.

Here we evaluate the RFP you’ve just received and help you determine if your company should participate in the review. This crucial decision is aided by a special grid we use which rates each opportunity by weighing 10 important factors before arriving at a final “score.” By using this approach, we’re able to help our clients choose the opportunities that are truly worthwhile, and pass on the ones that aren’t.
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RFP Responses (Strategy, Copywriting, Design, Management).

Think of a great quarterback. He not only makes outstanding plays himself, he rallies those around him to give their best possible effort. When you have a big proposal to complete and need to get contributions from a variety of busy staff members, you’ll be happy to have RFP MD’s veteran leadership. From the initial meeting (where we review the RFP, question by question, and divvy up responsibilities) to the very last step of the process (making final edits, printing and sending off the proposal), we’ll be there to ensure that everything gets done on time, and that all work meets or exceeds your expectations.
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The following are some of the services included in our RFP responses:

  • Proposal Management. We organize, schedule and oversee the pitch from start to finish, and incorporate the talents/experience/knowledge of your staff members as needed.
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  • Content Development. Facts, figures, charts, case studies, bios, references—we’ll pull together all the necessary content to answer each and every RFP question thoroughly and factually. Along with using information from recent proposals and marketing materials, RFP MD will interview key staff members if necessary to create content from scratch.
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  • Theme Generation. Whenever possible, we recommend developing an over-arching theme for the proposal, which helps tie everything together and makes the proposal more interesting to read. It can be a visual theme (a design treatment that reflects your company’s brand), a copywriting theme (a certain tone or a series of headlines), or a combination of both.
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  • Copywriting. We write each RFP response so it’s in one voice throughout and ensure that it’s as engaging as it is persuasive. As we write the proposal, we always keep the reader in mind. We strive to create the kind of document that’s simply too good to put down. We’ll give them all the information they’ve requested, surprise them with a few other unexpected gems, but spare them the kitchen-sink approach that many companies use when writing proposals. After all, their time is precious just like yours. For more about the reader’s perspective, click here: Imagine this.

    One final note about our copywriting or should we say, our copywriters—they’re all smart business people who bring many years of copywriting experience to the table (not to mention, a credenza full of awards and certificates from advertising’s most prestigious shows, including the Addy’s, the Tellies, The One Show, Communication Arts, the New York Art Director’s Annual, even Britain’s D&AD). What does all this awards nonsense mean to you? It means your proposals will be enjoyable to read. And you won’t put prospective clients to sleep. Important considerations, in our book.
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  • Design. RFP MD can either work with your designers, our own designers, or a collaboration of both. A combination approach often works well, while saving you money—we create a visual theme and graphic guidelines and then your designer takes over from there. We believe that a proposal needs to look as good as it sounds, so we recommend going the extra mile when it comes to design and production quality.
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  • Proofreading. While our proposal writers are great at grammar and spelling, we usually bring in a professional proofreader at the final stage of the proposal process to make sure every “i” is dotted and “t” is crossed. Good proofreaders have an uncanny ability to catch typos that an entire staff may miss. Showing a potential client that you can be error-free with your proposal enhances your company’s image and credibility.
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  • Production. RFP MD oversees all stages of production to make sure that your proposals are perfectly printed, bound and packaged. If you do not have printing and production equipment on your premises, we’ll recommend a facility that does, and oversee the production at their site.
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DAM System Creation and Maintenance.

To simplify the retrieval of key proposal components such as your company information, photos, charts, bios and other important items, we can assist you in the creation of a DAM (data asset management) system. Having even a rudimentary DAM system in place will save you an enormous amount of time on future proposals.
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Promotional Materials (Copywriting, Design, Production).

  • Direct Mail. From traditional letters and postcards, to 3-D mailers and online communications, RFP MD will help you create engaging and effective marketing materials that’ll pique people’s interest in your company. Over the years we’ve implemented a variety of successful approaches, from sending out greeting cards with lottery tickets inside for a waste management company, to hand delivering 10-foot poles to area doctors for a podiatrist. Out-of-the-box ideas like these have proved to be both effective and cost-efficient for our clients.
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  • Brochures. Even though we’re living in an online world, people still expect your company to have a good printed brochure. Like our proposals, we make sure that your collateral materials stand out—so they’re read—but fit right in as they relate to your brand’s image and other marketing touch points. Whether you need a brochure for your company’s direct mail program, a leave-behind for your sales team, or a “take one” to use at point-of-purchase, RFP MD will create an engaging piece and see it through production.
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  • Websites. When creating our own website, we tried to make it professional yet interesting to read. We wanted to give you detailed information, but not War and Peace. We feel that these are important considerations when you take into account how busy people are these days. They want to go to your site and get the information they’re looking for, while not falling asleep on their keyboards in the process.

    Inform them. Persuade them. Keep them engaged. Whether we’re creating a proposal or a website, we follow these same guidelines. To create the best website possible for your company, we hand-pick the right group of people (or marketing partners) from the RFP MD Team.
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Case Studies (Copywriting, Design).

Case studies are often given the highest weight in a company’s review process. RFP MD can make sure that your case studies are written and presented in the most compelling way possible.
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Business Plans (Research, Strategy, Copywriting).

To make your business development department more effective, RFP MD can help you write a business plan, including an Executive Summary, Situation Analysis (market summary and SWOT analysis), and Marketing Strategy (marketing objectives, financial objectives, target markets, tactics, positioning). Once completed, this important document will act as a road map and compass for your entire sales and marketing team.
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Prospecting.

To help our clients connect with more prospective customers, we refer them to one of our marketing partners who specializes in prospecting and lead generation. (After all, the more hot prospects your company has, the more proposals you’ll need our company to write.) For more information on prospecting services, send an e-mail to RFP MD president George Brumis.
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