I love RFPIO!
Overall Satisfaction with RFPIO
We use RFPIO to manage our RFP questionnaire responses. We have a large, geographically dispersed sales organization with centralized support. Additionally, we have several Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to assist in responses.
Initially, we import each questionnaire from excel, word, or PDF. From there, our RFP team answers each question and/or submits to a SME for further assistance. As sections are ready to be reviewed, they are assigned to the sales person for the account. Once everything is approved, it is exported from the system and formatted for submission to the prospective client.
RFPIO has reduced the time from RFP request to response significantly. It has also helped us to better engage our sales team and SMEs in the RFP process. Overall, we are extremely happy with our decision to purchase RFPIO.
Initially, we import each questionnaire from excel, word, or PDF. From there, our RFP team answers each question and/or submits to a SME for further assistance. As sections are ready to be reviewed, they are assigned to the sales person for the account. Once everything is approved, it is exported from the system and formatted for submission to the prospective client.
RFPIO has reduced the time from RFP request to response significantly. It has also helped us to better engage our sales team and SMEs in the RFP process. Overall, we are extremely happy with our decision to purchase RFPIO.
Pros
- Import/export - the configurations during import and export are invaluable. This saves us so much time during export with the amount of things we have pre-formatted. Additionally, this tool can handle export into native formats OR customized templates for Word, Excel, and PDF. This means we can export into Excel from outside tools, as well as utilize client/broker formats when needed - without minimal copy/paste (RFP friends... can I get an amen??)
- Auto-response - once a questionnaire is uploaded, the system can auto-respond based on past responses. It gets smarter over time as more responses are in the system. We find this picks up 25-40% on the low end and 90% on the high end (especially when we are responding to the same broker or consultant who has their preferred template)
- Keyword Field Mapping - the system allows you to map fields into your export template as well as your responses. The system auto maps these when exporting. We use this feature a lot to map salesperson info (custom fields for the stuff we want on the cover sheet/letter), client name, client nickname (the company, the client, the City, the County, etc.). This makes it easy to have customized responses without extra effort on our side.
- Guest Question Authors - the system allows you to send single questions to guest users easily so that they can answer via a web browser on a computer or laptop without signing in. I also particularly like that I can track it as a comment which helps me go back later and find my open items.
Cons
- Answer library creates unique records for each Q&A for each RFP. This means if you use an auto-generated answer from an exact matching RFP you end up with two records. This creates some unnecessary admin time on the back-end to merge duplicates. And during high-volume RFP seasons this work likely just isn't getting done.
- Salesforce integrations only available for SF Enterprise users, which wasn't made clear during initial sign-up so we had to get a refund after the fact.
- No custom roles settings which would be extremely helpful for our team, as a sales user doesn't need to see the same things as an RFP team user or a SME.
- Reduced time spent per RFP response.
- Increased efficiency of RFP and sales team.
- Increased # of finalist presentations earned from RFPs.
- RFP360 - We used this tool for three years and it was a great first step/upgrade from a searchable Google doc. We decided to start evaluating other systems for a couple of reasons:
- RFP360 is an end-to-end tool for RFP requestors and responders. We felt they were more focused on growing the request side and we needed something focused on the response side.
- The assignees for author/reviewer are limited to one user and we frequently needed the ability to have multiple users assigned.
- Too much copy/paste during export.
- Loopio - This tool was our #2 during evaluations. We really loved the clean user interface, auto answer ability, and "close-the-loop" post-RFP process for keeping the answer library clean. Our main hiccup was the amount of copy/paste.
Do you think Responsive delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Responsive's feature set?
Yes
Did Responsive live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Responsive go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Responsive again?
Yes
Responsive Feature Ratings
RFPIO Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal - We transitioned from another RFP tool, but after importing our answer library, we were able to start using this one from day one. We trained each sales person as a project came up so they would be more likely to retain the info.
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