How Can A Business Make The Most Of Its RFP Consultant

A number of businesses and procurement teams practice strategic sourcing. They have been proved to be more successful. This statistics has made an impact on CPOs in general. Surveys reveal that a great percentage of CPOs has plans of implementing category management and strategic sourcing training in the coming years. Till all these take effect, engaging the services of a strategic sourcing consultant is a good ideal for businesses. This step can lessen the risk, improve efficiency and improve management. Thus, businesses who are expecting a big strategic sourcing project should consider hiring an RFP consultant. It will most likely be a worthy investment.

However, an RFP consultant can make a good impact if the business hiring them takes some steps.

Engage Tactically

Theoretically, the job of an RFP consultant is to work for a business and engage with a business. A consultant that works in isolation will not be as efficient. The consultant needs the time of the business to recognize its goals and move the venture ahead. Nevertheless, a business hires a consultant as it cannot devote sufficient time to the project. The business must find a balance.

The business must establish its expectations at the onset of the engagement. The business must define the stages that it will actively participate in. Likewise, the business must recognize areas where it will have faith in the consultant to do the finest choices. The business must engage in necessities discovery, scope delineation, scoring norms for an rfp response and ultimate vendor assessment stages.

Power Technology To Stay Informed

After the business outlines its involvement, it must stay informed. It must be aware of the project's advancement. It should draw on technology to stay abreast of the developments. A case in point is the business asking if it can partake in the RFP software solution of the consultant to witness real-time insights. It can also invite the consultant to its communication tool. The business can add the consultant as a contributor to an instant messaging or project management tool. What is the advantage of this step? The answer is centralized communications costing little or nothing.

Offer Feedback

As the business is monitoring the project, it can proactively offer feedback. It could be that the consultant is missing the mark. The business can offer more contexts to get the consultant back on track. An RFP consultant can be a specialist in eliciting many an rfp response. However, all businesses are different. A business is an expert in its trade and thus must share its insights.

Put In Enquiries And Retain The Knowledge Of The Consultant

A business that hires an RFP professional also learns from it. The business must capitalize on the consultant's knowledge. Given this, the business should put in as many enquiries as it can. It should also control the documents and output. A case in point is saving the RFP and creating a template for use in more procurement projects.

Attracting bids from other companies has been around for ages and regardless of who or what the consumers want. Attracting bids from other companies has been a blessing in disguise for marketers all over the world.

Ricky is a graduate of computer science engineering, a writer and marketing consultant. he continues to study on Nano technology and its resulting benefits to achieving almost there.