RFP Experiences: A Tale of Two Clients

It's not business, it's personal. In the business world, relationships are everything. They shape how we work, influence our experiences, and, in many cases, determine our success. But what happens when those relationships are put to the test?

Recently, at 33 Sticks, we found ourselves in an interesting situation. Two of our existing clients, let's call one Massive European Electronics Retailer and the other let's call Totally Crafty Retailer. Both of these clients asked us to participate in an RFP (Request for Proposal) process to "win" the current engagement that we have with them.

i will set aside my general feelings about RFPs for now and will instead focus on the drastically different ways each of these clients approached us about the process.

With European Electronics, our primary stakeholder reached out to me directly. He expressed his discomfort with the situation, assuring us that it didn't reflect the nature of our partnership. His hands, he said, were tied. The conversation was personal, empathetic, and respectful.

On the other hand, our experience with Crafty Retailer was massivly different. There was no personal call, no expression of discomfort, in fact, we didn't hear from any of the key stakeholders we had been working directly with the past 2 years. Instead, we received a cold email from their procurement team, someone we'd never interacted with previously, informing us that to keep our contract, we must participate in the RFP.

These contrasting experiences got me thinking. Why were these experiences so different? Did we do a better job of creating a meaningful, trusted relationship with one client but not the other? And what can we learn from these experiences to improve our client relationships and business practices?

In taking some time to truly reflect on this two drastically different experiences, i think there are a few lessons to be shared:

☀️ Making Business Personal
The importance of building strong, personal relationships with customers cannot be overstated. Our experience with European Electronics, where our primary stakeholder reached out personally and expressed discomfort with the situation, really shows the value of investing in truly meaningful relationships. It's clear to me that our efforts to build a meaningful, trusted relationship with this client paid off in this instance.

☀️Be Open to Self-Reflection
Our experience with Crafty Retailer serves as a reminder that not all customer relationships are created equal. The impersonal email from their procurement team, devoid of any personal touch, was a stark contrast to our experience with European Electronics. My initial reaction was one of anger and resentment towards Crafty Retailer but as i calmed down i realized that hanging on to this anger wasn't going to provide me or 33 Sticks much, if any, value. So i spent time questioning and analyzing whether we could have done more to create a stronger relationship with Crafty Retailer. Perhaps our experience with them is just in their nature BUT perhaps there is something we could have done differently.

☀️ Be Adaptable
These experiences also highlight the need for flexibility and adaptability in business. Every customer is unique, with their own set of circumstances, pressures, company culture, and ways of doing things. As a business, and personally as a business leader, i need to be able to adapt to these differences and respond appropriately rather than trying to force every relationship into the same template. If we are going to make business personal we must be open to adapting to all the nuances that make us human.

☀️Empathy Is A Superpower
Finally, these two contrasting experiences have reaffirmed my belief that empathy is a powerful tool in business. The empathetic approach taken by European Electronics not only made the RFP process more palatable, but also strengthened our relationship with them.

It's not just business, it's personal. Embrace empathy in business, it will prove to be a massive super power.