How to Get the Most Out of Your Recognition RFP

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably at the point where you’re realizing that your company isn’t reaching the employee recognition nirvana you’ve been told about time and time again. The tranquil realm where each individual employee feels recognized and appreciated and can’t wait to come to work. You’ve exhausted all of the steps you can think of and yet your company still has a high employee turnover rate and the employees that you have left are just going through the motions. You know you’re going to need help but just thinking about going through the harrowing process of writing and then evaluating an RFP has you breaking out into hives.

STOP! Before you decide to grit your teeth and get down to business, take a look through this helpful RFP checklist and a few tips for handling the RFP process.

RFP Checklist

Write a Project Overview

Paint a clear picture of the history of your company and your needs. Include things like the number of employees, the number of locations, location of facilities, decision-makers, why you are looking for a new supplier, how and when you want your awards to be delivered, what kind of recognition you’re looking for, and the ideal project start date.

Provide your Goals for Success

Be specific in what you want in your program, what features have priority, and how you define a successful program.

Provide a Timeline with Milestones

Ensure that you and your vendors stay on track with a detailed timeline complete with anticipated presentation and resolution dates.

Define your Organizational Requirements

Include a section detailing clear and concise information concerning the required proposal and pricing format, how you want the proposal to be sent, how many copies, physical or digital, email or upload, etc.

Provide your Terms & Conditions

If you have state requirements for vendors, IT security requirements, or legal and insurance requirements, include these here.

Be Specific Regarding your Vendor Selection Criteria

Prioritize what is most important to your company with a detailed criteria list with assigned percentages. For instance, Overall Solution, Quality Products, Customer Service, Price, Experience, Account Management, etc.

Provide your Budget, Quantity & Delivery Requirements

In order to ensure you receive an accurate pricing quote, your vendors will need to know your budget, specific quantities, item specifications, delivery requirements, and pricing format.

Ask Measurable Questions

Include as many measurable questions as possible to create a clear comparison. Open-ended questions leave room for ambiguity. Work with stakeholders to determine your key criteria and to define the ideal solution and highest priorities. From these elements, you establish your rubric for weighted scoring. Then share this rubric with invited vendors.

RFP Tips & Tricks

• Research recognition options and let stakeholders know the possible options beforehand
• Provide one specific contact for communication purposes
• Provide answers to questions and process changes in a timely manner
• Be aware of how long it takes to create a response (i.e. a typical RFP response will take up to 2-3 weeks)
• Email or online bid sites allow for ease of communication as well as a more efficient and cohesive mode of submission
• Don’t compare apples to oranges in regards to the solution, product or price; leverage quantifiable questions and required formatting to ensure ease of comparison
• Let vendors know if they have been eliminated from consideration and why
• Open the floor for suggestions outside your current recognition initiative

If you run into issues coming up with questions for your RFP, look up a few free RFP templates for inspiration or ask MTM for a list of most commonly asked Employee Recognition RFP questions – we would love to help!