I believe the day of the RFP has outlived its purpose. RFPs were created decades ago as a procurement vehicle, not a pure capabilities fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2014-04-12-at-12.31.25-PM.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nToday\u2019s landscape has changed; we are in a world of prove it, show me and hands-on. The feature sets across a Lumascape of 1000 vendors who have email campaign management and mobile\/social capability are so generalized, it is hard to distinguish who is good, best or better without simulation testing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I remain resilient on the core reasons anyone considers an evaluation for new marketing technology. RFPs are historically a painful process, adding additional overhead and cost to a very understaffed direct marketing\/ digital team. But the root of the need to do something else has not changed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Reducing cost<\/b> 2. Dissatisfaction with services<\/b> 3. Better capabilities<\/b> 4. General changing of the guard<\/b> What makes all this more of a challenge is that procurement gets involved at the end, rather than the beginning, so things often get peeled back with cost compression pressures. 90% of contract buyer\u2019s remorse is because the contract fees don\u2019t match the needs. You typically get what you pay for in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most marketers still use the typical analyst guideline for top enterprise selectors (like Forrester Wave email marketing<\/a> or Gartner), and then you have the specialists, and <\/a>email marketing agencies<\/a> that all specialize in a subset of marketing technologies. These organizations are great at helping you figure out what you need and helping you align to select vendors that you don\u2019t know already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is value in third party inputs to help \u201csell\u201d the decision upstairs and help you organize your thinking when you are busy driving 60mph. But do think about the economics. My hope is that the industry revolts against RFPs<\/a> and uses that time\/energy and expense to force the community of technology providers to \u201cprove it\u201d vs. burn excessive energy in less than conclusive RFPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>The Motivations Behind RFPs<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The reason many people switch jobs? They figure they\u2019re likely to get paid more by leaving — only to find out it\u2019s not as rosy at the other end. Reducing costs is one of the top reasons most switch, in addition to pressure from their company\u2019s leadership. They\u2019ve heard that email CPM prices are declining<\/a>, they haven\u2019t renegotiated for a few years and fear they\u2019re leaving money on the table with existing vendors. It\u2019s a price hunt in a nutshell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vendor doesn\u2019t open my car door any longer<\/a>! Quality of performance, response and strategic advice has dulled. You\u2019re on the Aluminium Plan, not the Gold Support Plan, or no plan at all. But the contract you had and budget you\u2019ve flattened has just not met your needs, or you were oversold in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the strangest rationale, but trade shows will always be full of impressive WOW demos that you want to take home. Strange, since most marketers don\u2019t even come close to maximizing the capabilities of their existing technology, yet still write 250 line RFPs. And if you\u2019ve ever tried to score an RFP, it is NOT a science, and it\u2019s never as simple as a YES\/NO scoring process. A perfectly rational conclusion is to come to feel like you\u2019ve outgrown your ESP or your team isn\u2019t working well with your services team, but in many cases it may be hard to financially justify that investment in new email technology<\/a> .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We still find that the average tenure of an email marketer is two to three years, and a CMOs life span tends to mirror that. Change is good in marketing, yet we find programs that consistently outperform others in retail have an ability to retain people in these roles longer than average. That experience absolutely pays off, with fewer mistakes and better cost management. But with all new regime changes, most will have a history with other providers and often seek to do evaluations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>If You Must\u2026<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n