Legal RFP's

LEGAL RFP'S – To respond or to not respond; that is the question?[The first in a blog series on Legal RFP's]Shakespeare's classic question focuses debate on a serious leadership challenge for law firm decision makers. It also requires the corporate/agency rfp sponsor to carefully consider the information it should make available to the firms who will be responding. As a business development consultant advising clients on the efficacy of responding to rfp's, let me present the questions to be asked and answered.* How did we make the invitation list? Is this recognition of past attorney marketing efforts, client service, or just a random pull?* Who prepared the RFP? We are seeing a significant increase in the number of legal services purchased through a purchasing department. So what type of mentality wrote the damned thing, and who will be reviewing it? Consider the Miller-Heiman proposition that one must identify the “user/buyer (s).” In other words, is the person you are meeting with or talking with be actually using the services? Will he/she need to get approval from a “buyer” who may or may not be identified in the rfp process? And how do you find out?In our next blog, we'll propose more critical questions when deciding to respond to an RFP or for the sponsor of the RFP to consider.