Something on which you cannot compromise and still maintain your professional standards and proposal responsibilities.
Most often heard in the negative, as in “That’s not a hill to die for.”
Asking Questions: What to do with the answers
Short version
Track them, dagnab it.
Long version
List questions in a spreadsheet and assign a unique identifier to each.
Annotate the master copy of the RFP with those identifiers so you know something is outstanding about that aspect of the requirement, whether it’s the SOW, draft contract, response instructions, or evaluation criteria.
Update the spreadsheet when the answers come rolling in.
Comment the master copy of the RFP with the answer, especially if the client doesn’t issue an amended RFP.
And if you’re thinking that this sounds like a lot of work, well, it can be. So assign someone to be responsible for it.
Term: Has the Stick
Used to identify who is responsible for something.
Likely an aviation reference originally (as in, the pilot has the stick).
Considered bad form to interfere in an area where someone else has the stick.
Asking Questions: The value of asking politely
I have made much in these pages about the importance of asking clear questions: here, for example. And seriously, who can argue? Unclear questions bemuse the client and frustrate your team when the answer given by the bemused ones is, itself, unclear or unhelpful.
But it isn’t enough to be clear. More is needed.
There are two objectives when asking questions:
- Task objective – One is to get information you need, to clarify an ambiguity, or to correct an error in the RFP.
- Relationship objective – One is to let the client know that you will be good to work with: professional, respectful, helpful. Begin as you mean to continue, and all that.
Asking clearly and early are essential for the first objective; asking politely is essential for the second.
Ask politely
Don’t be rude. Don’t be condescending. Don’t be snooty. Don’t be impatient. Don’t be overbearing. Don’t attack the client’s competence or integrity. Don’t make threats, veiled or otherwise.
In short, don’t be a jerk.
You might think it would go without saying.
You’d be wrong.
The story
Working on a lessons-learned contract in a government department, I came across some questions from a participant in the earlier bid process. Yikes. They did everything but say to the government, “What? Are you stupid?”
I went over to the contracting officer and said, “Umm, were these really submitted like this?”
“Oh, yes.”
“What was he thinking?” I asked, preferring not to refer to the submitter by name. I’d met him around and about, but didn’t really know him.
The contracting officer shrugged. “He was drunk.”
All right then.
Whether the cause of your temporary disaffection with your client is inebriation or aggravation, let it go when writing questions.
And then get someone else to review your questions for tone.
Term: Gold Team
Most often used to refer to the executive review of the costs and proposed price.
Not a standard term in Proposal Land, however, and has been seen referring to what most folks call Red Team.
Does it matter? Nope. Not as long as everyone involved knows what is meant.