Receiving a Request for Proposal (RFP) for an existing client relationship is often an indication that a client is either unhappy or they’ve been courted by another advisor and they’d like to see how you stack up.
It’s a topic not discussed enough in our minds, but the process itself is usually eye-opening in terms of client relationship management.
RFPs often pop up when firms aren’t expecting it, but there are usually telltale signs that a client is unhappy (or not being ‘superpleased’) well before then that were missed.
Here are some dos and don’t when it comes to managing your client relationships so that if it comes to retendering, you start on the right foot:
1. Do be upfront about rates: This is an important one. Your RFP response isn’t the time to surprise clients with sudden price hikes. If your rates need to be increased, start talking about pricing early on. It’s a difficult conversation that needs to be had sooner rather than later and by setting your clients’ expectations, you’re avoiding those potentially uncomfortable last-minute negotiations.
2. Do make value adds front and centre (before you get to a retender): We recently supported a client with a retender where, when we assessed the value adds we could offer the offer client and the value adds we thought they were aware of, it was clear we could have and should have addressed this sooner. As with rates, the retender should be an opportunity for you to enhance what you’re offering, not surprise the client with lots of nice-to-haves that they’ve never heard about before.
3. Do cross-sell and upsell: Don’t wait until the retender to mention your full range of services. Talk about what else you can do before it comes up. You want to position your firm in the forefront of their minds so that when the need does arise, they think of you. You don’t want to wait until the retender to tell them about all the other amazing work the firm is doing. The more services sold into a client, the less likely they are to leave.
4. Don’t forget to check in: Stay in touch with your clients regularly. Ask them how things are going, what’s working well, and what could be better. Fixing issues early builds trust and avoids surprises later. Imagine if the issue that caused them to look elsewhere could have just been a simple and open conversation? This is the goal.
5. Don’t let your tech embarrass you: This is a tricky one, and a topic that is often raised in terms of value adds in a retender. The clients themselves are often more tech-savvy than the firm advising it, so you need to have a good understanding of what tech would help them and what’s possible for you to offer. Our research shows (see May Trifecta here) that tech was the third most important value add to GCs, so it’s important to get it right. Sit down with your tech/ BD teams. Look at what you’re offering now. Talk about new things that could help clients.
6. Do use retenders as a learning opportunity: We mentioned that retenders are an eye-opening experience, and if you don’t know your client as well as you think you do, it can be an eye-watering experience too. But that being said, even if the outcome isn’t what you wanted, it is one of the best opportunities to understand what you’re doing right and where you can improve. It’s about being proactive so you ace it in the future.
A small note for those in BD teams: Retenders/all pitch processes will be eyewatering for you as a team if your processes and documents aren’t in good shape. Summer is the perfect time to finesse these; we all know September will be manic!
Keeping clients happy takes consistent effort and a willingness to learn. By showing off what you can do before you need to prove it, listening to your clients, being clear about costs, and using RFPs to learn and grow, you’ll make the process smoother and keep your clients happy.
