Hi Chris,
“RFP” shouldn’t be a four-letter word — especially for your firms.
As we heard last week in our webinar with Josh Jennings, Senior Pitches and Pursuits Manager at Hogan Lovells, RFPs too often become tagged as a “Really Frustrating Process.” Time consuming, overly formal — adding friction rather than ease to the firm/in-house relationship and leading to less than optimal outcomes.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Ask yourself: Are you thinking through your systems and processes with an outcomes-based lens, or are they an exercise in box ticking?
It was illuminating to get Hogan Lovells’ perspective and learn what happens when a client leads with outcomes on something like RFPs. Rather than frustration, firms feel empowered. There’s less friction. More value is added to the relationship.
For instance, before Hogan Lovells responds to an RFP, it holds internal discussions across departments to determine whether it has the right resources, expertise, and, most importantly, desire to compete for a matter. They want to be able to clearly answer why they are the best firm for the matter.
The lesson? Starting with outcomes aligns vision and strategy at the very beginning.
And this alignment isn’t just with the client, it aligns internal teams at the firm.
Josh said their RFP process has helped unify biz-dev, pricing, legal project management, and client partners. Instead of reacting to requests in silos, they’re approaching each opportunity as a team with clearer roles, stronger alignment, and more strategic proposals.
The lesson? Starting with outcomes can improve internal firm collaboration and drive better results for clients.
Whether they win or lose a deal, Hogan Lovells has a structured guide for asking questions to get feedback from a client. Why did they win a matter? What was attractive about their proposal? What could they have done better?
They use these answers to improve their processes and be more responsive to the client on the next matter.
The lesson? Starting with outcomes invites focused feedback that powers continuous improvement.
When it comes to shifting to a more outcomes-based approach to outside firm management, Gabriel Harnier, General Counsel at SAP delivered one of the best lessons of all when he said:
How we do things is as important and powerful as what we do. How we do things is often underestimated, and I think that differentiates top-performing teams from good teams.
When you lead with outcomes, no four-letter words are needed.
Cheers,
-Jim
