Don’t let planning your next website project become a full-time second job. Join us for a fresh look at the planning, RFP writing, and hiring process. We’ll provide a “from the trenches” look at common points of failure and provide tactics for avoiding them through guidelines, tips, case studies, and role-play. During this session attendees will learn: how to plan a successful website project how to prepare an appropriate RFP how to select appropriate internal resources and/or external vendors Session Twitter Handle: #DMFBRFP

1. Website Redesign:
Are you planning to succeed or
succeeding to fail? It all starts
with your RFP.
Raleigh, NC
May 7, 2014
#DMFBRFP
David Minton &
Stephen Pashby,
DesignHammer

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Building smarter websites since 2001.

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Who are you?

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Your experience with RFPs?
•Ready to do first?
•Have done one?
•Have done many?

5. Slide 5
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Overview
•Part 1: Preparation
•Part 2: Resource allocation
•Part 3: RFP elements
•Tips & Tricks

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Part 1: Preparation
IMAGE: WIKI COMMONS

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Planning for success
•Create a short list
•Know your audience
•Identify goals
•Define success
•Define budget range
•Determine timeframe

8. Slide 8
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Create a short listCreate a short list
IMAGE: WIKI COMMONS

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
How to find your people
•Order takers vs. partners
•Get referrals
•Meet in person
•Ask & listen
•Consider an RFI
•Identify priorities

10. Slide 10
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Know your audienceKnow your audience
IMAGE: WIKI COMMONS

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
What does your audience want?
•Internet/tech savvy?
•Demographics
•What do your users want from you?
•Why will they choose you over
another business?
•What do you want from them?

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Identify goals:Identify goals:
strategy vs tacticsstrategy vs tactics
IMAGE: WIKI COMMONS

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
How to identify goals
•What are your business goals?
•What are goals for your website
that will support your business
goals?
•SMART goals
•Strategy vs. tactics
•Remember ROI

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Tactics
•Focus on user interaction
•Measureable
•Should follow from goals
•Remember ROI
•Don’t be trendy

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Define successDefine success
IMAGE: HUFFINGTON POST

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Imagine the end result
•Be specific
•Think in terms of supporting your
bottom line
•How will you measure success?
•Minimal viable product, iterative
releases

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Possible metrics
•Page views & visits
•Lead capture
•Online orders
•Sharing

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Tips: Selection
•Clearly define goals
•Define metrics for success
•Don’t lose sight of users’ needs
•Plan for user feedback to influence
later development phases

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Define budget rangeDefine budget range

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
IMAGE: Openphoto.net

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Size of budget affects:
•Technological approach
•Level of customization
•Level of integration
•Ability to plan for future expansion

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Budget factors:
•Do you have a budget?
•Total cost of ownership
•If not paying cash, opportunity costs
•Flexibility of budget/schedule/scope
•How you measure success

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Tips: Budgets
•Projects always cost more than
expected — plan around priority 1
needs.
•Indicate who created your current
website, as well as the development
cost, and annual maintenance.

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
ScheduleSchedule

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
IMAGE: WIKI COMMONS

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Plan time for
•Deployment
•Design, Development
•Planning content/data migration
•Selection process
•Submission process
•Creating your short list

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Tips: Schedules
•Allow enough time to review and
compare your short list people
•If you think you have set aside
enough time, you probably haven’t
•Projects often take 2x3 times longer
than you think they should

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Part 2: ResourcePart 2: Resource
AllocationAllocation

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Your choices
•You
•Staff members
•Volunteers/interns
•Freelance/individuals
•Agencies/firms

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
You
Pros
•No additional cost
•Readily available
Cons
•Opportunity cost
•Do you have the necessary skills?

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Staff
Pros
•No additional cost
•Readily available
Cons
•Opportunity cost
•Less scalable than freelance or
agency

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Volunteers/interns
Pros
•Free or cheap
•Augment internal capabilities
Cons
•Less stable than freelance or
agency
•Less scalable than freelance or
agency

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Freelance/individuals
Pros
•Less expensive than agency
•Augment internal capabilities
Cons
•Less stable than agency or firm
•Less scalable than agency or firm

35. Slide 35
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Agencies/firms
Pros
•Stability
•Technical capabilities
•Scalability
Cons
•Most expensive

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Who runs the project?

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Project management
•Improves efficiency
•Lowers costs
•Reduces chance of failure
•Improves chance of success

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Tips: Management
•More decision makers lead to longer
and more expensive projects!
•Provide single points of contact for
project production workers.

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
RFP Process
•Writing an RFP
•Selecting firms to approach
•Comparing vendors

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
IMAGE: WIKI COMMONS

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Vendor information
Without real information, responses
are just a guess.

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Vendors need to know
•Functionality
•Constraints
•Schedule
•Budget
•Decision making criteria

44. Slide 44
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Functionality
•Specific functionality
•Public vs. private content
•Third party integration
•“Must haves” vs.“Nice to haves”

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Constraints
•Technology requirements
•Hosting requirements
•Security requirements
•Organizational requirements

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Schedule
•Timeline for selection process
•Desired start date
•Desired launch date

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Budget
•Without a target budget, firms will
guess
•What is minimum feature set for
budget?
•If you don’t know your budget, you
aren’t ready for an RFP, go for an
RFI instead

48. Slide 48
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Selection criteria
•Price?
•Schedule?
•Technical experience?
•Samples of similar work?
•Company infrastructure?
•Geographic location of vendor?

49. Slide 49
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
IMAGE: WIKI COMMONS

50. Slide 50
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Some questions for vendors
•Sample of past projects
•Minimum/average project budgets
•Do you subcontract, if so why?
•Design & development philosophy
•Technological capabilities
•Capacity
•References

51. Slide 51
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Tips: Qualification
•Schedule initial calls or meetings to
allow both you and the vendors to
pre-qualify each other.
•If you openly publish your RFP,
don’t be surprised by the number of
responses you receive.

52. Slide 52
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Tips: Qualification
•Limit the length. Saves you and the
vendors significant time and effort.
•Ask specific questions to better
compare vendors.
•Effort required to respond to your
RFP should be commensurate with
your budget.

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.

54. Slide 54
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Which ones?
•Ask your peers
•Attend conferences (like DMFB)
•Do web searches
•Review your competitors’ websites

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
How many?
•Does your organization have a
minimum bidding requirement?
•Ideally 3–5
•If really unsure, consider Request
for Information (RFI) to narrow
number

56. Slide 56
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Compare vendors
•Review proposals with vendors
through meetings or calls
•Ask for an apples-to-apples
comparison if vendor proposals do
not line up
•Everything is negotiable

57. Slide 57
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Tips: Selection
•Indicate what type of vendor
created the current website.
•Was the current vendor invited to
submit an RFP response?
•Why are you seeking a new vendor?

58. Slide 58
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Tips: Selection
•How many vendors have been
invited to respond? What types of
vendors?
•Most professionals will not provide
spec work, but you should ask for
samples and/or portfolio.

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Tips: Selection
•You want to select the vendor most
qualified to successfully complete
the project, not most qualified to
win the account!

60. Slide 60
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
It Doesn’t End HereIt Doesn’t End Here
No website lasts forever.No website lasts forever.

61. Slide 61
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Conclusion
•Planning is essential
•Understand the pros and cons of
resources
•Make the most of RFP process

62. Slide 62
ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUCCEED OR SUCCEEDING TO FAIL?
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR RFP.
Thanks!
@designhammer
@dh_david
@dh_stephen