Most manufacturers exchange their martech instruments inside 5 years, in keeping with the latest MarTech Alternative Survey. chasing higher options, integration and ROI. However deciding on the suitable platform isn’t nearly discovering the perfect software program — it’s about constructing a partnership that lasts.
The standard request for proposal (RFP) course of, whereas obligatory, is commonly flawed, resulting in prolonged evaluations, rushed choices and remorse at renewal time. This text breaks down widespread RFP pitfalls and gives a better strategy to deciding on a martech resolution that really suits your small business wants.
The RFP dilemma: A obligatory however flawed course of
Point out RFP to any model or tech vendor and the response is a mixture of dedication and dread. The method is exhaustive, involving necessities, templates, questions, evaluations, comparisons and negotiations that may take months — generally years.
In spite of everything this effort, a model may really feel assured in its selection. However that confidence usually fades by deployment and disappears fully by renewal. “The accomplice is {insert your causes right here} than anticipated. There have to be a greater means.” And so, the cycle begins once more.
As a efficiency marketer with 15+ years of expertise, I’ve written, responded to and consulted on numerous vendor alternatives. The method is critical — however essentially flawed.
Beneath are widespread RFP pitfalls and key steps to deciding on a martech platform that really suits your small business and fosters an enduring partnership.
Directional technique: Defining your path earlier than the RFP
Have you learnt the place you might be, the place you’re headed and the way this piece suits in? A transparent RFP questionnaire with purposeful and non-functional necessities will take you far — but it surely received’t outline your non-negotiables. For instance, a CRM may have to combine along with your CDP, activate each e mail and SMS and embrace dynamic templates, journey orchestration and an AI-assisted journey builder.
However what if no single instrument does all of this effectively? What are you prepared to compromise? When is the suitable time to deploy? Do you have to look ahead to the information warehouse? What about that new personalization engine?
A well-defined technique and roadmap make clear your must-haves since you perceive the capabilities you want and the place they match into your general plans. Sequencing turns into clearer as interdependencies emerge.
You possibly can begin with necessities and use instances, however laying down your technique first provides them which means and path. And if you happen to share the related elements of that technique along with your shortlisted distributors, think about how far more insightful their responses might be.
Dig deeper: 6 issues martech distributors don’t need you to know
Necessities and rationale: Prioritizing functionality over classes
Concentrate on functionality. LUMAscapes have turn into so crowded that no display screen is broad sufficient and no font is sufficiently small to suit all of the “super-niche” and “super-everything-but-nothing-well-enough” options.
Now greater than ever, it’s essential to outline precisely what you want a instrument to do — as a result of chances are high, that platform has not less than three totally different names and suits into a number of martech classes.
RFPs usually start by deciding on a platform class — ESP, CDP, DAM — with out first clarifying what must be achieved. This will depart little time to find out which platform is greatest suited to every a part of that functionality.
Take this situation: “We’d like a CRO (conversion fee optimization) instrument.”
Your UX is optimized, your buyer journeys are refined, however you recognize exhibiting extra related content material might drive extra income. To realize this, you want real-time personalization. Your product bundles are displayed on the touchdown web page, with the following CTA resulting in the cart. The answer should work in each the U.S. and the European Union (EU) — key enlargement areas for subsequent yr.
The true requirement?
“I would like one thing that personalizes my gives in real-time on the primary touchdown web page. It should combine with my stack, work within the US and EU, be straightforward for my already stretched group to study and have the potential to develop to different channels. Additionally, with a significant website overhaul in H1’26, I would like to enhance conversion earlier than Q3 in time for peak.”
As an alternative of launching an RFP, a fast extra module in your present stack might cowl 90% of those wants for the following 1.5 years — with out a big upskilling initiative — and be reside in simply six weeks.
RFP for a CRO instrument averted. Functionality in place and delivering. Your group can collect insights and refine future necessities for when a bigger platform turns into obligatory.
No person actually wants a CRM or a CDP — they want a instrument that permits a particular final result, in a particular means. Begin there and the remainder will observe.
Dig deeper: Past quadrants: An alternate strategy to martech choice
A two-way dialog: Does your tech accomplice know you?
You’ve written down 250 questions, issued an RFP and reached the ultimate stage. You now know your remaining distributors in and out — from financials to safety certificates and even their devoted group’s LinkedIn profiles. The instrument is ideal. The group is ideal. This suits.
However what do they find out about you?
Sure, they’ve executed their very own analysis. However have you ever informed them what they’re integrating with? Do they perceive your timelines for worth supply? Your KPIs? Who they’ll be working with?
Many RFPs overlook the truth that, on the opposite aspect of the submission type, there’s an organization investing closely to win your small business — possible at a loss. And for the primary yr, they’ll most likely proceed over-servicing, reallocating sources and even constructing customized options to make it work.
Should you take the time to supply context — your objectives, your panorama — the partnership might be arrange for fulfillment.
Seeing it: Why over-prescribing demos can miss the mark
Demos are a invaluable solution to consider a platform, however they’re additionally time-boxed. To get the perfect outcomes, plan rigorously:
Do: Outline what you might want to see.
- Ensure you see issues that can’t be greatest answered in writing – UX/UI is a superb instance.
- Share the identical agenda with all distributors and canopy the important thing parts to match them afterwards.
Don’t: Over-prescribe or attempt to cowl every thing.
- You’ll by no means know the capabilities of those platforms in addition to their engineers and founders do. Go away room for them to showcase options you could not have thought of.
Take time to get to know the individuals behind the platform. If that is the group you’ll work with, a rushed demo received’t offer you a way of how they function. For the following few years, they would be the ones advising, fixing and fixing issues. That is your likelihood to see them in motion.
Utilizing it: Why POC is the brand new favourite acronym
The dearth of hands-on expertise and one-way communication in RFPs is why extra manufacturers are turning to proof of idea (POC) trials as a substitute. Many distributors additionally want POCs. There’s usually much less competitors, as no model can take a look at 10–15 platforms directly.
Whereas POCs have their very own limitations, they provide one clear benefit over RFPs: you get to work with the instrument firsthand. Your groups achieve an actual understanding of what it takes to study, implement and begin seeing worth — earlier than making a long-term dedication.
Purchaser beware: Prices, reductions and comparisons
Ideally, all distributors in your shortlist provide the identical industrial mannequin, contract period and assist bundle. In actuality, nevertheless, you’re extra more likely to encounter the next:
- One vendor costs based mostly on the variety of month-to-month lively customers and API calls.
- One other bases pricing on information unit consumption and required licenses — with out clarifying what “information unit consumption” truly means.
- One vendor gives a reduction if bundled with one other product they promote.
- One other implies that not buying a sure product will trigger the price of one other subscription you have already got to double.
- One vendor might use executive-level affect, like taking your CEO to lunch, to strain you right into a deal.
- One other claims {that a} low cost will expire on the finish of the month except you signal instantly.
A robust procurement accomplice may help you examine these pricing eventualities successfully by establishing widespread metrics. Nevertheless, the time wanted to finish correct industrial forecasts — vital for contract sizing and negotiation — may be shortened by RFP timelines. To optimize the price mannequin, planning needs to be as detailed as your necessities, with enter from material specialists.
Dig deeper: 10 steps to creating higher vendor choice decisions
You’ve gone too far: Dangers to mitigate and exit methods
Should you begin with 10 distributors and conduct three rounds of analysis, what number of might be left when it’s time to barter?
No matter that quantity is, it shouldn’t be only one. When you establish the “good match,” the true negotiation begins. With out competitors, your leverage weakens.
Guarantee your last shortlist contains not less than two distributors you’d be glad to work with and pay for. This retains your choices open and maintains negotiating energy.
Begin with the top in thoughts: Measuring success at renewal
Whether or not you run a proof of idea or depend on demos and questionnaires, one precept is crucial: start with the top in thoughts. Contract renewal will come prior to you suppose, and success will depend upon measurable outcomes.
If the seller guarantees a 300% ROI, arrange the measurement framework now. Observe key dates, milestones and metrics like license charges, media spend and ROI enchancment. This documentation will present clear proof of success when the renewal dialog arises.
If potential, hyperlink these metrics again to your key necessities, capabilities and use instances. In the end, what made the distinction? Let these insights information your subsequent RFP.
Dig deeper: Massive gamers vs. area of interest specialists: Selecting your martech distributors
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