The Zappos RFP And Why The Industry Needs A Reset

Just a quick note so that everyone understands the situation…The thoughts and views expressed in this post and on this blog are mine and do not reflect the thoughts and views of my current or previous employers.

I think Zappos made a huge mistake in how they approached their recent RFP.  Having been on the client side and the agency side of the business I can tell you that the whole RFP process in general is flawed for so many reasons.

From the very beginning most companies have 3 lists for issuing the RFP. One list has “big names” because you can’t go wrong including DDB in your pitch. Another list has the “red tape” agencies. These of course are the ones that the person leading the pitch doesn’t really want to include, but they have to because so and so is friends with the agency’s president. Both the person running the RFP and the agencies in the group no this is a waste of time. The last list is the most important one, it’s the “favorites.” This is the group of agencies you really want to work with and who you think can make some magic happen. If the list portion of the process is flawed, how can the rest of the process not be flawed?

The purpose of a RFP process is to find a dance partner that you like and believe can help your business. Sending pieces of paper back and forth is not the way to get there. As an old friend of mine once said, “if you really want to know if these are the guys you want to work with, have dinner and a drink with them. If they can hold your attention, carry a conversation, and make your head spin; they’re the right agency for you.” Amen.

So what did Zappos do wrong?  To me it boils down to 2 things:

1. Expectations: The concept of expectations in an RFP are always ludicrous.  Seriously, you want a 5 minute video that shows you our office, including the bathroom?  I’m not exaggerating here.  When I worked at DRAFT this was literally a request from a perspective client.  I think what they asked for was not only reaching, but simply showed them to be greedy and frankly not a company I’d want to work with or for.
2. Focus: The simple fact that they went from a small list of select agencies (aka list 3) to then opening up the process to another 100+ agencies shows a serious lack in focus from leadership at Zappos.  If you’ve ever been on the client side leading a pitch process you know there’s no way you can give those 100+ responses a fair, thorough, and unbiased review.

Agencies could have certainly declined to participate, but in this horrible economy agencies are chasing down every possible RFP and opportunity under the sun.  The whole industry needs a reset.  I’ve been in pitches where the internal costs for the pitch exceeded 250K.  And guess what happens if you lose?  That’s right there’s no compensation for the time, work, and ideas.  That’s the risk.  I’ve also seen those ideas that were pitched, eventually used by the winning agencies.  All of us in the industry know that one of the main purposes of an RFP is for the “client” to essentially get “free” ideas.  It’s to their advantage to invite many agencies, because then you get many ideas.

I can tell you right now, that if I ever went client side again and had to choose an agency I’d do everything in my power to avoid an RFP process.  I already know the 3 agencies I’d want to work with.

All I’d want to do is bring them in for dinner, some drinks, and a full day immersion session where they can soak up all the information they need to make sure that they’re up to challenge and WANT to work with me.  No formal letters, no spec creative work, no audacious presents.  Nope, it would just be simple conversation in both a formal and social setting.  Basically it’s taking Gladwell’s “Blink” concept and applying it to the agency review process.

Folks, we need to fix this broken machine.  But, one person, one company, one agency can’t make the change.  It has to be a unified effort. I’m willing and able if you are.