This article was written for Greystone.Net by Jessica Levco, a freelance healthcare writer and event strategist. 

“Just thinking about an RFP gets my blood pressure up.”

That’s how Michael Schneider, Executive Vice President and Principal at Greystone.Net, kicked off an RFP panel discussion at the Healthcare Interactive Conference in Las Vegas.

The panel discussion featured Krista Robertson, Executive Director of Digital Strategy at Roper Saint Francis Healthcare; Chris Boyer, Digital Health & Experience Strategist at @ChrisBoyer LLC; Ben Cash, Chief Executive Officer at Reason One; and Kirsten Lecky, EVP, Insights and Growth at WG Content.

Before the conference, the panelists surveyed about 50 healthcare marketers and agency professionals. The results:

• 65% of marketers said that the winning vendor only sometimes or rarely meets expectations.
• 88% of agencies say that RFP scopes only sometimes or rarely match the actual project that was awarded.

Let those stats sink in for a moment. Neither side is happy. Let the discussion (therapy session?) begin!

PS: This session was so much fun, we’ve decided we’re going to do a webinar about it (details coming soon). In the meantime, if you’re a hospital marketer, here are a few quick things you can do to improve the RFP process on your end.

Get Everyone Involved

When Robertson was developing her RFP, she brought all the stakeholders (senior leaders, procurement, IT and legal) to the table. That way, everyone felt involved in the process and knew what was going on. Boyer talked about the importance of governance structures. “Figure out your governance groups now. Then, start to build that governance into the development of the RFP process.”

Don’t Let Everyone Submit an RFP

Meet potential partners at conferences, schedule informal conversations and vet agencies before the formal process begins. That’s what Robertson and her team did. She sent her RFP out to six vendors. “Why bother with 20? We didn’t want to waste anyone’s time.”

Share Your Budget (Really)

The No. 1 agency request is budget guidance. Cash says, “If you can share a budget, you’ll get better responses and a better structure of partnership.” If you can’t share exact numbers, provide a range. If you can't do that, share it with finalists under an NDA. Cash says that website projects can range from $300,000 to $2 million+. Without guidance, you’ll get wildly different proposals that are impossible to compare.

Design for Outcomes, Not Deliverables

“Your RFP should be designed for outcomes, not deliverables,” Cash says. Don’t create a 50-page checklist. Instead, focus on what you’re trying to achieve and let agencies show you how they’d get there. “Overly detailed RFPs become order-taking exercises, not strategic partnerships,” Lecky says. Boyer suggested using AI tools to identify scope gaps. “Plug in your RFP to ChatGPT and say, ‘If you were reading this RFP from a digital agency perspective, what things would be missing in the scope?’”

Communication Matters

This is a partnership, not a transaction. “For starters, please turn on your camera if we’re on a Zoom call,” Lecky says. Build live Q&A sessions into your process instead of just written questions. Create opportunities for real conversation and relationship-building. “RFPs shouldn’t feel like a silent retreat,” Cash says. 

Provide Feedback

“Don’t ghost agencies when the process is done,” Cash says. “We want to improve, we want to learn.” Send an email with feedback. It takes five minutes and helps agencies get better for everyone. Bonus: Conduct an internal debrief while it’s fresh so your team learns what worked and what didn't for next time.

Get Outside Help

Managing your day-to-day tasks and the RFP process is time consuming. Cash advocated for bringing in an outside consultant to help you manage the RFP process with internal and external stakeholders. Need some extra help right now? Check out this downloadable RFP toolkit to make your life a little easier.