RFP Readiness

Course Description:

The request for proposal, or RFP, response process can be challenging for small and diverse businesses. Are you ready to respond to an RFP before it arrives at your desk? Do you have a system in place to decide if an RFP is right for your business? Get ready to increase your chances to win business and create an RFP response process that saves valuable resources.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

Analyze your readiness to respond to RFPs.
Identify ways to improve your RFP responses to stay competitive.
Learn about the decision-making process for determining “go or no-go” on an RFP.
Avoid common mistakes that might cost you points and lose RFPs.

A successful RFP response can open doors and opportunities for future bids. A poor response might limit opportunities today and in the future.

RFP Success Roadmap Module 1: RFP Readiness, details the start of the RFP readiness process —Be RFP Ready and Go/No-Go. These steps can help you get ahead of your competition by completing a readiness assessment to determine what you need to be competitive. You will also learn how to create an internal process for evaluating if an RFP is the right opportunity to pursue. Even if you have never won an RFP, this course will help you gain confidence, get ready, and make your best go/no-go decision.

PG&E is passionate about supporting small and diverse businesses and even more committed to ensuring that they operate as a vital link in the supply chain. Our expert-led courses build confidence and bring valuable expertise and practical tools that you can apply to your business today.

Your course instructor, Marianne Ellis, brings more than 25 years of experience as a buyer running RFPs, a new business leader winning RFPs, and a coach guiding small and diverse business owners to RFP success.

Course Goals:

Set up an internal readiness roadmap to create successful RFP responses.
Review the most critical milestones for winning RFPs and explore the first two steps in detail: Step 1, Be RFP Ready and Step 2, Go/No-Go.
Discover tools to improve your RFP readiness and make the right RFP participation decisions for your business.

Downloadable Takeaways:

RFP Readiness Workbook

Course Instructor: Marianne Ellis CEO/Co-Founder, CEO Success Community

Marianne Ellis is the CEO/Co-Founder of CEO Success Community—the source for women- and diversity-owned businesses seeking corporate contracts with Fortune 500 companies. Our mission is to show CEOs the fastest path to increased revenue and growth. We are a CEO community membership offering the following business tracks: Get to the Buyer, RFP/Proposal to the Win, Business Innovation, Sales Accelerator, Virtual Conference Maximizer, Business Succession Planning, and more. We are proud to have coached thousands of diversity CEOs. Major corporations hire us to coach their rising suppliers like SCE, CDW, and Martin Harris. Diversity associations such as WBENC, WBEC-West, WBEC-Pacific, and NAWBO count on us to run their signature workshops sponsored by IBM, Bank of America, UPS, T-Mobile, Walmart, Accenture, and more. CEO Success Community was built on a successful sales practice that averaged more than $100 million in new billing growth in less than 18 months. We have both sell-side and buy-side experience running Fortune 500 RFPs. Marianne is an Amazon #1 Best-Selling Co-Author of Women In Business Leading the Way, a member of the Television Academy and attends the Emmy Awards annually, nominee of the LA Times’ Inspirational Women of the Year, two-time winner of WBE Advocate of the Year, Community Impact Award, and sought-after speaker.