Add this to your process to always be compliant.
A lot of what we share here on the blog (and on YouTube) focuses on how to write your proposal and create a sound strategy.
But one of the biggest sources of anxiety we hear with RFPs comes not from the proposal itself, but from the requirements.
Sometimes responding to an RFP can feel like they’re intentionally trying to find a reason to deem your proposal noncompliant.
From page length requirements to hidden forms to requiring blue ink signatures, the list of requirements for what you have to remember for your proposal can stack up. And that’s not even including the proposal content itself!
So how do you take the worry of proposal compliance off your plate so you can focus on writing a winning proposal instead?
Enter: the Compliance Meeting
The Compliance Meeting is our favorite tool to ensure proposal compliance without having to frantically search through the RFP at the very end to make sure you didn’t miss anything (though you can always do that too).
This meeting is held 1-2 days before you plan to actually submit your proposal, and it is exactly what it sounds like: a meeting dedicated to reviewing your proposal for compliance.
To help reduce your compliance anxiety, create a Compliance Review Checklist (grab this bundle here if you need a copy!) at the start of your proposal process. Write down all compliance-related requirements that will be needed to submit your proposal. Once your proposal is ready for submission, hold the meeting with a small team (or just yourself) and check off each item on the list to ensure you’re compliant.
Because you created the list at the beginning before your brain was drowning in strategy and writing discussions, it will be easier to write without worrying that you forgot something. As a rule of thumb, if you’re not certain if something should be included, add it to the list anyway! The whole point of this meeting is to reduce your anxiety and make sure all of the boxes are checked.
If you create the list early in the process, you’ll also be able to add to it any time something new is discovered or a new requirement is released as part of Addenda. With the written down checklist, you free up mental energy to focus on more pressing items without having to worry that you might miss something crucial. This can be a lifesaver for especially complicated RFPs!
Want to hold a Compliance Meeting but not sure where to get started? Check out the Bid to Win course, which covers how to create a competitive strategy and key meetings to hold for every RFP.
Or grab the Key Review Meeting Templates bundle for a quick start without the training.